The death of a great man

Passing away over the weekend was John Kenneth Galbraith, a great man and a great economist. He was rare among his kind in recognizing his was a social science, not a physical one, a science predicated on the behaviour of people, not of models. And because it is a social science, he recognized it has a moral dimension. He believed economies should serve first the public good, not the invisible hand. He could spark the dismal science with hope, even inspiration. He was, he said, "for a socially pain-free, decently egalitarian society." The poor and the progressives have lost a great friend and ally. We will miss him.