Gunnar Myrdal (1898–1987)

Who They Were

Gunnar Myrdal (1898-1987) was a Swedish economist, sociologist and politician associated with the Stockholm School of economics and with social-democratic politics. Over a long and public career he ranged well beyond technical economics into questions of social policy, race and development. His most famous work outside economics is An American Dilemma (1944), a monumental study of race relations in the United States commissioned by the Carnegie Corporation. In 1974 he shared the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences with Friedrich Hayek for their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and their analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena. The pairing was striking because the two men held almost opposite politics, and both later voiced public doubts about the prize itself.

Key Contributions

Myrdal's work spanned monetary theory, the analysis of how economic, social and institutional factors interact, and large-scale empirical studies of social problems. He is especially remembered for An American Dilemma, which examined the gap between America's stated ideals and the reality of racial inequality, and for later work on poverty and development. His 1974 Nobel, shared with Friedrich Hayek, recognised their pioneering work on money and economic fluctuations and their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena. In a notable twist, Myrdal later argued bluntly that the economics prize should be abolished - a criticism echoed in different form by his ideological opposite Hayek, who expressed his own doubts in his 1974 banquet speech.

On EconRecall

Swedish social democrat and Stockholm School economist, co-winner of the 1974 Nobel and author of An American Dilemma. Play the games that feature Gunnar Myrdal:

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