Why Regulation Matters - James K. Galbraith

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/10/20/Why_We_Should_Abandon_the_Free_Market

Economist James K. Galbraith argues that some level of government regulation is necessary for a functioning economy.

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James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and professor of government, presents a lecture based on his book, "The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too".

Robert Kuttner, distinguished senior fellow at Demos and co-founder and co-editor of The American Prospect, acts as respondent - The New School

James K. Galbraith teaches economics and a variety of other subjects at University of Texas' LBJ School of Public Affairs. He holds degrees from Harvard and Yale. Galbraith studied economics as a Marshall Scholar at King's College, Cambridge in 1974-1975, and then served in several positions on the staff of the U.S. Congress, including Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee. He was a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in 1985. He directed the LBJ School's Ph.D. Program in Public Policy from 1995 to 1997. He directs the University of Texas Inequality Project, an informal research group based at the LBJ School.

Galbraith has co-authored two textbooks, The Economic Problem with the late Robert L. Heilbroner and Macroeconomics with William Darity, Jr. He is the author of Balancing Acts: Technology, Finance and the American Future and Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay. His latest book The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too was published in 2008.

Galbraith serves as a Senior Scholar of the Levy Economics Institute and as Chair of the Board of Economists for Peace and Security. He writes a column called "Econoclast" for Mother Jones, and occasional commentary in many other publications, including The Texas Observer, The American Prospect, and The Nation. He is an occasional commentator for Public Radio International's Marketplace.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• free
• markets
• market
• economics
• economy
• economist
• regulated
• deregulation
• government
• intervention
• financial
• finance
• foratv
• regulatory
• fora.tv
• fora
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[PaulCynic]

Ralph Nader has done a fantastic job by improving the safety of consumer goods through his watchdog organizations. However, he did so by going to the gov't with his findings and then they passed laws that compelled industry to raise their standards. Gov't is part of the equation no matter who you feel should do the watching. Btw, industry is deaf, it only listens when financial penalties are imposed--bascially because no real person is accountable/cannot be sent to jail for fraud or cheating.

[Perilous3D]

Regulation can exist just fine without a governing force.

[adelle0001]

Does regulation matter?

[boarddog1]

i wana know what he says about France!!!!!!!!

[frencheneesz]

This guy is telling me I trust planes because of some bullshit government regulatory system?? I get on planes not because I trust boeing, or because I trust the government (HA!). I get on planes because they have a long standing record of safety and reliability. Has the FAA helped reach this state of reliability? Maybe, maybe not. But people don't just trust things - they trust things that work. And government regulation very seldom works. Look at airport security! What a failure.

[Perilous3D]

@AntiSchiff It's great that I don't have to say anything. You just make yourself look stupid. Keep up the good work!

[AntiSchiff]

@Perilous3D

Your momma, fag.

[Perilous3D]

@AntiSchiff You better have a big crew to back yourself up and your thug ways because you wouldn't survive a second in my community, chump.

[AntiSchiff]

@Perilous3D

Whatever, pussy. If you're one of those extremist libertarian types, if you ever got the world you wanted, someone would beat you up and take your lunch money, daily.

[jtropeano]

James K Galbraith got absolutely crushed by Milton Friedman in Free to Choose.

[58robbo]

that the way it should be. we think that we're safe because the govt mandates it so. therefore we never question whether the water is clean!