This program will be on Zoom.

James K. Galbraith, an internationally-acclaimed economist, scholar, and author will talk about the need  — and Plan — for an Economic Paradigm Shift

James K Galbraith, a critic of his own profession, brings an astute analysis to the pitfalls of neoclassical, mainstream economic theory by demonstrating that it is more aligned with mathematical models than reality. But Galbraith is not only a critic, he proposes an economic system that draws on the physical and biological life processes of nature and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. As Galbraith notes,” an Entropy Theory of Value acknowledges limits” and includes externalities that are often omitted in economic calculations. Entropy Economics offers a complete shift in economic thinking as well as suggesting the kind of policies that are required for such a shift.

In promoting a more equitable economic system Galbraith says, “Our society is not supported by the stock market. Our society is supported by food, electricity, and fuels, by grocery stores, cashiers, stockers, farmers, truck drivers, and factory workers. This becomes obvious during a crisis.” Galbraith’s economic ideas are a breath of fresh air in the midst of an economic reality that is failing more and more people every day. Galbraith and his co-author of “Entropy Economics,” Jing Chen, have laid the foundation for a viable and inspiring economic path for the 21st Century, one that deals with poverty, the climate crisis, private debt, technology, housing, and the myriad economic challenges that have led to a predatory form of capitalism, one that is destabilizing our democracy and wrecking our future.

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, and before that, an economist for the House Banking Committee. He chaired the board of Economists for Peace and Security from 1996 to 2016 and directs The University of Texas Inequality Project. He is a managing editor of Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.

From 1993 to 1997 Galbraith served as chief technical adviser for Macroeconomic Reform to the State Planning Commission of the People’s Republic of China. 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.

He holds degrees from Harvard University (AB, magna cum laude), in economics from Yale University (M.A., M.Phil, Ph.D.), and academic honors from universities in Ecuador, France, and the Russian Federation. He was a Marshall Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge; a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Texas Philosophical Society; and is a member of the Free Economic Society, an organization of economists in Russia, chartered by Catherine the Great in 1765.

His Books include:
* Entropy Economics: The Living Basis of Value and Production (2025)
* Welcome to the Poisoned Chalice: The Destruction of Greece and the Future of Europe (2016).
* Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know (2016)
* Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World
* Economy Just Before the Great Crisis (2012)
* The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too (2008).
Georgia Kelly, Director of Praxis Peace Institute will interview James Galbraith for this program.