Gunnar Myrdal – Author of “An American Dilemma”
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Gunnar Myrdal is one of the most influential figures in economic history. He was not only an economist but also a politician. His contributions in the field of economics has not only enriched the discipline but has also helped solve many problems in applied economics.
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Personal Life and Educational Background
Karl Gunnar Myrdal was born in Gustafs, Sweden, on December 6, 1898. He graduated from the Law School of Stockholm University in 1923 and began practicing law while furthering his studies at the university.
Gunnar Myrdal is one of the most influential figures in economic history. He was not only an economist but also a politician. His contributions in the field of economics has not only enriched the discipline but has also helped solve many problems in applied economics.
Personal Life and Educational Background
Karl Gunnar Myrdal was born in Gustafs, Sweden, on December 6, 1898. He graduated from the Law School of Stockholm University in 1923 and began practicing law while furthering his studies at the university.
Myrdal received his doctorate degree in economics in 1927 and was appointed as a docent in political economy. From 1925-1929 he studied in stints in Germany and Britain.
After these spells he received the fellowship from the Rockefeller Institute and went on his first trip to the United States in 1929-1930. During this period, he also published his first books, including “The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory”.
Myrdal’s Career
After collecting his doctorate degree he returned to Europe. He first joined the Post Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland as an Associate Professor for one year.
In 1933, Myrdal was anointed a successor of Gustav Cassel to the Lars Hierta Chair of Political Economy and Public Finance at the Stockholm University. Myrdal also began to actively take part in Swedish politics and was elected to the Senate in 1934 as member of the Social Democratic Party.
In 1938, the Carnegie Corporation of New York commissioned him to conduct a study on the American Negro predicament. The material which he gathered and interpreted was published in 1944 as the landmark book “An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy”.
He was re-elected to the Swedish Senate, served as member of the Board of the Bank of Sweden, and was Chairman of the Post-War Planning Commission in Sweden in 1942.
From 1945-1947, he was Sweden’s Minister of Commerce, a position which he left to accept the most prestigious role of the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
In 1957, he quit his job to direct a comprehensive study of economic trends and policies in South Asian countries for the Twentieth Century Fund. This study culminated into a book named “Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations and The Challenge of World Poverty. A World Anti-Poverty Program in Outline”.
In1961, he returned to become the professor of International Economic Studies at the Stockholm University. He was Chairman of the Board of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). He also chaired the Board of the Latin American Institute in Stockholm. During the years 1973-1974, he was visiting Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Santa Barbara, California, and during the period of 1974-1975, he was the Distinguished Visiting Professor at New York City University.
Contribution to Economics
Myrdal’s most significant contribution to the world of economics was his book, An American Dilemma, which is considered a classic in sociology. The book is a critique on the dichotomy of the American society that has set lofty ideals for itself but has never been able to live up to those ideals. This book is based on a comprehensive research done by Myrdal on racial relations in US. This book was also instrumental in the verdict of Supreme Court against the racial discrimination. Myrdal was a believer of egalitarianism. He had singled out two of the policies namely: restrictions on agricultural output and minimum wage. In his book, Mrydal argued that all the policies taken up by the government has ended up worsening the conditions of the Afro-American community in the country and that the practice of minimum wage has adversely affected the Afro-American community.
Professor Mrydal has received more than thirty awards in his lifetime. He received the Nobel Prize in 1974 for his ‘pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena’.
Major Publications by Gunnar Myrdal
The Equality Issue in World Development, The American Economic Review, vol 79
Gunnar Myrdal on Population Policy in the Underdeveloped World, Population and Development Review, Vol 13
Twenty Years of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, International Organization, Vol 22
Social Trends in America and Strategic Approaches to the Negro Problem, Phylon, Vol. 9
Population, a Problem for Democracy The Godkin Lectures, Published by Harvard University Press
The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory
Books by Gunnar Myrdal
The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory: A Collection of Essays on Methodology
Asian Drama, An Inquiry Into The Poverty OF Nations Volumes I, II and III (Volumes I, II and III)
Economic theory and underdeveloped regions (Harper Torchbooks)
Rich lands and poor;: The road to world prosperity (World perspectives, v. 16)
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