Gunnar Myrdal

49
Gunnar Myrdal bigraphy, stories - Swedish economist

Gunnar Myrdal : biography

06 December 1898 – 17 May 1987

Karl Gunnar Myrdal ( 6 December 1898 – 17 May 1987) was a Swedish Nobel Laureate economist, sociologist, and politician. In 1974, he received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with Friedrich Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena." He is best known in the United States for his study of race relations, which culminated in his book An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. The study was influential in the 1954 landmark U.S. Supreme Court Decision Brown v. Board of Education.

Quotes by Gunnar Myrdal

"Education has in America’s whole history been the major hope for improving the individual and society."

"Education means an assimilation of white American culture. It decreases the dissimilarity of the Negroes from other Americans."

“The big majority of Americans, who are comparatively well off, have developed an ability to have enclaves of people living in the greatest misery without almost noticing them.”

“In a time of deepening crisis in the underdeveloped world, of social malaise in the affluent societies . . it seems likely that Gandhi’s ideas and techniques will become increasingly relevant.”

"The study of women’s intelligence and personality has had broadly the same history as the one we record for Negroes … in drawing a parallel between the position of, and feeling toward, women and Negroes, we are uncovering a fundamental basis of our culture."

"White prejudice and discrimination keep the Negro low in standards of living, health, education, manners and morals. This, in its turn, gives support to white prejudice. White prejudice and Negro standards thus mutually ‘cause’ each other." (An American Dilemma)

"Correlations are not explanations and besides, they can be as spurious as the high correlation in Finland between foxes killed and divorces." (Beyond the Welfare State)

“It is in the agricultural sector that the battle for long-term economic development will be won or lost.”

Contributions to the philosophy of knowledge

Gunnar Myrdal’s scientific influence was not limited to economics. Through the introduction to "Asian Drama" with the title "The Beam in our Eyes" (a biblical reference; cf. Matthew 7:1–2) he introduced the approach mentioned as scientific relativism of values. This behavioral approach is narrowly connected to behavioralism and is built on the idea that the logical gulf between "is" and "ought" is more sophisticated than just dividing premises into categories. The articles edited in "Value in Social Theory" underlines Myrdal’s importance to political science. As political science normally is considered more descriptive as economics one might get the idea that Myrdal should not have dealt systematically with the values applied to economics. On the contrary, Myrdal connected social science, political science and economics as a practitioner.

Myrdal published many notable works, both before and after American Dilemma and, among many other contributions to social and public policy, founded and chaired the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Internationally revered as a father-figure of social policy, he contributed to social democratic thinking throughout the world, in collaboration with friends and colleagues in the political and academic arenas. Sweden and Britain were among the pioneers of a welfare state and books by Myrdal (Beyond the Welfare State – New Haven, 1958) and Richard Titmuss (Essays on “The Welfare State” – London, 1958) unsurprisingly explore similar themes. Myrdal’s theoretical key concept "circular cumulative causation" contributed to the development of modern Non-equilibrium economics.

Publications

  • The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory. (1930)
  • The Cost of Living in Sweden, 1830-1930 (1933)
  • Crisis in the Population Question (1934)
  • Fiscal Policy in the Business Cycle. The American Economic Review, vol 21, no 1, Mar 1939.
  • Population, a Problem for Democracy. Harvard University Press, 1940.
  • Contact With America (1941)Gene Robers and Hank Klibanoff; The Race Beat: The Press, The Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation. 2006. USA.
  • An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy. Harper & Bros, 1944.
  • Social Trends in America and Strategic Approaches to the Negro Problem. Phylon, Vol. 9, No. 3, 3rd Quarter, 1948.
  • Conference of the British Sociological Association, 1953. II Opening Address: The Relation between Social Theory and Social Policy The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 4, No. 3, Sept. 1953.
  • An International Economy, Problems and Prospects. Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1956.
  • Rich Lands and Poor. 1957.
  • Economic Theory and Underdeveloped Regions, Gerald Duckworth, 1957.
  • Value in Social Theory: A Selection of Essays on Methodology. Ed. Paul Streeten, published by Harper, 1958.
  • Beyond the Welfare State. Yale University Press, 1960.
  • Challenge to Affluence. Random House, 1963.
  • America and Vietnam – Transition, No. 3, Oct, 1967.
  • Twenty Years of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. International Organization, Vol 22, No. 3, Summer, 1968.
  • Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations.
  • Objectivity in Social Research, 1969.
  • The Challenge of World Poverty: A World Anti-Poverty Program in Outline. 1970.
  • Against the Stream.
  • Hur Styrs Landet?, 1982.
  • Gunnar Myrdal on Population Policy in the Underdeveloped World – Population and Development Review, Vol 13, No. 3, Sept. 1987.
  • The Equality Issue in World Development – The American Economic Review, vol 79, no 6, Dec 1989.