Gunnar Myrdal can best be defined as an economist, sociologist and politician. In regard to economics, he was first a mainstream theorist and then an Institutionalist. He was a senator in Sweden's Parliament in the years 1934-1936 and 1942-1946, and was minister for trade and commerce from 1945 to 1947. He later served as the executive secretary for the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe for ten years (1947-1957). He won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1974, with Friedrich August von Haye k "for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependance of economic, social, and institutional phenomena."

Myrdal and probably best known for his 1944 book, "An American Dilemna", in which he literally tore apart the "separate but equal" doctrine implemented in the United States. In fact, it was largely this work which resulted in the Supreme Court ru ling on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, in which racial segregation of public schools was outlawed. He also showed how the New Deal policies which implemented restrictions of agricultural output and the minimum wage hurt African-American s.

Myrdal's other major work, "Asian Drama: An inquiry into the Poverty of Nations", emphasized the importance of human capital and a more diverse distribution of agricultural land for economic development in Southeast Asia.

Another important book by Myrdal was, "The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory", in wich he discusses the foundations of political economy and the development of economics. In his work,"The Relation Between Social Theory and Social Policy", Myrdal wrote the following:

"It has become recognized that the most promising field for research is the "no man's land" between the traditional disciplines. There is one concept which the economist or the sociologist can keep blurred, namely the concept of "economics" o r "sociology"; for it can never be a premise for a rational inference. In reality, what exists are merely problems to be solved, theoretical or practical; and the rational way of attacking them is to use the methods which are most adequate for solving ea ch particular problem."

Works by Gunnar Myrdal:

• An American Dilemna: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy
  
• Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations
  
• The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory
  
• The Relation Between Social Theory and Social Policy
  

A Biography on Gunnar Myrdal

Click on the icon to return to the list of economists.