Lester C. Thurow, a prominent and provocative economist who earned a dedicated following through his long writing and speaking career, and who was known for his prescient warnings about the growing income gap between rich and poor Americans, died on Friday in Westport, Mass. He was 77.

His wife, Anna, confirmed his death.

Mr. Thurow was a prolific author and took to television and the lecture circuit with gusto, paying special attention to the income gap and globalization, which he contended would have a deleterious impact on American labor. He also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for decades.

In his writing, he tried to make the dry and difficult-to-grasp intricacies of the American economy accessible to a mass audience.

Mr. Thurow said that he decided to devote himself to communicating about economics after he was not offered a job in President Jimmy Carter’s administration, although he had been an economic adviser to Mr. Carter’s campaign.