Robert Lekachman

Robert Lekachman (1920 – January 14, 1989) was an economist known for his extensive advocacy of state intervention, and for a debating style characterized by slow, sing-song speech and circumlocution.

He was Distinguished Professor of Economics at Lehman College in the City University of New York. He received both his A.B. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

Lekachman was also noted for an interpretation of Keynes's General Theory that made central its rejection of Say's Law (in favor of Walras' law).

Lekachman identified as a socialist.

He died at his Manhattan home of liver cancer, survived by his wife Eva, who donated his papers in 1995.

Selected publications

• National Policy for Economic Welfare at Home and Abroad. 1955. Doubleday.
• A History of Economic Ideas. 1959. Harper.
• The varieties of economics. 1962. Cleveland: World Pub Co.
• Keynes and the classics. 1964. Heath.
• Keynes's General Theory: Reports of Three Decades. 1964. St. Martin's Press.
• The Age of Keynes. 1966. New York: Vintage Books.
• National income and the public welfare. 1972. New York: Random House. ISBN 039431087X
• Public service employment: jobs for all. 1972.
• Inflation: the permanent problem of boom and bust. 1973. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 0394489683
• Economists at Bay : why the experts will never solve your problems. 1977. McGraw-Hill.
• The great Tax debate.
• Capitalism for Beginners. 1981. Pantheon
• Greed Is Not Enough: Reaganomics. 1982. Pantheon.
• Visions and Nightmares : America after Reagan. 1987. Macmillan.