American Capitalism The Concept of Countervailing Power by Galbraith, John Kenneth - 1952

E-177: Houghton Mifflin Company. Very Good in Very Good- dust jacket. 1952. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. Hardcover. 8vo. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA. 1952. Xi, 217 pgs. First Edition/First Printing. DJ has shelf-wear present to the DJ extremities (light chip present to the gutter of the spine, light fading to the spine). Bound in blue cloth with gilt titles present to the spine and the front board. Text is clean and free of marks, binding tight and solid, boards clean with no wear present. This is an economics book intended for all literate Americans, but its boldness and penetration and the originality of its central thesis are so marked that it was destined to become a landmark for the professional economist and general public alike. Galbraith highlights the role of "Countervailing Power" in dealing with market failure and outlines its operation at the micro, and at the macro levels. At the micro level, firms might merge or band together to influence the price. Individual wage earners might also combine in unions to influence wage rates. Finally, government might intervene in the market place where required to provide regulation where countervailing power failed to develop but was nevertheless required. He concluded that Countervailing power was legitimate and welcome as the alternative of state control would be much less palatable to the business community. Without countervailing power, Galbraith concluded, private decisions could and presumably would lead to the unhampered exploitation of the public, or of workers, farmers and others who are intrinsically weak as individuals. Such decisions would be a proper object of state interference or would soon so become. Contents: Insecurity of Illusion; Foundations of the Faith; Problem of Power; Abandonment of the Model; Rebirth of Market Power; Depression Psychosis; Economics of Technical Development; Unseemly Economics of Opulence; Theory of Countervailing Power, Countervailing power and the State; Case of Agriculture; Role of Decentralized Decision; Role of Centralized Decision; Centralized Decision and Inflation Size. E-177; 8.1 X 5.6 X 1.0 inches; 230 pages .