Bennett Harrison
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Bennett Harrison (June 27, 1942
Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Brooklyn Heights) was a leading radical political economist, writer, musician, songwriter. Among his academic appointments was professor of political economy at MIT, Boston. Harrison held posts at Harvard University, New School for Social Research, and Carnegie Mellon University. Harrison taught in universities in Italy and Japan.


Biography

His father was Leo Harrison, while his sister is Deborah Harrison Kuperman. His father's name was Horowitz but he eventually changed it to Harrison to get a job at a radio station. Bennett Harrison studied at
Brandeis University , mottoeng = "Truth even unto its innermost parts" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = NECHE , president = Ronald D. Liebowitz , pro ...
, and then earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1970 at the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
. His first book was about economic development in
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...
. Bennett published a book in 1994, ''Lean and Mean'', challenging a widely held belief that small and medium firms or businesses are responsible for the majority of economic innovation, growth and
job creation Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referen ...
. Focused on exposing the "middle-class malaise" and social inequalities, he argued in favor of more government involvement in the US economy, and contributed to the creation of the Union of Radical Political Economists in the 1960s. He devised economic development plans for Senator Fred Harris of Oklahoma in 1972. Economist
Barry Bluestone Barry Alan Bluestone (born December 27, 1944) is an American academic who is the Stearns Trustee Professor of Political Economy, founding director of the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy, and the founding dean of the ...
joined him in writing this and other books in the 1980s and 1990s. The writers frequently wrote on deindustrialization, urban economic planning, racism, inequality and radical economic policies. In 1991, he left the urban studies and planning department at MIT to follow his then-wife in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
. Just days before his death, he married Joan Fitzgerald.


Publications

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References

1942 births 1999 deaths Economists from New York (state) Brandeis University alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni The New School faculty 20th-century American economists 20th-century American writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers {{Planning-stub