Warburg Professor of Economics Emeritus John Kenneth Galbraith told a crowd of students last night that America should address poverty as well as productivity in these flush economic times.
"There's much more to economic life than the improvement of the output of the economy," the former ambassador to India told about 70 students in the Quincy House Junior Common Room.
His speech was sponsored by the Harvard College Democrats.
"We have a good working economy, there is no doubt about that," Galbraith said. "We shouldn't put all of our praise behind the output of the economy. There's much more to it than that."
Galbraith said the most important "legacy" of the 20th century is "the very grave unfinished business of our time--poverty. "
"Nothing denies human liberty so much as the total absence of money," he said, calling this "liberty" something civil libertarians ignore.
He advocated active government involvement to reduce poverty.
"I have long urged the acceptance of a minimum basic income," he said. "Get away from the notion that there is something wicked about not working."
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