James Galbraith

James Galbraith holds the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and serves as Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin, contributing to the field of Business & Economics. He received his A.B. magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1974, was a Marshall Scholar at King's College, University of Cambridge from 1974 to 1975, and earned his M.A. in 1977, M.Phil. in 1978, and Ph.D. in Economics in 1981 from Yale University. His distinguished career includes roles such as Executive Director of the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress from 1981 to 1982, Deputy Director from 1983 to 1984, and Economist for the House Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs from 1975-1976 and 1977-1980. At UT Austin, he joined as a Visiting Associate in 1985-1986, progressed to Associate Professor from 1986-1990, Professor from 1990-2002, and has held his current chair position since. He also served as chief technical adviser for macroeconomic reform to the State Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 1997.

Galbraith's research interests encompass economics, social policy, development policy, macroeconomic policy, monetary policy, economic development policies, comparative economic policy, and economic inequality; he directs the University of Texas Inequality Project. Among his major publications are Entropy Economics: The Living Basis of Value and Production (2025), Welcome to the Poisoned Chalice: The Destruction of Greece and the Future of Europe (2016), Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know (2016), The End of Normal: The Great Crisis and the Future of Growth (2014), Inequality and Instability: A Study of the World Economy Just Before the Great Crisis (2012), The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too (2008), Created Unequal: The Crisis in American Pay (1998), and Balancing Acts: Technology, Finance and the American Future (1989). He has received prestigious awards including election to the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (2010), the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economics (2014), the Veblen-Commons Award (2020), election to the Russian Academy of Sciences (2022), and the Lisbon Academy of Sciences (2023). Galbraith is a managing editor of Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, former chair of the board of Economists for Peace and Security (1996-2016), president of the Association for Evolutionary Economics (2012), and senior scholar of the Levy Economics Institute.

Professional Email: galbraith@mail.utexas.edu