The Economics Of John Maynard Keynes

The Economics of John Maynard Keynes: The Theory of Monetary Economy by Dudley Dillard seeks to make The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes understandable to both the economist and to the non-economist. First published in 1948 and since translated into over 10 languages, Dr. Dillard’s book has been widely regarded as the seminal scholarship on the monetary aspects of Keynesian economics. In addition to explaining the economic theories of Keynes, Dillard also includes a chapter on Keynes’s philosophical development and the “social philosophy toward which it leads.” Throughout the book, Dillard provides summaries and examines Keynes’ concepts on employment, income, saving, marginal propensity to consume, the investment multiplier, fiscal policy, post-war inflation, interest, and wages.

This book looks at the life of Keynes leading up to the writing of his seminal General Theory , examines the General Theory in detail, and explores how it differs from classical theory. The impact of Keynes's work on the economy postwar and up to the present day is also assessed.

History comes alive in this fascinating story of opposing views that continue to play a fundamental role in today's politics and economics. The Big Three in Economics traces the turbulent lives and battle of ideas of the three most influential economists in world history: Adam Smith, representing laissez faire; Karl Marx, reflecting the radical socialist model; and John Maynard Keynes, symbolizing big government and the welfare state.

This book was originally published by Macmillan in 1936. It was voted the top Academic Book that Shaped Modern Britain by Academic Book Week (UK) in 2017, and in 2011 was placed on Time Magazine's top 100 non-fiction books written in English since 1923. Reissued with a fresh Introduction by the Nobel-prize winner Paul Krugman and a new Afterword by Keynes’ biographer Robert Skidelsky, this important work is made available to a new generation. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money transformed economics and changed the face of modern macroeconomics. Keynes’ argument is based on the idea that the level of employment is not determined by the price of labour, but by the spending of money. It gave way to an entirely new approach where employment, inflation and the market economy are concerned. Highly provocative at its time of publication, this book and Keynes’ theories continue to remain the subject of much support and praise, criticism and debate. Economists at any stage in their career will enjoy revisiting this treatise and observing the relevance of Keynes’ work in today’s contemporary climate.

Widely recognized as one of the greatest economists in history, there has been a surge of interest in the work of John Maynard Keynes since the financial crisis of 2008 with people looking for solutions to rebalance the economy. Presciently, Keynes argued that free markets are unable to fully organize economic activity and that the steadying and reforming hand of the State is needed for capitalism to function properly. In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, exacerbated by a global pandemic, these ideas are more timely than ever. This book provides an introduction to Keynes’ thoughts on capitalism, the State, and macroeconomics. It starts with Keynes’ epistemological theory of his A Treatise on Probability (1921), from which aspects such as uncertainty and the decision-making process, both later important in his economic work, can be drawn. The book then pursues Keynes’ economic writings. From A Tract on the Monetary Reform (1923) and A Treatise on Money (1930), it shows Keynes’ pursuit of a full understanding of the role of money in the economy. Keynes masterfully demonstrated the knowledge he gained through his 1936 masterpiece The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Going beyond Keynes’ classic, this book also explores his later work on economic policy prescriptions and finally his concept of State and economic development. This accessible introduction to the economic thought of Keynes will be essential reading for those interested in the history and development of economics, as well as political scientists, sociologists, historians, and others seeking an overview of these foundational economic ideas.

The essential writings of the 20th century’s most influential economist, collected in one volume Today, John Maynard Keynes is best remembered for his pioneering development of macroeconomics, and for his advocacy of active fiscal and monetary government policy. This uniquely comprehensive selection of his work, edited by Keynes’s award-winning biographer Robert Skidelsky, aims to make his work more accessible to both students of economics and the general reader. All of Keynes’s major economic work is included, yet the selection goes beyond pure economics. Here too are Keynes’s essential writings on philosophy, social theory and policy, and his futurist vision of a world without work. As Robert Skidelsky writes in his introduction: “People talk of the need for a new Keynes. But the old Keynes still has superlative wisdom to offer for a new age.” For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The culmination of John Maynard Keynes's thought and lifework was The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Here, placing it in the context of his era, David Felix examines the evolution of Keynes's theorizing. He boldly claims that The General Theory lacks logical and factual support as pure theory, but is an achievement of great statesmanship in political economy. Felix argues that Keynes's ideas have misled successive generations of students and practitioners. He suggests that a more discriminating view of his thought can reconcile Keynesian views with neoclassical theory and replace the false synthesis that dominates contemporary text-books with a truer one. Biography of an Idea devotes four chapters to an analysis of The General Theory and an examination of the economic logic of Keynes. The author disentangles the work's fundamentally simple theses from its difficult technical pre-sentation. He shows how Keynes shaped his economic model as he did as an effort to win public support for sensible policies that clashed with generally accepted beliefs of the time. Biography of an Idea is bound to be controversial due to the many cohorts of economists who have been trained in macroeconomics according to Keynes. It will be of interest and ac-cessible to intellectually curious laymen and students, and important to economists, historians, and political scientists.

THE DEFINITIVE SINGLE-VOLUME BIOGRAPHY Robert Skidelsky's three-volume biography of John Maynard Keynes has been acclaimed as the authoritative account of the great economist-statesman's life. Here, Skidelsky has revised and abridged his magnum opus into one definitive book, which examines in its entirety the intellectual and ideological journey that led an extraordinarily gifted young man to concern himself with the practical problems of an age overshadowed by war. John Maynard Keynes offers a sympathetic account of the life of a passionate visionary and an invaluable insight into the economic philosophy that still remains at the centre of political and economic thought. ROBERT SKIDELSKY is Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick. His three volume biography of John Maynard Keynes (1983, 1992, 2000) received numerous prizes, including the Lionel Gelber Prize for International Relations and the Council on Foreign Relations Prize for International Relations. ('This three-volume life of the British economist should be given a Nobel Prize for History if there was such a thing' - Norman Stone.) He was made a life peer in 1991, and a Fellow of the British Academy in 1994. 'A masterpiece of biographical and historical analysis' - New York Times