Author Archives: James K. Galbraith

About James K. Galbraith

James K. Galbraith holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and a professorship in Government at The University of Texas at Austin. He was Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee of the United States Congress in the early 1980s. He is a managing editor of Structural Change and Economic Dynamics. In 2010, he was elected to the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. In 2014 he was co-winner of the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economics. His most recent book is Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know.

Inequality, Debt, and Human Rights: What Can We Learn from the Data?

February 4, 2020 by
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Abstract: What can we learn from the data on economic inequality? First, that comparisons should be made very carefully. That said, inequality connects to human rights in many ways that may elude precise measurement but not common sense. For example, oligarchy is the enemy of the demos, as the Athenians have known since Socrates. An inherent imbalance stems from the fact that wealth is power, which creditors exercise over debtors. In considering how to reduce this power, when it comes to mobilizing people, high theory Continue reading → Continue reading →