Robert Lewis Heilbroner (1919–2005) was an American economist and historian of economic thought, known for his work on capitalism and economic philosophy. His writings examined economic systems and the ideas of influential economists.
Born in New York City, he studied at Harvard University, earning a summa cum laude degree in philosophy, government, and economics (1940.) During World War II, he worked at the Office of Price Administration under John Kenneth Galbraith. After the war, he briefly worked in banking before transitioning to academia, earning a PhD from the New School for Social Research (1963.)
Heilbroner’s most famous book, The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Economic Thinkers (1953,) became one of the best-selling economics books. Other works include The Future as History (1960,) The Limits of American Capitalism (1966,) Marxism: For and Against (1980,) The Nature and Logic of Capitalism (1985,) and 21st Century Capitalism (1993,) often exploring capitalism’s tension with socialism.
Though a longtime socialist, Heilbroner later acknowledged capitalism’s success, famously writing in 1989, “Less than 75 years after it officially began, the contest between capitalism and socialism is over: capitalism has won.”
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The cure for capitalism’s failing would require that a government would have to rise above the interests of one class alone.
—Robert Heilbroner
Topics: Capitalism, Government
If one could divine the nature of the economic forces in the world, one could foretell the future.
—Robert Heilbroner
Topics: Economy
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