John Kenneth Galbraith, world-renowned economist and professor at Harvard University, outlined the five major "lessons of history" that have stood out in history in the years since World War I in a speech last night.
Galbraith's speech, titled "A Journey Through Economic Time," was the inaugural lecture for the Bernard D. Nossiter Prize in Journalism. About 170 people attended the speech last night at Cook Auditorium.
Although history "has its own separate and justified interest, it can act as a guide to present understanding," Galbraith said.
The first issue Galbraith mentioned as a "lesson of history" was the role of land and an escape from the landed interest. Galbraith said the land-owning interest is hostile to economic development because they are comfortable with their status in society.
In the last 50 years, the two countries with the greatest economic advance are Hong Kong and Singapore, and neither of these countries have any farmers, Galbraith said.
The second issue Galbraith addressed was the role of military and financial ineptitude in shaping the course of American history. He said at the beginning of World War II, America was concerned fascism would triumph in Europe because America's attention would be turned to the war in the Pacific.
Galbraith said "suddenly we were rescued by Germany," when it declared war on the United States.
Moral ineptitude has also been evident in financial matters, Galbraith said. He mentioned the perils of the great stock market speculation of the 1920s and the Savings and Loan debacle of the 1980s.
Galbraith's third lesson was that economic policy is determined too often "not by what is right and effective" but by what is efficient.
As an example, he mentioned the energy crisis of the 1970s, which he suggested could have been controlled by limiting demand and stabilizing prices. Instead, Galbraith said, the problem was turned over to the Federal Reserve Bank, which he said raised interest rates that inevitably led to the stagflation of the late 1970s.
Galbraith said instead of focusing on macroeconomic issues, economic policy makers should look at microeconomic factors such as price stability, housing and education.
The fourth issue Galbraith mentioned was the danger of concentrating too much on inflation and not on unemployment.
Galbraith said price increases illicit more attention because politically and socially influential people raise loud objections to them, while unemployment is suffered by the politically voiceless.
"Unemployment has become the accepted price we pay for price stability," he said.
Galbraith said it is better to suffer modest price increases in return for the "protection from unemployment of all our fellow citizens."
Galbraith's address followed the presentation of the first-ever Bernard D. Nossiter Prize in Journalism.
Alexander Edlich '96 was the recipient of this year's award for stories he wrote in the fall for Bloomberg Business News, a financial wire service based in New York City.
The Nossiter Prize of up to $1,000 recognizes excellence in journalism.
"It is an honor to win such a prestigious award named after a brilliant journalist," said Edlich, who is The Dartmouth's associate editor. "The Nossiter family is very generous in creating this prize to recognize journalism at the College."
Anne Bagamery '78, one of the members of the prize jury and a writer for the International Herald Tribune, said the five-member committee looked for student journalists who were not afraid to break ground with original work or reporting and who were not afraid to challenge the conventional wisdom in a responsible manner.
