Galbraith%5C%27s+legacy

There+is+a+new+breadth+in+economics+today+that+casts+fresh+light+on+Galbraith%5C%27s+career+and+its+significance.+Yet%2C+as+Amartya+Sen+has+noted%2C+Galbraith%92s+contribution+still+%93doesn%92t+get+enough+praise.%94+In+June+2000%2C+Sen+gave+the+commencement+address+at+Harvard+on+the+subject+of+globalization%2C+and+he+used+it+to+offer+an+eloquent+articulation+of+the+%93capability%94+challenges+the+world+needed+to+meet.+In+order+to+do+this%2C+he+said%2C+we+must+fully+understand+how+to+balance+and+direct+competing+power+in+societies%2C+which+have+conflicting+interests+and+unevenly+distributed+strengths%2C+for+power+is+at+the+center+of+achieving+true+freedom.+The+%93great+importance%94+of+this+topic+had+first+dawned+on+him+as+a+young+college+student+in+Calcutta+almost+half+a+century+earlier%2C+he+added%2C+sitting+in+a+coffeehouse+reading+a+little+book+entitled+%7Bi%7DAmerican+Capitalism%7B%2Fi%7D+by+an+American+economist+named+Galbraith%97and+it+had+never+left+him+since.%0D%0A%0D%0ASome+months+later+a+reporter+asked+Sen+whether+he+thought+that+Galbraith%92s+work+would+enjoy+lasting+influence%2C+and+if+so%2C+why.+Sen%92s+reply+was+that+Galbraith+and+his+work+would+indeed+endure%2C+and+for+a+simple+reason+that+could+best+be+seen+in+%7Bi%7DThe+Affluent+Society.%7B%2Fi%7D+The+book+was+an+example+of+Galbraith%92s+%93great+insight%2C%94+he+said%2C+which+%93has+become+so+much+a+part+of+our+understanding+of+contemporary+capitalism+that+we+forget+where+it+began.+It%92s+like+reading+%7Bi%7DHamlet%7B%2Fi%7D+and+deciding+it%92s+full+of+quotations.+You+realize+where+they+came+from.%94

Excerpts:

Chapter+1.++On+First+Coming+to+Cambridge Excerpt%3A+A+Lonely+Dove+Among+Hawks Galbraith+with+Robert+F.+Kennedy Galbraith+with+Robert+Reich Galbraith+on+President+Clinton Naked+Lady Galbraith+on+Lyndon+Johnson Galbraith%5C%27s+legacy Ambassador+Galbraith+presents+his+credentials William+F.+Buckley%2C+Jr.