Thurow, Lester Carl

Thurow, Lester Carl (thr`ō, thərō`), 1938–, American economist, b. Livingston, Mont.; grad. Williams College, 1960; M.A. Oxford, 1962; Ph.D. Harvard, 1964. Professor of management and economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Thurow is an influential writer and lecturer who is often consulted about national economic policies. He served (1964–65) on President Lyndon Johnson's Council of Economic Advisors, then taught at Harvard (1966–68). He moved to MIT in 1968, becoming dean (1987–93) of the MIT Sloan School of Management. He was also an economics columnist for the New York Times (1980–81) and a contributing editor (1981–83) for Newsweek. Among his many books are The Zero-Sum Society (1980), The Zero-Sum Solution: Building a World-Class American Economy (1985), Head to Head: The Coming Economic Battle among Japan, Europe, and America (1992), The Future of Capitalism (1996), Economics Explained (with R. L. Heilbroner, rev. ed. 1998), and Building Wealth (1999).