This reminds me that Galbraith's close friend Lauchlin Currie told me that Harvard only appointed Alvin Hansen to the Littauer chair in 1937 because of his apparently very orthodox credentials. They were discombobulated when from his secure position he then revealed his heretical tendencies (teaming up with Currie to make a joint presentation before the TNEC to explain the fiscal causes of the 1937 recession).



Roger Sandilands



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From: Societies for the History of Economics [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Ric Holt [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2014 5:36 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SHOE] Galbraith's writing voice

In January 1955 Galbraith gave testimony before the Joint Committee on the Economic Report for 1955, titled "Fiscal Policy and the Economic Prospect." The 1950s was a grand decade for Galbraith where he turned from just publishing one co-authored book up to the age of 41 to publishing a plethora of them. It was also the decade where he truly found his "writing voice." Below is a short piece from his testimony that shows that voice we all know. It's amazing what tenure will do.  He finally was awarded tenure in November, 1949 at Harvard after a difficult struggle for the second time -- and his cheerful but sardonic voice never stopped after that for another fifty years. Luck us.
Ric Holt

"Let me turn now to two or three specific questions on which the Committee has asked for suggestions. (I pass over some of these because I am not sufficiently informed. Thus I have never been sure that I fully understand the doctrine of percentage depletion, although what I have heard of it sounds very nice. It would seem to me important that it be promptly applied to professors. There is no group where depletion of what is called intellectual capital proceeds so immutably and leaves a more hideous void. Surely we should be permitted to deduct from our taxes each April an allowance for this annual deterioration. I am told that Powers models have an analogous case.)"