Gardiner C. Means: Institutionalist and post Keynesian

Gardiner Means has a secure place in the history of 20th century economic thought, as the co-author with A.A.Berle of “The Modern Corporation and Private Property”. But according to Samuels and Medema, Means should be remembered for major contributions in both micro- and macroeconomics. The authors discuss Means's ideas of administered pricing and profit maximization within the giant corporation, the possible links between industrial structure and macroeconomic performance, a theory of the firm as it relates to the market, and the micro foundations of macroeconomics. Central to Means's macroeconomics is his theory that administered pricing generates inflation and stagflation. Means, in the authors' view, was a seminal thinker and a post-Keynesian economist, as well as an institutionalist. This book also gives an precis of Means's unusual career in government and the academy.

Duke Scholars

Author Steven G. Medema Economics