The Philosophy Of Keynes Economics

John Maynard Keynes is undoubtedly the most influential Western economist of the twentieth century. His emphasis on the nature and role of uncertainty in economic thought is a dominant theme in his writings. This book brings together a wide array of experts on Keynes' thought such as Gay Tulip Meeks, Sheila Dow and John Davis who discuss, analyse and criticise such themes as Keynesian probability and uncertainty, the foundations of Keynes' economics and the relationship between Keynes' earlier and later thought. The Philosophy of Keynes' Economics is a readable and comprehensive book that will interest students and academics interested in the man and his thought.

John Maynard Keynes is undoubtedly the most influential Western economist of the twentieth century. His emphasis on the nature and role of uncertainty in economic thought is a dominant theme in his writings. This book brings together a wide array of experts on Keynes' thought such as Gay Tulip Meeks, Sheila Dow and John Davis who discuss, analyse and criticise such themes as Keynesian probability and uncertainty, the foundations of Keynes' economics and the relationship between Keynes' earlier and later thought. The Philosophy of Keynes' Economics is a readable and comprehensive book that will interest students and academics interested in the man and his thought.

A systematic study contending that the distinctive theory of rationality found at the heart of Keynes' philosophy moulded his economic theorist policy-making, scientific methodology and politics. It aims to resolve his departure from Neoclassical economics to his radical "General Theory".

This examination of the philosophy and economics of J.M. Keynes includes sections on Keynes's philosophy and method, his theory of competition, and his psychology of economics.

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

Recently, a new area of scholarship has based itself on the fact that Keynes was a philosopher before he was an economist. It aims to provide more profound understandings of Keynes's economic writings through an examination of his philosophical contributions, particularly his Treatise on Probability and his many unpublished papers. Its central contention is that approaching Keynes simply as 'an economist' is insufficient, and that much richer viewpoints emerge when he is regarded as 'a philosopher-economist'. As this book makes clear lively debates continue, however, over how best to interpret Keynes's philosophical stances.

"Economics has always been partly a vehicle" for the ruling ideology of each period as well as partly a method of scientific investigation. It limps along with one foot in untested hypotheses and the other in untestable slogans. Here our task is to sort out as best we may this mixture of ideology and science."With these provocative words, Joan Robinson introduces this lively and iconoclastic book. "In what follows," she says, "this theme is illustrated by reference to one or two of the leading ideas of the economists from Adam Smith onwards, not in a learned manner, tracing the development of thought, nor historically, to show how ideas arose out of the problems of each age, but rather an attempt to puzzle out the mysterious way that metaphysical propositions, without any logical content, can yet be a powerful influence on thought and action."Robinson is responsible for some of the most austerely professional contributions to economic theory, but here in effect she takes the reader behind the scenes and cheerfully exposes the dogmatic content of economic orthodoxy. In its place, she offers the possibility that with obsolete metaphysics cleared out of the way economics can make a substantial advance toward science. .

Leading economists revisit a provocative essay by John Maynard Keynes, debating Keynes's vision of growth, inequality, work, leisure, entrepreneurship, consumerism, and the search for happiness in the twenty-first century. In 1931 distinguished economist John Maynard Keynes published a short essay, “Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren,” in his collection Essays in Persuasion. In the essay, he expressed optimism for the economic future despite the doldrums of the post-World War I years and the onset of the Great Depression. Keynes imagined that by 2030 the standard of living would be dramatically higher; people, liberated from want (and without the desire to consume for the sake of consumption), would work no more than fifteen hours a week, devoting the rest of their time to leisure and culture. In Revisiting Keynes, leading contemporary economists consider what Keynes got right in his essay—the rise in the standard of living, for example—and what he got wrong—such as a shortened work week and consumer satiation. In so doing, they raise challenging questions about the world economy and contemporary lifestyles in the twenty-first century. The contributors—among them, four Nobel laureates in economics—point out that although Keynes correctly predicted economic growth, he neglected the problems of distribution and inequality. Keynes overestimated the desire of people to stop working and underestimated the pleasures and rewards of work—perhaps basing his idea of “economic bliss” on the life of the English gentleman or the ideals of his Bloomsbury group friends. In Revisiting Keynes, Keynes's short essay—usually seen as a minor divertissement compared to his other more influential works—becomes the catalyst for a lively debate among some of today's top economists about economic growth, inequality, wealth, work, leisure, culture, and consumerism. Contributors William J. Baumol, Leonardo Becchetti, Gary S. Becker, Michele Boldrin, Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Robert H. Frank, Richard B. Freeman, Benjamin M. Friedman, Axel Leijonhufvud, David K. Levine, Lee E. Ohanian, Edmund S. Phelps, Luis Rayo, Robert Solow, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Fabrizio Zilibotti