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James K. Galbraith

James K. Galbraith

47 commentaries
1 videos & podcasts

James K. Galbraith, Professor of Government and Chair in Government/Business Relations at the University of Texas at Austin, is a former staff economist for the House Banking Committee and a former executive director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress. From 1993-97, he served as chief technical adviser for macroeconomic reform to China’s State Planning Commission. He is the co-author (with Jing Chen) of Entropy Economics: The Living Basis of Value and Production (University of Chicago Press, 2025).

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  1. Economists’ Way Out of the Wilderness
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    Economists’ Way Out of the Wilderness

    Jan 20, 2025 James K. Galbraith argues that the continued dominance of nineteenth-century thinking has resulted in a catalogue of failure.

  2. The Democrats Committed Suicide This Year
    galbraith38_MandelNganGettyImages_democrats_funeral Mandel Ngan/Getty Images

    The Democrats Committed Suicide This Year

    Nov 13, 2024 James K. Galbraith thinks the party has only itself to blame for losing the 2024 election on low voter turnout.

  3. Elon Musk Gets Trump’s Economic Plans Partly Right
    galbraith37_Anna MoneymakerGetty Images_elonmusktrump Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    Elon Musk Gets Trump’s Economic Plans Partly Right

    Nov 1, 2024 James K. Galbraith argues that only a tycoon could love Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs, deportations, and spending cuts.

  4. Inflation Shamanism
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    Inflation Shamanism

    Sep 20, 2024 James K. Galbraith marvels at the Federal Reserve's ability to win praise for positive outcomes it did not cause.

  5. Economic Theory for the Real World
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    Economic Theory for the Real World

    Sep 9, 2024 James K. Galbraith offers a new conceptual framework based on twenty-first-century science and simple observation.

  1. lachman1_Jemal CountessGetty Images for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation_USdebt Jemal Countess/Getty Images for the Peter G. Peterson Foundation

    Trump’s Looming Deficit Disaster

    Desmond Lachman explains why the US president’s trade tariffs and planned tax cuts are at odds with basic economic realities.
  2. mazzucato80_WPA PoolGettyImages_starmer_ai_speech WPA Pool/Getty Images

    Governing AI for the Public Interest

    Mariana Mazzucato & Tommaso Valletti explain why the UK government’s recently released AI “action plan” misses the mark.
  3. chellaney184_ Sergio FloresGetty Images_trumpmodi Sergio Flores/Getty Images

    Putting the Trump-Modi Bromance to the Test

    Brahma Chellaney hopes that the US and Indian leaders take concrete steps to reset and deepen the bilateral relationship.
  4. alemanno2_Thierry MonasseGettyImages_vdl_competitiveness_compass Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

    The Dark Side of EU Deregulation

    Alberto Alemanno warns that the bloc’s efforts to reduce bureaucratic red tape will do more harm than good.
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    Daniel Gros on DeepSeek, Germany's malaise, EU competitiveness, and more

    Daniel Gros hopes that a Chinese startup's apparent AI breakthrough will provide a much-needed boost to European competitiveness, advises the EU on how to deal with Donald Trump, urges Europe to improve conditions for bottom-up innovation, and more.
  6. bremmer39_Steve PfostNewsday RM via Getty Images_USwindfarm Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images

    Trump Will Not Kill the Global Energy Transition

    Ian Bremmer

    Despite Donald Trump's promise to boost fossil-fuel production, the economic and technological forces driving the clean-energy revolution cannot be stopped. The global transition will power forward, even if America has abandoned climate leadership, and even if the road ahead includes a few more bumps.

    assuages fears that the global energy transition will be thrown into reverse by the new US administration.
  7. brown117_Robert HradilGetty Images_WHO Robert Hradil/Getty Images

    A Reformed WHO Should Make Its Case to America

    Gordon Brown wants to reassure the Trump administration that a revamped organization could serve US and global interests.
  8. tbunde6_New Look CastingGettyImages_globe_jigsaw New Look Casting/Getty Images

    The Age of Multipolarization

    Tobias Bunde & Sophie Eisentraut think a better future depends on whether a world with more poles can find ways to mitigate dangerous divisions.
  9. eichengreen200_PhotoQuestGettyImages_IBM_computer_france PhotoQuest/Getty Images

    Will US Export Restrictions Work?

    Barry Eichengreen

    Perhaps US efforts to cut off China’s access to advanced semiconductors will be more successful than analogous restrictions on tech exports to France in the 1960s. But we now have at least one data point – DeepSeek – that suggests otherwise.

    questions the effectiveness of efforts to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductors.

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