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{{short description|Swedish economist, sociologist, and Nobel Laureate (1898–1987)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox economist
| school_tradition  = [[Stockholm school (economics)|Stockholm school]]
| name              = Gunnar Myrdal
| image             = Gunnar Myrdal 1964 002 (cropped).jpg
| caption           = Myrdal in 1964
| birth_name        = Karl Gunnar Myrdal
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1898|12|6|df=y}}
| birth_place       = [[Skattungbyn]], Sweden
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1987|5|17|1898|12|6|df=y}}
| death_place       = [[Trångsund]], Sweden
| field             = [[Macroeconomics]], [[sociology]]
| institution       = [[Stockholm University]]<br />[[New York University]] <br />[[Graduate Institute of International Studies|Geneva Graduate Institute]]
| doctoral_advisor  = [[Gustav Cassel]]
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students = {{plainlist|1=
* [[Rudolf Meidner]]
* [[Leo Törnqvist]]
}}
| influences        = [[Knut Wicksell]]<br />[[John R. Commons]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Walter A.|title=Gunnar Myrdal and America's Conscience: Social Engineering and Racial Liberalism, 1938–1987|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b5D1ev51ZU8C|year=1994|publisher=UNC Press Books|isbn=978-0807844601}}</ref><br />[[Raúl Prebisch]]
<!--| influenced        = [[Ha-Joon Chang]]<br />[[G. L. S. Shackle]]-->
| notable_students  =
| contributions     = [[Monetary equilibrium]], [[ex-ante]], [[circular cumulative causation]]
| awards            = [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]] (1974)<ref name=nobel/><br />[[Bronislaw Malinowski Award]] (1975)
| spouse = {{marriage|[[Alva Myrdal]]|1924|1986|end=died}}
| children = 3, including [[Sissela Bok]] and [[Jan Myrdal]]
| relatives = [[Stefan Fölster]] (grandson)
| education=[[Stockholm University]]
| signature= Gunnar Myrdal signature.svg}}

'''Karl Gunnar Myrdal''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɜːr|d|ɑː|l|,_|ˈ|m|ɪər|-}} {{respell|MUR|dahl|,_|MEER|-}}; {{IPA|sv|ˈɡɵ̌nːar ˈmy̌ːɖɑːl|lang}}; 6 December 1898 – 17 May 1987) was a Swedish [[economist]] and [[sociologist]]. In 1974, he received the [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]] along with [[Friedrich Hayek]] for "their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations and for their penetrating analysis of the interdependence of economic, social and institutional phenomena."<ref name="nobel">{{Nobelprize |accessdate=2020-05-03}}</ref> When his wife, [[Alva Myrdal]], received the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1982, they became the [[Nobel Prize#Statistics|fourth ever married couple]] to have won Nobel Prizes, and the first and only to win independent of each other (versus a shared Nobel Prize by scientist spouses).

Myrdal is best known in the United States for his study of race relations, which culminated in his book ''[[An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy]]''. The study was influential in the 1954 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''. In Sweden, his work and political influence were important to the establishment of the ''[[Folkhemmet]]'' and the [[welfare state]].<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1007/978-3-030-03700-0 |title=Swedish Economists in the 1930s Debate on Economic Planning |year=2018 |last1=Carlson |first1=Benny |isbn=978-3030036997 }}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Myrdal was born on 6 December 1898, in [[Skattungbyn]], Sweden, to Karl Adolf Pettersson (1876–1934), a building contractor, and his wife Anna Sofia Karlsson (1878–1965). He took the name ''Myrdal'' in 1914 after his ancestors' farm Myr in the province of [[Dalarna]].

There is a possibly apocryphal story about an interaction between him and [[Gustav Cassel]], where Cassel was reported to say, "Gunnar, you should be more respectful to your elders, because it is we who will determine your promotion," and he replied, "Yes, but it is we who will write your obituaries."<ref name="obituary2">
{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/18/obituaries/gunnar-myrdal-analyst-of-race-crisis-dies.html?pagewanted=2 |title=Gunnar Myrdal, Analyst of Race Crisis, Dies |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=2010-08-17 |date=1987-05-18}}</ref>

Gunnar Myrdal graduated with a law degree from [[Stockholm University]] in 1923 and a doctorate in economics in 1927. In June 1919, he met [[Alva Myrdal|Alva Reimer]], whom he married in October 1924<ref name="(Karl) Gunnar Mydral Biography">{{Cite news |url=http://www.biography.com/articles/Karl-Gunnar-Myrdal-9419644 |title=(Karl) Gunnar Mydral Biography |date=August 9, 2010 |periodical=[[biography.com]] |access-date=2010-08-09 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818133531/http://www.biography.com/articles/Karl-Gunnar-Myrdal-9419644 |archive-date=August 18, 2010 }}</ref> and had the first of their three children in 1927.

Myrdal's [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] thesis, ''The Problem of Price Formation under Economic Change'', had three parts: The Basics of the Dynamic Problem of Price Formation, The Problem of the Profit of the Enterprise, and The Optimal Mode of Construction and Change, the most mathematical of the three, where he studied equilibrium of price formation under dynamic conditions.

In Gunnar Myrdal's doctoral dissertation, published in 1927, he examined the role of expectations in price formation. His analysis strongly influenced the [[Stockholm school (economics)|Stockholm school]]. He built on [[Knut Wicksell]]'s theories of [[cumulative process]] of [[endogenous money]], stressing the importance of [[Knightian uncertainty]] and ''[[ex ante]]'' and ''[[ex post]]'' expectations role in the economic process.

==Early career==
Between 1925 and 1929, Myrdal studied in Britain and Germany. He was a Rockefeller Fellow and visited the United States in 1929–1930. During this period, he published his first books, including ''The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory'' in 1930''.'' Returning to Europe, he served for one year as associate professor in the [[Graduate Institute of International Studies]], Geneva, Switzerland.<ref name="nobel"/>

''The Political Element'' is a compilation of Myrdal's lectures presented at the University of Stockholm. It gives us the historical account of the influence of politics in the development of economic theory and the relation between them. Gunnar believed that economics would be considered a true science only when the political aspect was dissociated. It was initially written to criticize the older generation of Swedish economists such as [[Eli Heckscher]], [[Gustav Cassel]], and Brisman, for combining and confusing facts and values in their theories of 'maximum welfare', '[[price level]]', and 'national income'. But later it turned out be a general critique of the economic theory where he emphasized that economics should be objective and independent from values. He wrote that although economists claim to be scientific and objective, their conclusion from their analyses was always politically inclined. ''The Political Element'' was translated to German in 1932 and to English in 1953.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory with a new introduction by Richard Swedberg|last=Myrdal|first=Gunnar|publisher=Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group|year=2017|isbn=978-0887388279|location=Abingdon, Oxon|pages=xvi–xvii, xxiii}}</ref>

Gunnar Myrdal was at first fascinated by the abstract mathematical models coming into fashion in the 1920s, and helped found the [[Econometric Society]] in London. Later, however, he accused the movement of ignoring the problem of distribution of wealth in its obsession with economic growth, of using faulty statistics and substituting Greek letters for missing data in its formulas and of flouting logic. He wrote, "Correlations are not explanations and besides, they can be as spurious as the high correlation in Finland between foxes killed and divorces." Professor Myrdal was an early supporter of the theses of [[John Maynard Keynes]], although he maintained that the basic idea of adjusting national budgets to slow or speed an economy was first developed by him and articulated in his book ''Monetary Economics'', published in 1932, four years prior to Keynes' ''[[General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money]]''.<ref name="obituary2" />

William Barber's comment upon Myrdal's work on monetary theory goes like this:
{{blockquote|sign=|source=|If his contribution had been available to readers of English before 1936, it is interesting to speculate whether the 'revolution' in macroeconomic theory of the depression decade would be referred to as 'Myrdalian' as much as 'Keynesian'.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lCCBDAAAQBAJ|title=Gunnar Myrdal : an intellectual biography|last=Barber|first=William|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2008|isbn=978-0230289017|location=Basingstoke|oclc=681925215}}</ref>}}

Economist [[G. L. S. Shackle]] claimed the importance of Gunnar Myrdal's analysis by which saving and investment are allowed to adjust ex ante to each other. However, the reference to [[Ex-ante|''ex ante'']] and ''[[ex post]]'' analysis has become so usual in modern [[macroeconomics]] that the position of Keynes to not include it in his work was currently considered as an oddity, if not a mistake. As Shackle put it:
{{blockquote|Myrdalian ex ante language would have saved the General Theory from describing the flow of investment and the flow of saving as identically, tautologically equal, and within the same discourse, treating their equality as a condition which may, or not, be fulfilled.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shackle|first=G.L.S.|editor=John Pheby|title=New Directions in Post-Keynesian Economics|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QHXk3RPsivgC&pg=PA48|year=1989|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=978-1782543558|page=48|chapter=3: What did the General Theory do?}}</ref>}}

Gunnar Myrdal also developed the key concept [[circular cumulative causation]], a multi-causal approach where the core variables and their linkages are delineated.

==Academic career==
[[File:Straus and Myrdal 1938 Trim.jpg|thumb|right|Myrdal (left) examines dwelling models with [[United States Housing Authority|U.S. Housing Administrator]] [[Nathan Straus Jr.]], 1938]]
Gunnar Myrdal became professor at Stockholms Högskola 1933. Myrdal was professor of economics at Stockholms Högskola for 15 years, until 1947.<ref name="ne.se">{{Cite web |date=2023-10-29 |title=Gunnar Myrdal |url=https://www.ne.se/uppslagsverk/encyklopedi/l%C3%A5ng/gunnar-myrdal |website=[[Nationalencyklopedin]]}}</ref>

He became a [[Swedish Social Democratic Party|Social Democratic]] Member of Parliament from 1933, and again from 1945 to 1947 he served as [[Minister of Commerce and Industry (Sweden)|Minister of Commerce and Industry]] in [[Tage Erlander]]'s government. During this period, he was heavily criticized for his financial agreement with the Soviet Union. At the same time he was accused of being responsible for the Swedish monetary crisis in 1947.<ref>{{Citation|last=Appelqvist|first=Örjan|title=Gunnar Myrdal i svensk politik 1943–1947|date=1999-06-15|issue=1 |pages=33–51 |url=https://edoc.hu-berlin.de/handle/18452/8381|publisher=Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin|doi=10.18452/7729|access-date=2019-08-14}}</ref>

He coauthored with his wife, [[Alva Myrdal]], the ''[[Crisis in the Population Question]]'' ({{langx|sv|Kris i befolkningsfrågan}}, 1934). The work of Gunnar and Alva inspired policies adopted by the Minister of Social Affairs, [[Gustav Möller]], to provide social support to families.

Gunnar Myrdal headed a comprehensive study of sociological, economic, anthropological and legal data on race relations in the United States funded by the [[Carnegie Corporation of New York|Carnegie Corporation]], starting in 1938. The result of the effort was Gunnar Myrdal's best-known work, ''[[An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy]]'', published in 1944, written with the collaboration of R. M. E. Sterner and Arnold Rose.<ref name="Encyclopedia.com">{{Cite news |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Gunnar_Myrdal.aspx |title=Gunnar Myrdal Facts, information, pictures |date=August 11, 2010 |periodical=[[Encyclopedia.com]] |access-date = 2010-08-11 }}</ref>  He characterized the problem of race relations as a dilemma because of a perceived conflict between high ideals, embodied in what he called the "American Creed," on the one hand and poor performance on the other.  In the generations since the Civil War, the U.S. had been unable to put its human rights ideals into practice for the African American tenth of its population.<ref name="An American Dilemma">{{Cite news |url=https://www.pbs.org/ralphbunche/activist_dilemma.html |title=An American Dilemma  |date=August 9, 2010 |periodical=[[PBS.org]] |access-date = 2010-08-09 }}</ref>  This book was cited by the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] in its 1954 decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'', which outlawed racial segregation in public schools.  Myrdal planned on doing a similar study on gender inequality, but he could not find funding for this project and never completed it.

==World War II and after==
During World War II, Gunnar Myrdal was staunchly and publicly anti-Nazi.  Together with his wife, [[Alva Myrdal|Alva]], he wrote ''Contact with America'' in 1941, which praised the United States' democratic institutions.<ref name="obituary3">{{cite journal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/18/obituaries/gunnar-myrdal-analyst-of-race-crisis-dies.html?pagewanted=3  |title=Gunnar Myrdal, Analyst of Race Crisis, Dies  |journal=The New York Times |date=18 May 1987 |access-date=2010-08-17}}</ref>

Gunnar Myrdal became the Executive Secretary of the [[United Nations Economic Commission for Europe]] in 1947. During his tenure, he founded one of the leading centers of economic research and policy development.<ref name="An Intellectual Biography">{{Cite news |url=http://epress.anu.edu.au/agenda/015/03/mobile_devices/ch10.html |title=Gunnar Myrdal, An Intellectual Biography |date=August 11, 2010 |periodical=Epress.anu.edu.au |access-date=2010-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110411204243/http://epress.anu.edu.au/agenda/015/03/mobile_devices/ch10.html |archive-date=2011-04-11 |url-status=dead }}</ref> After ten years in the position, Dr. Myrdal resigned as Executive Secretary in 1957. In 1956 and 1957, he was able to publish ''An International Economy, Problems and Prospects'', ''Rich Lands and Poor'' and ''Economic Theory and Underdeveloped Regions.''<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Higgins |first1=Benjamin |title=Prospects for an International Economy |journal=World Politics |date=April 1957 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=458–471 |doi=10.2307/2008926 |jstor=2008926 |hdl=1721.1/85157 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Myrdal was also a signatory of the 1950 [[UNESCO]] statement ''[[The Race Question]]'', which rebuts the theories of racial supremacy and purity, and also influenced the ''Brown v. Board of Education'' decision.  "What he knew about [United States] constitutional law we are not told nor have we been able to learn."<ref>State ex rel. Hawkins v. Board of Control, 93 So. 2d 354, 361 (Fla. 1957).</ref> In 1956, Myrdal wrote the foreword for African American author Richard Wright's ''[[The Color Curtain|The Color Curtain: A Report on the Bandung Conference]]''.

Between 1960 and 1967, he was a professor of [[international economics]] at [[Stockholm University]]. In 1961, he founded the [[Institute for International Economic Studies]] at the University. Throughout the 1960s, he worked on a comprehensive study of trends and policies in South Asia for the [[The Century Foundation|Twentieth Century Fund]]. The study culminated in his three-volume ''Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations,'' published in 1968. In 1970, he published a companion book called ''The Challenge of World Poverty,'' where he laid out what he believed to be the chief policy solutions to the problems he outlined in ''Asian Drama.''

Gunnar Myrdal strongly opposed the [[Vietnam War]]. In ''Asian Drama'', Myrdal predicted that land reform and pacification would fail in [[Vietnam]] and urged the United States to begin negotiations with [[North Vietnam]]. After returning to Sweden, he headed the Swedish Vietnam Committee and became co-chair of International Commission of Inquiry Into U.S. War Crimes in Indochina. He also presided over the [[Stockholm International Peace Research Institute]], an international watchdog for the arms trade.<ref name="obituary4">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/18/obituaries/gunnar-myrdal-analyst-of-race-crisis-dies.html|title=Gunnar Myrdal, Analyst of Race Crisis, Dies|date=1987-05-18|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-08-14|language=en-US }}</ref>  He was one of the signers of the [[Humanist Manifesto II|Humanist Manifesto]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/Humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_II | title=Humanist Manifesto II | publisher=American Humanist Association | access-date=October 10, 2012 | archive-date=20 October 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121020110719/http://www.americanhumanist.org/humanism/Humanist_Manifesto_II | url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Myrdal 1980.jpg|thumb|upright|Myrdal in 1980]]
In 1967 Myrdal received an honorary doctorate from [[Sir George Williams University]], which later became [[Concordia University]].<ref name="Concordia University"/>

In 1971 both he and his wife received honorary doctorates from [[Gustavus Adolphus College]] in Saint Peter, Minnesota.

He shared the [[Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel|Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences]] (otherwise known as the [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics]]) with [[Friedrich Hayek]] in 1974,<ref name="The Nobel Prize in Economics 1974">{{Cite news |url=http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/1974/press.html |title=The Prize in Economics 1974 |date=August 9, 2010 |periodical=[[nobelprize.org]] |access-date = 2010-08-09 }}</ref> but argued for its abolition because he believed that economics is a "soft" science.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nobel Award in Economics: Should Prize Be Abolished? |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/03/31/archives/nobel-award-in-economics-should-prize-be-abolished.html |work=The New York Times |date=31 March 1977}}</ref>

During 1974–1975, he served as visiting professor at [[New York University|NYU]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Clark|first=Kenneth Bancroft|title=Toward Humanity and Justice: The Writings of Kenneth B. Clark, Scholar of the 1954 Brown V. Board of Education Decision|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sf2tmfIyplQC&pg=PA285|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0275975098|page=285}}</ref>

Myrdal received an [[Honorary degree|Honorary Doctorate]] from [[Heriot-Watt University]] in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|title=Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh: Honorary Graduates|last=|website=www1.hw.ac.uk|access-date=2016-04-06|archive-date=18 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160418163907/http://www1.hw.ac.uk/graduation/honorary-graduates.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:Alva and Gunnar Myrdal at desk (edited).jpg|thumb|upright|Alva and Gunnar Myrdal circa 1980]]
Myrdal married politician and diplomat [[Alva Myrdal]] in 1924, and together had son [[Jan Myrdal]] (born 1927), daughter [[Sissela Bok]] (born 1934) and daughter Kaj Fölster (born 1936).<ref name="Harnesk (1962), p. 935">{{cite book |url=https://runeberg.org/vemarvem/sthlm62/0959.html |editor1-last=Harnesk |editor1-first=Paul |date=1962 |title=Vem är vem? 1, Stor-Stockholm |trans-title=Who's Who? 1, Greater Stockholm |edition=2nd |location=Stockholm |publisher=Vem är vem |language=sv |id={{SELIBR|53509}} |page=935}}</ref> Through Fölster, he is the grandfather of Swedish economist [[Stefan Fölster]].

Alva Myrdal was a prominent leader of the disarmament movement. She, along with [[Alfonso García Robles]], received the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] in 1982.

Myrdal suffered from [[Parkinson's disease]] and was hospitalized for two months before he died in a hospital in [[Trångsund, Stockholm|Trångsund]], south of [[Stockholm]], on 17 May 1987. His daughter Kaj Fölster and his grandson, Janken Myrdal, were present.<ref name="obituary">{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/18/obituaries/gunnar-myrdal-analyst-of-race-crisis-dies.html |title=Gunnar Myrdal, Analyst of Race Crisis, Dies |work=The New York Times |access-date=2010-08-17 |date=1987-05-18}}</ref>

==Contributions to the philosophy of knowledge==
Gunnar Myrdal's scientific influence was not limited to economics. Through the introduction to ''Asian Drama'' with the title "The Beam in our Eyes" (a biblical reference; cf. [[Matthew 7]]:1–2) he introduced the approach mentioned as scientific relativism of values. This behavioral approach is narrowly connected to [[behavioralism]] and is built on the idea that the logical gulf between "is" and "ought" is more sophisticated than just dividing premises into categories. The articles edited in "Value in Social Theory" underlines Myrdal's importance to political science. As political science normally is considered more descriptive than economics, one might get the idea that Myrdal should not have dealt systematically with the values applied to economics. On the contrary, Myrdal connected [[social science]], [[political science]] and [[economics]] as a practitioner.

Myrdal published many notable works, both before and after ''American Dilemma'' and, among many other contributions to social and public policy, founded and chaired the [[Stockholm International Peace Research Institute]]. Internationally revered as a father-figure of [[social policy]], he contributed to [[social democrat]]ic thinking throughout the world, in collaboration with friends and colleagues in the political and academic arenas. Sweden and Britain were among the pioneers of a [[welfare state]] and books by Myrdal (''Beyond the Welfare State'' – New Haven, 1958) and [[Richard Titmuss]] (''Essays on "The Welfare State"'' – London, 1958) unsurprisingly explore similar themes. Myrdal's theoretical key concept "circular cumulative causation" contributed to the development of modern [[Non-equilibrium economics]].<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.4324/9780203873731 |title=The Foundations of Non-Equilibrium Economics |year=2009 |isbn=978-1135256432 |editor-last1=Berger |editor-first1=Sebastian }}{{pn|date=January 2025}}</ref>

=== Welfare world ===
Myrdal suggested that we need to evolve from the welfare state to the welfare world, which would enable the [[redistribution of income and wealth]] not only within a country but also on a global scale. During the [[Cold War]] era, In ''Beyond the Welfare State'', he proposed the idea of the welfare world to overcome the limitations of the [[welfare state]] in the West.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Marianne |title=Swedish intellectual thought on inequality and a 'welfare world' |journal=Global Intellectual History |date=3 March 2024 |volume=9 |issue=1–2 |pages=81–96 |doi=10.1080/23801883.2022.2062415 }}</ref> Myrdal's recommendations were not accepted by international technocrats or by developing countries.<ref name=":0" /> However, he also thought it a more difficult task to establish the welfare world than a welfare state.{{sfnp|Myrdal|1960|page=220 (by the Japanese ed.)}}

He pointed out the following limitations of the welfare state:
* [[Nationalism]] of already existing Western welfare states preventing development in underdeveloped countries.
* Other difficulties of development in the [[developing countries]].
* Existence of the [[Eastern Bloc|communist countries]] acting as a provocateur for more revolutionary transformations.

==Awards and honours==

===Awards===
* West German Peace Prize (1970; jointly with his wife [[Alva Myrdal]])<ref name="Encyclopædia Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alva-Reimer-Myrdal |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |title=Alva Reimer Myrdal |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences]] (1974)<ref name="Nobel Prize">{{cite web |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1974/myrdal/biographical/ |publisher=[[Nobel Prize]] |title=Gunnar Myrdal – Biographical |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[Bronislaw Malinowski Award]] (1975)<ref name="Nobel Prize"/>
* [[Veblen-Commons Award]] (1975)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Past Veblen-Commons Award Recipients |url=https://afee.net/?page=institutional_economics&side=veblencommons_award&sub=past_veblencommons_award_recipients |access-date=2024-03-08 |website=afee.net}}</ref>

===Honorary degrees===
* [[Harvard University]] (1938)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785">{{cite book |url=https://runeberg.org/vemardet/1985/0785.html |title=Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 1985 |trans-title=Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 1985 |year=1984 |location=Stockholm |publisher=Norstedt |language=sv |isbn=9118432220 |id={{SELIBR|3681527}} |page=785}}</ref>
* [[Fisk University]] (1947)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Nancy-Université]] (1950)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Columbia University]], Doctor of Humane Letters (1 June 1954)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://library.columbia.edu/content/dam/libraryweb/locations/uarchives/Forms/Honorary%20Degrees.xls |publisher=[[Columbia University Libraries]] |title=Honorary Degree Types |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[The New School for Social Research]] (1956)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[University of Leeds]], Legume Doctor (1957)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.leeds.ac.uk/download/77/honorary_graduates |publisher=[[University of Leeds]] |title=Honorary Graduates 1904–2019 |page=9 |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[Yale University]], Doctor of Laws (1959)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://secretary.yale.edu/programs-services/honorary-degrees/since-1702?field_degrees_value=All&field_year_value=All&keys=myrdal |publisher=[[Yale University]] |title=Honorary Degrees Since 1702 |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[University of Birmingham]] (1961)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Brandeis University]], Doctor of Laws (8 October 1961)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brandeis.edu/trustees/hdr/recipients.html |publisher=[[Brandeis University]] |title=Honorary Degree Recipients |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[Howard University]], Legume Doctor (1962)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.howard.edu/secretary/convocations/recipients-year.htm |publisher=[[Howard University]] |title=Recipients of Honorary Degrees and Other University Honors (by year) |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* Detroit (1963)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[University of Edinburgh]] (1964)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Lincoln University (Pennsylvania)|Lincoln University]] (1964)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Swarthmore College]], Doctor of Laws (1964)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.swarthmore.edu/past-commencements/past-speakers-and-honorary-degree-recipients |publisher=[[Swarthmore College]] |title=Past Speakers and Honorary Degree Recipients |date=8 July 2014 |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[Stockholm University]], Doctor of Philosophy (31 May 1966)<ref name="Gustafsson (1987–1989), p. 144">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=8623 |publisher=[[National Archives of Sweden]] |encyclopedia=[[Svenskt biografiskt lexikon]] |title=K Gunnar Myrdal |first=Bo |last=Gustafsson |year=1987–1989 |volume=26 |page=144 |access-date=2020-09-23 |language=sv}}</ref>
* [[Sir George Williams University]], Doctor of Laws (May 1967)<ref name="Concordia University">{{cite web |url=https://www.concordia.ca/offices/archives/honorary-degree-recipients/1967/05/karl-gunnar-myrdal.html |publisher=[[Concordia University]] |title=Honorary degree citation – Karl Gunnar Myrdal* |access-date=2020-09-23}}</ref>
* [[University of Michigan]], Doctor of Laws (1967)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://president.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/01/Honorary-Degrees-1836-Present.pdf |publisher=[[University of Michigan]] |title=Honorary Degrees Awarded 1836–Present |page=13 |date=24 January 2018 |access-date=2020-09-23}}</ref>
* [[Lehigh University]] (1967)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Temple University]], Doctor of Civil Laws (1968)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.temple.edu/about/history-traditions/honorary-degrees/past-honorary-degree-recipients |publisher=[[Temple University]] |title=Past Honorary Degree Recipients |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[University of Louisville]], Doctor of Social Science (November 1968)<ref>{{cite news |url=http://digital.library.louisville.edu/cdm/ref/collection/cardinal/id/9164/ |newspaper=[[The Louisville Cardinal]] |title=Strickler inaugurated as 15th UL president |first=Nick |last=DeMartino |volume=XXX |number=10 |date=22 November 1968 |access-date=2020-09-23 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
* [[University of Oslo]] (1968)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Uppsala University]] (1968)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[University of Jyväskylä]] (1969)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Clark Atlanta University|Atlanta University]] (1970)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[University of Helsinki]] (1970)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[University of the Philippines]] (1970)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Dartmouth College]], Doctor of Science (1971)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archive.dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/issue/19710701#!&pid=14 |publisher=[[Dartmouth College]] |work=Dartmouth Alumni Magazine |title=The Commencement Address |page=14 |date=July 1971 |access-date=2020-09-23}}</ref>
* [[Gustavus Adolphus College]], Doctor of Humane Letters (1971)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gustavus.edu/events/nobelconference/nobelfoundation/degrees.php |publisher=[[Gustavus Adolphus College]] |title=Nobel Laureates Holding Honorary Degrees from Gustavus Adolphus College |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies]] (1970)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[University of Bucharest]] (1971)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* [[Heriot-Watt University]], Doctor of Letters (July 1979)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hw.ac.uk/uk/services/docs/secretariat/honorary-graduates-1966-present.pdf |publisher=[[Heriot-Watt University]] |title=Heriot-Watt University Honorary Graduates |page=4 |access-date=23 September 2020}}</ref>
* [[Visva-Bharati University]] (1982)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>

===Honours===
* Fellow of the [[Econometric Society]] (1943)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* Member of the [[Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences]] (1945)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* Honorary member of the [[American Economic Association]] (1947)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] (1958)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* Member of the [[British Academy]] (1973)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>
* Member of the [[American Philosophical Society]] (1982)<ref name="Vem är det (1984), p. 785"/>

==Publications==
* ''The Political Element in the Development of Economic Theory.'' (1930)
* ''Monetary Equilibrium'' (1931), translated to English in 1939
* ''The Cost of Living in Sweden, 1830–1930'' (1933)
* ''[[Crisis in the Population Question]]'' (1934)
* Fiscal Policy in the Business Cycle. ''The American Economic Review'', vol 21, no 1, Mar 1939.
* ''Population, a Problem for Democracy.'' Harvard University Press, 1940.
* ''Contact With America'' (1941)<ref>{{cite book|last1=Roberts|first1=Gene|last2=Klibanoff|first2=Hank|title=The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfxvDwAAQBAJ|year=2007|publisher=Vintage|isbn=978-0679735656}}</ref>
* ''[[An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy]].'' Harper & Bros, 1944.
* Social Trends in America and Strategic Approaches to the Negro Problem. ''Phylon'', Vol. 9, No. 3, 3rd Quarter, 1948.
* Conference of the British Sociological Association, 1953. II Opening Address: The Relation between Social Theory and Social Policy The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 4, No. 3, Sept. 1953.
* ''An International Economy, Problems and Prospects.'' Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1956.
* ''Rich Lands and Poor.'' 1957.
* ''Economic Theory and Underdeveloped Regions'', Gerald Duckworth, 1957.
* ''Value in Social Theory: A Selection of Essays on Methodology.'' Ed. Paul Streeten, published by Harper, 1958.
* {{cite book |title =Beyond the Welfare State |url =https://archive.org/details/beyondwelfaresta00myrdrich |url-access =registration |publisher =[[Yale University Press]] |year =1960 |last =Myrdal }}
* ''Challenge to Affluence.'' Random House, 1963.
* ''America and Vietnam – Transition'', No. 3, Oct, 1967.
* Twenty Years of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. ''International Organization'', Vol 22, No. 3, Summer, 1968.
* ''Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations'', 1968.
* ''Objectivity in Social Research'', 1969.
* ''The Challenge of World Poverty: A World Anti-Poverty Program in Outline.'' 1970.
* ''Against the Stream.''
* ''Hur Styrs Landet?'', 1982.
* Gunnar Myrdal on Population Policy in the Underdeveloped World – Population and Development Review, Vol 13, No. 3, Sept. 1987.
* The Equality Issue in World Development – The American Economic Review, vol 79, no 6, Dec 1989.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Gunnar Myrdal}}
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ti2isviPYMI Video Gunnar Myrdal lecturing at UCLA 5/4/1966]
* The [https://web.archive.org/web/20140514012637/https://gustavus.edu/library/archives/college/manuscripts/CAMC0097.php Selected Works by Gunnar Myrdal] are available for research use at the [https://gustavus.edu/library/archives/index.php Gustavus Adolphus College and Lutheran Church Archives].
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120907043449/http://www.csbancari.ch/pubblicazioni/RMElab/gnos.pdf A Methodolological Issue: Ex-Ante and Ex-Post, Claude Gnos]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131019195522/http://growthbook4.ec.unipi.it/Chapter7.pdf Gunnar Myrdal, growth processes and equilibrium theory]
* [http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/10/81/58/PDF/Tobon-HER-Myrdal2.pdf On Prices in Myrdal's Monetary Theory-Alexander Tobon]
* {{Nobelprize}} including the Prize Lecture on March 17, 1975 ''The Equality Issue in World Development''
* [https://ideas.repec.org/e/pmy3.html IDEAS/RePEc]
* {{Cite encyclopedia |title=Gunnar Myrdal (1898–1987) |url=http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Myrdal.html |encyclopedia=[[The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics]] |edition=2nd |series=[[Library of Economics and Liberty]] |publisher=[[Liberty Fund]] |year=2008|isbn=978-0865976665 |editor-first=David R.|editor-last=Henderson |editor-link=David R. Henderson |pages=572–573 }}
* [http://fixingtheeconomists.wordpress.com/2013/08/10/gunnar-myrdals-prescient-criticisms-of-keynes-general-theory Gunnar Myrdal's Prescient Criticisms of Keynes' General Theory-by Philip Pilkington]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141021142728/http://adriandeleon.cucea.udg.mx/docs/SLMRBIT_MYRDALSME.pdf Rules from Myrdal's Monetary Equilibrium Adrián de León-Arias]
* [http://www2.ne.su.se/paper/wp05_07.pdf Monetary Equilibrium – Claes Henrik Siver Stockholm University] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813083515/http://www2.ne.su.se/paper/wp05_07.pdf |date=13 August 2022 }}
* [https://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2663487?uid=3738984&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104857499933 Myrdal's Analysis of Monetary Equilibrium G.L.S. Shackle]
* {{PM20}}
* [https://sok.riksarkivet.se/sbl/Presentation.aspx?id=8623 Gunnar Myrdal] at ''[[Svenskt biografiskt lexikon]]'' {{lang in|sv}}

{{S-start}}
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{{s-bef | before = [[Wassily Leontief]] }}
{{s-ttl | title = [[List of Nobel Memorial Prize laureates in Economics|Laureate of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics]] | years = 1974 |alongside= [[Friedrich August von Hayek]] }}
{{s-aft | after = [[Leonid Vitaliyevich Kantorovich]] | after2 = [[Tjalling C. Koopmans]] }}
{{S-end}}

{{Nobel laureates in economics 1969–1975}}
{{1974 Nobel Prize winners}}
{{Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels}}
{{Swedish Nobel Laureates}}
{{Executive Secretaries of UNECE}}
{{instecon}}
{{Economics}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Myrdal, Gunnar}}
[[Category:People from Orsa Municipality]]
[[Category:Development economists]]
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[[Category:Stockholm University alumni]]
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[[Category:Post-Keynesian economists]]
[[Category:Macroeconomists]]
[[Category:Swedish Social Democratic Party politicians]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Stockholm School of Economics]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies]]
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Economics]]
[[Category:Swedish Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1987 deaths]]
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[[Category:Fellows of the Econometric Society]]
[[Category:The Century Foundation]]
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[[Category:20th-century Swedish economists]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]