James K. Galbraith teaches at The University of Texas at Austin. On the staff of the House Banking Committee in the 1970s, he helped to author the dual mandate and supervised the Conduct of Monetary Policy hearings. His new book is The Power to Destroy: How Bad Economics Drove America’s Decline (University of Chicago Press, 2026, published September 6).
James K. Galbraith
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The Impotence of Being Kevin Warsh
Kevin Warsh’s call for fresh thinking at the Fed runs up against a deeper problem. The tools and concepts guiding monetary policy may no longer fit an economy reshaped by AI, shifting prices, and the fading power of interest rates.
On the US-EU Debate: A Response to Paul Krugman
A response to Paul Krugman’s recent essay on U.S. and European productivity opens onto a broader question. If the standard metrics point in conflicting directions, perhaps the problem lies less with the economies than with the measures themselves.
Labor Day 2025: The Great Crash (of the Economists)
Contrary to what many economic models suggest, salaries aren’t constantly recalibrated based on skills or technology. They follow the economy and politics—and common sense: hire when needed, promote from within, and slow hiring when budgets tighten.
Wage Stagnation and Populism: A Comment on David Brooks and Noah Smith
Times have changed. Now we have David Brooks, of The New York Times, and economics blogger Noah Smith defending neoliberal globalization from the pincer movement of anti-trade populists from both the right and the left.
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Sanctions: To Russia with Love
James Galbraith flips the script on sanctions. How has Russia adapted?
5th Annual UNCTAD-YSI Summer School Challenges and Opportunities of a New International Economic Order
The 5th UNCTAD YSI Summer School provides an opportunity to explore the Challenges and Opportunities of a New International Economic Order. The school will bring together UNCTAD experts, academics, diplomats, and young scholars from across the globe for lively and stimulating intellectual debates.
Still Swimming Against the Tide? 40 Years of Thinking on Trade and Development
The 4th UNCTAD YSI Summer School celebrates the approach and legacy of UNCTAD’s annual Trade and Development Report (TDR). The school will bring together UNCTAD experts, academics, diplomats, and young scholars from across the globe for lively and stimulating intellectual debates.
Counterpunch cites James Galbraith’s INET article on the Texas Freeze
“Texas’ leaders knew as of 2011 … when the state went through a short severe freeze, that the system was radically unstable in extreme weather,” wrote James K. Galbraith, of the University of Texas at Austin, in the Institute for New Economic Thinking. “But they did nothing,” he wrote. “To do something, they would have had to regulate the system. And they didn’t want to regulate the system, because the providers, a rich source of campaign funding, didn’t want to be regulated and to have to spend on weatherization that was not needed – most of the time.” That’s what happens when the private sector calls the shots. Money first.” — Richard Gross, Counterpunch