A story about "The Good Society: The Humane Agenda" — 3 years ago
Interesting liberal approach to economics. Written very conversationally – was probably dictated.
Intended by Galbraith to defend New Deal/Great Society approach to macroeconomic engineering and provide a modern argument for pursuing such a society. Also seeks to define what a “good society” would be, contrasting it against “utopia’s” by describing how it (unlike utopia) can realistically be achieved.
Is very cutting in it’s many jabs and insults at free-market and other Neo-classical economic approaches. It proposes to be practical rather than ideological (which is a fault he attibutes to neoclassical economics). But his Marxist views on history and determinism show through in many places. It is surprising that he didn’t seem to question them. I guess he’d believed them too long, as he wrote this book in his 80’s, I think.
Worth the read. I’d like to check out the books he wrote when he was younger, more vigorous and more rigorous in his analysis.
