The Affluent Society
Franklin Center, Pennsylvania: The Franklin Library, 1978. Signed, Limited Edition. Hardcover. [20], 386, [6] pages. Footnotes. Index. Sign by the author. Includes a special message to subscribers from John Kenneth Galbraith. John Kenneth Galbraith (October 15, 1908 – April 29, 2006), also known as Ken Galbraith, was a Canadian-American economist, diplomat, public official, and intellectual. His books on economic topics were bestsellers from the 1950s through the 2000s. As an economist, he leaned toward post-Keynesian economics from an institutionalist perspective. Galbraith was a long-time Harvard faculty member and stayed with Harvard University for half a century as a professor of economics. He was a prolific author and wrote four dozen books, including several novels, and published more than a thousand articles and essays on various subjects. Among his works was a trilogy on economics, American Capitalism (1952), The Affluent Society (1958), and The New Industrial State (1967). Galbraith was active in Democratic Party politics, serving in the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson. He served as United States Ambassador to India under the Kennedy administration. His political activism, literary output and outspokenness brought him wide fame during his lifetime. Galbraith was one of the few to receive both the World War II Medal of Freedom (1946) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2000) for his public service and contributions to science. The Affluent Society is a 1958 book by Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith. The book sought to clearly outline the manner in which the post–World War II United States was becoming wealthy in the private sector but remained poor in the public sector, lacking social and physical infrastructure, and perpetuating income disparities. The book sparked much public discussion at the time. It is also credited with popularizing the term "conventional wisdom". Many of the ideas presented were later expanded and refined in Galbraith's 1967 book, The New Industrial State. Former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich called it his favorite on the subject of economics. The Modern Library placed the book at no. 46 on its list of the top 100 English-language non-fiction books of the 20th century. The "central tradition" in economics, created by Adam Smith and expanded by David Ricardo and Thomas Robert Malthus in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, is poorly suited to the affluent post–World War II U.S. society. This is so because the "central tradition" economists wrote during a time of widespread poverty where production of basic goods was necessary. U.S. society, at the time of Galbraith's writing, was one of widespread affluence, where production was based on luxury goods and wants. Using production, or gross domestic product, as a measure of U.S. society's well-being omits important measures of social and personal well-being. GDP also neglects differences in output. For example, "An increased supply of educational services has a standing in the total not different in kind from an increased output of television receivers." Production has risen to its paramount but unwarranted status because it is held in grace by both Democrats and Republicans. The Franklin Library was a division of The Franklin Mint that produced fine collector edition books over three decades ending in the year 2000. For this reason all Franklin Library editions are now considered "out of print" and are no longer available for sale from the Franklin Mint. The Franklin Library produced books in three different binding styles referred to as full genuine leather, imitation leather, and quarter bound genuine leather. The full leather bound editions were produced through out the Franklin Library's full life span and the other two styles (imitation and quarter bound) were only produced through the 1970's and 80's. Below are some of the characteristics found in all Franklin Library editions along with more detailed information about the different binding styles. All Editions: • High quality paper; • Pages that are sewn not glued into the binding; • Gold gilded page edges on all three sides; • Raised spine bands that give each book that distinctive antique look. The genuine full leather bound editions are the highest quality of the three. While most characteristics remained constant through out the different series and years of production the style of end papers varied from silk moiré to decorative paper. Some of the characteristics that remained constant: • Full genuine leather binding; • 22k. gold lettering and stampings on the spine and covers; and • Attached silk page marker. Condition: Very good.
Keywords: Economics, Inequality, Production, Consumer Demand, Vested Interest, Inflation, Bill Collector, Monetary, Price Stability, Investment, Security, Poverty, Survival
[Book #85529]
Price: $325.00