Ex-US adviser Galbraith dies

HARVARD professor John Kenneth Galbraith, the renowned economist who influenced American presidents as an adviser and diplomat and was also a prolific best-selling author and TV host, has died aged 97.

Prof Galbraith died on Saturday of natural causes at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts about two weeks after he had been admitted.

His son Alan Galbraith said: “His mind was wonderful, right up until the end.”

Canadian-born Galbraith became one of America’s best-known liberals and was outspoken in his support of government action to solve social problems.

He served as adviser to Democratic presidents from Franklin D Roosevelt to Bill Clinton and was John F Kennedy’s ambassador to India.

His 1958 book, “The Affluent Society,” made the country reconsider its values and helped propel him into the international spotlight.

It argued that the American economy was producing individual wealth but hadn’t adequately addressed public needs such as schools and highways. US economists and politicians were still using the assumptions of the world of the past, where scarcity and poverty were near-universal, he said.