JEFF MADRICK is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books, and a former economics columnist for The New York Times.  Director the Rediscovering Government Initiative at the Roosevelt Institute, editor of Challenge Magazine, visiting professor of humanities at The Cooper Union. He is also a senior fellow at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, The New School.  His last book, The Case for Big Government (Princeton), received a 2009 PEN Galbraith Non-Fiction Award. His new book is titled, Age of Greed, The Triumph of Finance and the Decline of America, 1970-Present, is now out in paparback and is published by Alfred A. Knopf. 

He is also the author of Taking America (Bantam, 1987), and The End of Affluence (Random House, 1995), both of which were New York Times Notable Books of the Year. Taking America was chosen by Business Week as one of the ten best books of the year. His book,  Why Economies Grow (Basic Books/Century Foundation, 2002), emphasized the need for active public investment and a broader understanding of the causes of growth than was popular in academia at the time.  He has written for many other publications over the years,  including The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Institutional Investor, The Nation, American Prospect, The Boston Globe, Newsday, and the business, op-ed, and the Sunday magazine sections of The New York Times.  He is a regular blogger for The Huffington Post and The Daily Beast.

Madrick gives many speeches and makes frequent public appearances. He has appeared on Charlie Rose, The Lehrer News Hour, Now With Bill Moyers, Frontline, C-Span, Book Notes, CNN, CNBC, CBS, BBC, and NPR.  He has also served as a policy consultant and speech writer for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy and other U.S. legislators. 

Madrick is a fellow of the World Policy Institute and the Century Foundation, and a is a member of the board of The Center for Economic and Poicy Research. 

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Madrick had several positions in journalism, including serving as  Wall Street editor of Money Magazine, finance editor of Business Week Magazine and an NBC News reporter and commentator. His awards included an Emmy and a Page One Award.

Madrick was educated at New York University and Harvard University, and was a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard.   He is married to Kim Baker and lives in New York City.

 

Washington Post's Political Best Seller

"A superb book that deserves the widest possible audience."
– David Warsh

“Compelling . . . Important. . . Ambitious in its scope... Age of Greed abounds with powerful men, ugly fights, infamous scandals, twists and turns, and, true to the book’s title, lots of shameless cupidity…"

-David Greenberg, The Washington Post

The Age of Greed is a fascinating and deeply disturbing tale of hypocrisy, corruption, and insatiable greed. But more than that, it’s a much-needed reminder of just how we got into the mess we’re in—a reminder that is greatly needed when we are still being told that greed is good.

-Paul Krugman and Robin Wells,

The New York Review of Books

Publishers Weekly Top Ten pick for Spring 2011.

As Jeff Madrick makes clear in a narrative at once sweeping, fast-paced, and incisive, the single-minded pursuit of huge personal wealth has been on the rise in the United States since the 1970s, led by a few individuals who have argued that self-interest guides society more effectively than community concerns. These stewards of American capitalism have insisted on the central and essential place of accumulated wealth through the booms, busts, and recessions of the last half century, giving rise to our current woes.

The Case for Big Government named 2009 Finalist for PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction