John Kenneth Galbraith

John Kenneth Galbraith was born in Ontario, Canada, and earned his PhD in agricultural economics from the University of California Berkeley. He spent most of his career as a professor at Harvard University. A prolific writer and public intellectual, Galbraith authored over 30 books aimed at bringing economics to general audiences. His 1954 book "The Great Crash 1929" — a history of the 1929 stock market bubble and collapse — remains the most widely read account of speculative excess and financial crisis. The book is notable for identifying the psychological patterns of speculative bubbles — the self-reinforcing nature of rising prices, the creative financial rationalisation of obviously unsustainable valuations, and the political economy of regulatory failures — that apply to every subsequent financial crisis. "The Affluent Society" (1958) challenged conventional economic wisdom about growth and consumption in wealthy societies, coining the phrase "conventional wisdom" for unexamined beliefs. Galbraith served as US Ambassador to India under President Kennedy and was a key economic adviser to several Democratic administrations. He is one of the most widely read economists of the 20th century, with his ability to communicate complex ideas in elegant prose reaching audiences far beyond academic economics.