Galbraith's Wicked Wants

Abstract

The Neo-Puritanism of John Kenneth Galbraith would be quite relevant to times in search of a purpose—according to author Boddewyn— were it not for Galbraith's inadequate perception of the nature of wants and needs. The present author turns to the prosaic and lowly potato to show the difference between wants and needs.

And he believes that another flaw in Galbraith's thinking is that economic concepts, such as marginalism and rationality, are applied to what are basically social and moral issues.