Gunnar Myrdal

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

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2. Beginnings and Early Intellectual Influences

   • William J. Barber

   Pages 1-10

3. Early Challenges to Orthodoxy: The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory (first published in 1930)

   • William J. Barber

   Pages 11-23

4. Theorizing About Macro-Economic Instability: Monetary Equilibrium (versions of 1932, 1933, and 1939)

   • William J. Barber

   Pages 24-37

5. Structuring Counter-Cyclical Fiscal Policies in the 1930s

   • William J. Barber

   Pages 38-51

6. The Population Question and Swedish Social Policy in the 1930s

   • William J. Barber

   Pages 52-63

7. An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy (1944)

   • William J. Barber

   Pages 64-85

8. Minister of Commerce and Economic Policy-Making for Post-War Sweden, 1944–1947

   • William J. Barber

   Pages 86-96

9. International Civil Servant and Studies of the International Economy, 1947–1957

   • William J. Barber

   Pages 97-120

10. Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations (1968)

    • William J. Barber

    Pages 121-150

11. Economic Policy Advice-Giving for the Rich and the Poor in the 1960s and 1970s

    • William J. Barber

    Pages 151-162

12. Epilogue

    • William J. Barber

    Pages 163-168

13. Back Matter

    Pages 169-180

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This study examines the manner in which Gunnar Myrdal's intellectual style left an impact on the shaping of Sweden's welfare state, on race relations in the United States, on post-World War Two economic cooperation in Europe, and on the analysis of Third World economic development.

• economic development
• economic policy
• economic theory
• equilibrium
• instability
• policy-making
• poverty
• welfare

'The publication of the first installments in Palgrave Macmillan's new series, "Great Thinkers in Economics," should be a major event for historians of economics.' - Roger Blackhouse, University of Birmingham

WILLIAM J. BARBER is the Andrews Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA. He has published widely on topics in the history of economic thought, on issues in development economics, and on the role of economists as policy advisers. He has been named a Distinguished Fellow of the History of Economics Society. He served as a member of the research team, headed by Gunnar Myrdal, that produced the three-volume study Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations.

Policies and ethics