JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES. Life, Ideas, Legacy

Transcription

1 JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES Life, Ideas, Legacy

2 Also by Mark Blaug ECONOMIC THEORY IN RETROSPECT THE METHODOLOGY OF ECONOMICS GREAT ECONOMISTS BEFORE KEYNES GREAT ECONOMISTS SINCE KEYNES WHO'S WHO IN ECONOMICS INTRODUCTION TO THE ECONOMICS OF EDUCATION

3 John Maynard Keynes Life, Ideas, Legacy Mark Blaug Palgrave Macmillan

4 ISBN ISBN (ebook) DOI / Mark Blaug and the Institute of Economic Affairs, 1990 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition All rights reserved. For information, write: Scholarly and Reference Division, St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y First published in the United States of Americain 1990 ISBN Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Blaug, Mark. John Maynard Keynes: life, ideas, legacy/mark Blaug. p. em. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN Keynes, John Maynard, Economists-Great Britain -Biography. 3. Keynesian economics. I. Title. HB103.A3K '6--dc20 [B] CIP

5 To Ruth

6 Contents List of Plates Preface IX XI Introduction 1 1 Life 3 2 The Ideas 11 3 The Keynesian Revolution 2S 4 The Legacy: Talking to Leading Economists about Keynes 39 Epilogue 90 Suggestions for Further Reading 91 Index of Names 93 Index of Subjects 95 vii

7 List of Plates 1 John Maynard Keynes as an Eton scholar in By permission of Dr Milo Keynes 2 Duncan Grant's drawing of John Maynard Keynes, By permission of Dr Milo Keynes 3 J. M. Keynes, 1926, cartoon by David Low. By permission of London Express 4 John Maynard Keynes in the 1930s. HultonlDeutsch 5 The lifeboat that stayed ashore'. Cartoon by David Low from The Evening Standard Original owned by Dr Milo Keynes, reproduced by courtesy of the Institute of Economic Affairs 6 John Maynard and Lydia Keynes in Oil painting by Lilian Roberts. The National Portrait Gallery 7 'The feller ought to be ashamed, encouraging rain!' Cartoon by David Low from The Evening Standard 5 January The University of Kent at Canterbury Solo Syndication and Literary Agency, London 8 'Canute shushes the waves'. Cartoon by David Low from The Evening Standard, 8 February The University of Kent at Canterbury Solo Syndication and Literary Agency, London 9 John Maynard Keynes in the library of his London house in Gordon Square, Hulton Picture Company

8 Preface In 1988 I wrote and presented a one-hour documentary video film entitled The Life, Ideas and Legacy of John Maynard Keynes for the Institute of Economic Affairs, London. This has been well received both by the economics profession and by a wider audience at home and overseas. It went on to win a Silver Medal at the prestigious New York Film and Television Festival, and is available on video cassette for purchase from the lea's distributor Guild Sound & Vision Ltd, 6 Royce Road, Peterborough, PEl 5YB, England. In the course of making the programme, I had a unique opportunity of interviewing a number of colleagues and relatives of Keynes, as well as some famous modern economists, including Nobel Laureates, in an effort to assess his legacy. The inevitable time constraints of the medium of film forced me to be extremely selective in making use of these valuable conversations. One of the purposes of this book is therefore to make these interviews available in their entirety. The conversations are permanent records of leading economists 'thinking aloud'; of themselves they are of limited value except in the technical context of the debate about the nature and significance of Keynesian economics, a debate which has now raged for over half a century. It therefore proved necessary to introduce these interviews with some exposition - however preliminary - of Keynesian theory, which is in turn illuminated by a brief consideration of Keynes's life and times. Hence the structure of this book, Life, Ideas, Legacy. The book in many respects provides both a permanent record and a scholarly extension of the lea video. While the book and the video are self-contained, they are mutually reinforcing. This is a book addressed to the general reader and particularly to beginning students in economics. It presumes no prior knowledge of economics but only a desire to learn something about one of the great social scientists of the twentieth century, whose ideas for good or for ill have probably had a greater impact on economic affairs than that of any other economist in history. I thank the Directors and staff of the Institute of Economic Affairs for providing me with the opportunity to make the original film. I particularly thank Nigel Maslin, the producer, and all those whom I quote in the book for their co-operation. Their words are their own; the conclusions are mine. I hope I have bridged the gap. xi MARK BLAUG