Galbraith, Solow, and the truth about corporations
I have volunteered to intervene in the Solow-Galbraith controversy, which began in the Fall issue of this journal, because I have some doubts whether, at the end of the day, the lay reader was left clear about the basic issues. I am not concerned with the scores in the personal exchange: both protagonists are especially brilliant in polemic, and the reader certainly got his money’s worth in style. The reader also got from Professor Solow an excellent summary of The New Industrial State, almost as skillful as his attempt to destroy it. For the record, I will only say that I do not think either protagonist has a Beautiful Appearance: both are imposingly tall, and both have very craggy faces that seem, in their different ways, to express so much of what has made this country what it is. As will become apparent, however, I am politically biased in favor of Galbraith and will probably be unfair to Solow.