The Political Economy of John Maynard Keynes - A Beginner's Guide

Résumé du livre

John Maynard Keynes was certainly the most famous and arguably the greatest political economist of the twentieth century. His seminal publication, The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money, published in 1936, changed economics irrevocably. Unfortunately, Keynes was not well-served by his followers, and much of his bold vision is missing from standard textbook treatments of his work. This essay sets the record straight by having four key objectives. First, as context, it provides a biographical sketch of Keynes achievements and the 'interesting' times which he experienced, the single most important event being the Great Inter-War Depression. Second, as further context, it introduces the essentials of the classical orthodoxy, the pre-Keynesian macro-economic theory of how economic society worked, and its conservative policy agenda, from which Keynes departed. Third, the core of the essay, it faithfully explains the key concepts and ideas of his new workable classification in which effective demand was the driving force, and the many-layered policy programme known as the Middle-Way, which he fashioned over time to meet the challenges posed by the Great Depression, World War 2 and the post-war world. Lastly, it sets-out the reasons why Keynes can be described as one of the greats of political economy.