Sidney Weintraub: 1914-1983
GALBRAITH, JOHN KENNETH
In Memoriam SIDNEY WEINTRAUB 1914-1983 BY JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH Sidney Weintraub, who ranked among the nation'sfew seminal economic thinkers, died last June 19 (see "Between Issues, "NL,...
...On October28, a memorial meeting was held at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Professor of Economics...
...These he then dismissed as he turned to the present state of economic policy, or what is so designated, going on to observations on recent and forthcoming issues ol the "Journal...
...His service was to what he believed in economic thought ond policy...
...As I've said, how wrong...
...I charge those who take up Sidney's task that they ensure it continue to be so...
...In Memoriam SIDNEY WEINTRAUB 1914-1983 BY JOHN KENNETH GALBRAITH Sidney Weintraub, who ranked among the nation'sfew seminal economic thinkers, died last June 19 (see "Between Issues, "NL, June27...
...But neither was Sidney subject to the equal and opposite tendency-he wos never a dissenter for the sake ol dissent...
...Never has that wish-Some will call it an escapist instinct -been so well served as in the case of the "JPKE...
...When the day comes that we restrain the interacting dynamic of prices and wages by meons more benign than unemployment, idle plants and general hardship, it is Sidney's name that will be cited on both policy and the theoretical underpinnings of the need...
...I cannot think that ever in his life he made a concession to what might be fashionable, popular or would bring applause...
...I talked with Sidney only a lew hours before his death...
...Nor, I venture, will his contribution in this regard be forgotten...
...It has always been my hope, when in association with such good and worthy efforts, that there will be someone who will take the initiative, assume the responsibility, and, above all, do the work...
...within the space of a few short years they led in making it one of the most progressive and policy-relevant journals in our field...
...When I asked him how he wos, he gave in matter-of-fact lashion an appalling accounting ol his disabilities...
...He will also be remembered, with Paul Davidson his greatly admired and admiring collaborator, asoneof the two founding parentsofthe "Journal of Post-Keynes-ian Economics...
...The following tribute was delivered on that occasion...
...Sidney Weintraub seemed a quiet, gentle man, the perfect example of the pliable, accommodating scholar, who, if he ventures an independentopinion, can soon be relied upon to retreat into acceptable orthodoxy...
...Of few individuals could (irst impressions be so wrong...
...Sidney was a man of powerfully original mind, who, from a superior understanding of conventional belief, was an unrelenting critic of its errors and its weaknesses and an untiring advocate of what he saw to be right...
...Sidney and Paul did all the work...
...For many years a regular contributor to these pages, as well as a warm friend of this magazine, he was a prolific author and unselfishly giving teacher...
...It was my happy privilege to be present, in a general way, at the beginning of this enterprise...
...Lei us all be grateful that our profession yields us such devoted scholors, our lives such devoted Iriends...
...Alfred Marshall, who warned against economists who cultivated their audience, would have approved of Sidney Weintraub...
Vol. 66 • November 1983 • No. 21
