"tell us more about the economics profession than they do about Galbraith. They provide an indirect vehicle for understanding the peculiar character of that profession. The criticisms expose what is acceptable ‘conventional wisdom’ as Galbraith himself would have called it. The reader can also discern in these criticisms dishonesty and incoherence...
...Galbraith's lesson in death is that the successful reproduction of the capitalist socio-economic system requires the perennial obfuscation of how it works."
Presumably, my Galbraith obit is not included in Jones' critique.
Thank you for this, and much of your other work. Just anted you to know you have a reader.
ReplyDeletebob mcmanus
perhaps ironically, a skim through the Friedman obits prove Galbraith's point equally well.
ReplyDeleteBob, thanks for the encouragement.
ReplyDeleteDsquared, that's a good point. I felt somewhat constrained, in writing about Friedman shortly after his death, to emphasize positive contributions from him.