The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (Great Minds Series)

The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (Great Minds Series)
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The Hobo Philosopher

seminal, but inscrutable for the average Joe

The Failure of the "New Economics"

If you haven't read this masterpiece at least twice

Neoclassical Economics is a Special Case

The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (Great Minds Series)
John Maynard Keynes
Manufacturer: Prometheus Books
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ASIN: 1573921394

Customer Reviews:

The Hobo Philosopher.......2007-09-12

This is not the book for the beginner. Unless you know economics and economic terminology save this book for some time down the road.
Keynes did not write for the general reader. He was clearly an elitist economist. He may know what he is talking about but I doubt that you will. I didn't.
His "A Tract on Monetary Reform" is a little more intelligible but not much. He is obviously not a teacher and isn't trying to be one. Try Galbraith, Heilbroner, Samuelson, or William Greider or anybody else first.
If you think you know your economics and you are looking for a challenge - this is your man.

seminal, but inscrutable for the average Joe.......2007-07-04

Published in 1936 during the height of the the Great Depression, Keynes's "General Theory" is widely credited, rightly or wrongly, as being the theory that actually pointed out how to end the Depression. It has never been out of print since its first publication.

The volume you're getting here hasn't much in terms of being "reader friendly." There is a brief (2-page) introduction. There are no footnotes (other than Keynes's original ones), and no helpful commentary or other aid that would help make Keynes's book more comprehensible to the general reader. So you're basically getting the bare bones.

But the book can be very tough going, even for those with extensive preparation in economics. It has plenty of nasty equations and there are more thistles than you'll find in an English hedgerow. In brief, it's one of those universally heralded classics that many pay lip service to but few have ever read.

As for whether this is "the book that ended the Depression," I'm not so sure. There were many competing theories floating around during the Depression, and Keynes's was only one of those.

While Keynes's recipe of counteracting a decline in private spending with an increase in government spending turned out to be what Roosevelt (and Hitler) actually did, certainly the war would have come along whether or not Keynes published his book. Hence governments would have stumbled upon "the Keynesian solution" on their own anyway.

The Failure of the "New Economics".......2007-05-22

Henry Hazlitt,

"A Path-Breaking Pioneer?

Now though I have analyzed Keynes's General Theory in the following pages theorem by theorem, chapter by chapter, and sometimes even sentence by sentence, to what to some readers may appear a tedious length, I have been unable to find in it a single important doctrine that is both true and original. What is original in the book is not true; and what is true is not original. In fact, as we shall find, even much that is fallacious in the book is not original, but can be found in a score of previous writers."

If you haven't read this masterpiece at least twice.......2007-04-18

...you're not a real person. If it was not for this wizard's brilliant insight on how to create prosperity with a little math and a little monetary expansion, there would undoubtedly still be poverty in the world today. It's not just a book, it's a religion. And it's the best religion.

Verdict: Read it at least twice.

Neoclassical Economics is a Special Case.......2007-03-30

I'm an undergrad economics student, and I was always puzzled by the "Keynesian" economics they taught me. I couldn't see how it fit in with the market clearing story they were also telling me. So I decided to give this book a shot. After reading it, I was surprised at how simple the main concept is. I didn't find it difficult to read at all, or badly organized (but maybe that's because I'm used to reading philosophy). Basically, just like they teach you in Principles of Macroeconomics, the heart of the theory is the Keynesian Cross (which is a rough approximation of Keynes' D-Z model in this book). The consumption function leaves a gap between income and expenditures, which must be filled by planned investment, or the economy will move to a lower equilibrium via the multiplier. Classical economics, in effect, just assumes that gap is always filled by planned investment (where the economy is at full employment, no less) without even making an argument for it. In the classical model, any decrease in planned investment is matched by an increase in consumption, or vice versa. But there is no good reason to think that will be the case, generally. If you hoard your money today, businessmen do not have a magic crystal ball that allows them to determine what you will spend it on in 5 years. Thus they do not invest. A decrease in consumption is not matched by an increase in planned investment. The economy will move to a new, lower equilibrium via the Keynesian Cross, in which income equals expenditures (i.e. no hoarding any more).

The one thing I did find confusing in the book, though, was Keynes' assertion that saving always equals investment, by defintion. I determined that this results from an incorrect definition of saving. While on an individual level, saving is income minus consumption, the same is not true for the economy as a whole. It is more accurate to say that saving in the aggregate is always zero, because an individual act of saving is always matched by an equal amount of dissaving by someone else (the saving deprives them of their income, unless the the savings are invested, in which case they are no longer savings). The gap between income and consumption, in the aggregate, is always investment. Its just the form of investment that changes. If the gap between income and consumption isn't filled by planned investment, it will be filled up by "unplanned" investment (i.e. inventories build up). In macroeconomic equilibrium, there is no unplanned investment. Thus, Y = Ip (planned investment) + C. Classical economics assumes that Y - C always equals Ip, and at the point of full employment. Keynes's theory is the more general case when Y - C could equal Iu (unplanned investment). In that case, the economy moves to a below optimal equilibrium that does not correspond to full employment.

I would definitely recommend this book if you're an economist, or if you have anything to do with public policy. Or even if you're just curious. Don't be frightened off by the people who tell you its "unreadable" or "a mess." They just can't handle a real scholar who writes precisely and clearly.

The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes

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The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521221048

Book Description

This volume, together with volumes 13 and 29, provides an insight into the development of Keynes’s thinking in the monetary field from the time of the Tract in 1923 to the Treatise in 1930, onward to The General Theory in 1936, and after its publication.

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The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521221056

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Keynes’s correspondence, memoranda and contributions to the press during his period in the India Office, his first years as a Cambridge don and his membership of the Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance.

The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money

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The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
John Maynard Keynes
Manufacturer: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd.
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ASIN: 8126905913
Release Date: 2006-07-06

Product Description

John Maynard Keynes is the great British economist of the twentieth century whose hugely influential work The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money is undoubtedly the century s most important book on economics--strongly influencing economic theory and practice, particularly with regard to the role of government in stimulating and regulating a nation's economic life. Keynes's work has undergone significant revaluation in recent years, and "Keynesian" views which have been widely defended for so long are now perceived as at odds with Keynes's own thinking. Recent scholarship and research has demonstrated considerable rivalry and controversy concerning the proper interpretation of Keynes's works, such that recourse to the original text is all the more important. Although considered by a few critics that the sentence structures of the book are quite incomprehensible and almost unbearable to read, the book is an essential reading for all those who desire a basic education in economics. The key to understanding Keynes is the notion that at particular times in the business cycle, an economy can become over-productive (or under-consumptive) and thus, a vicious spiral is begun that results in massive layoffs and cuts in production as businesses attempt to equilibrate aggregate supply and demand. Thus, full employment is only one of many or multiple macro equilibria. If an economy reaches an underemployment equilibrium, something is necessary to boost or stimulate demand to produce full employment. This something could be business investment but because of the logic and individualist nature of investment decisions, it is unlikely to rapidly restore full employment. Keynes logically seizes upon the public budget and government expenditures as the quickest way to restore full employment. Borrowing the money to finance the deficit from private households and businesses is a quick, direct way to restore full employment while at the same time, redirecting or siphoning

The Big Three in Economics: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, And John Maynard Keynes

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I've rarely seen something this complex made this clear.
A work of impeccable scholarship
The Big Three in Economics
The March to Today's Thinking
Economic theories made enjoyable

The Big Three in Economics: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, And John Maynard Keynes
Mark Skousen
Manufacturer: M.E. Sharpe
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ASIN: 0765616947

Customer Reviews:

I've rarely seen something this complex made this clear........2007-08-06

Skousen has really accomplished something with this book. If the average college professor could convey the information in their field of study with this kind of penetrating clarity, a lot more people would really understand what they learn, rather than just preparing to parrot it back for a test.

This book captures a broad cross-section of the ideas and history behind modern economic thought and ties it all neatly together by linking everything with the simple idea of relating it to Adam Smith, Karl Marx, and John Maynard Keynes. It's brilliant in its simplicity. Skousen starts by saying these are the three you really need to know. Then he says they aren't created equal and ranks them out: #1 Smith, #2 Keynes, #3 Marx. Seems like nothing, but all of a sudden you have a simple and solid mental framework from which to hang the rest of what Skousen tells you.

For each of Skousen's three main characters, you learn about the thinkers that laid the foundation for each of them (or in Smith's case, the lack thereof). You also learn about the historic events that spurred each of them to come up with their theories. You learn each of their theories, then finally - and so critically - you learn in plain English the shortcomings of each of the theories (fatal in two cases).

All of a sudden, you have a deeper understanding of the history and ideas of economics than a lot people who majored in the subject. And because of Skousen's entertaining writing style, you never really noticed how much you were learning.

Kudos to Mark Skousen. I wish more people (myself included) could write like this.

If you've ever had even the slightest interest in economics, do yourself a favor and read this book. You'll be glad you did.

A work of impeccable scholarship.......2007-06-10

Enhanced throughout with charts and photos, "The Big Three In Economics: Adam Smith, Karl Marx, And John Maynard Keynes" by academician and economist Mark Skousen is a history of modern economics as represented by the contributions of the three most influential economists in world history. Adam Smith expounded a revolutionary new doctrine in the 18th century that a nation of rich and poor could flourish under laissez faire and an unfettered market; Karl Marx inspired disenfranchised workers and intellectuals in the 19th century to end the exploitation of the underprivileged by the powerful; and in the 20th century, British economist John Maynard Keynes sought to stabilize a crisis prone market system through activist fiscal and monetary government policies. A work of impeccable scholarship that draws from both biographical and historical data to showcase the lives and ideas of three men who shaped economic theory and practice form three centuries, and whose contributions continue to influence economists in the 21st century, "The Big Three In Economics" is very strongly recommended reading for both students of Economics and non-specialist general readers with an interest in economic history and theory.

The Big Three in Economics.......2007-05-11

The author Mark Skousen explains the differences of three schools of
economics real well plus its an easy read.
Bob Rivera

The March to Today's Thinking.......2007-03-17

This is an excellent book that shows the development of mainstream economic thinking in terms of the theories of the three giants in economics: Adam Smith, Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes.

Adam Smith (1723-90) was the first. He basically provided the first foundation of what is now called economics. Today he is considered to the right wing of the economic scale. Interestingly enough, his views have prevailed.

Karl Marx (1818-83) reacted against the Adam Smith theory with the belief that the 'invisible hand' of the marketplace has no compassion for the workers and that this could be better administered by a compassionate government. Generally discredited today, his theories seems to live mostly in the halls of the universities.

John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) followed with an analysis of a way to stop recession/depression cycles that combined the Smith/Marx theories.

The author does an excellent job in tracing the impact of these three as it reaches today's world. At this time Smith is on top again, as modified by later thinkers, but as the author concludes in his last chapter,

'There is no telling how high the world's standard of living can reach through expanded trade, lower tariffs, a simplified tax system, school choice, Social Security privatization, a fair system of justice, and a stable monetary system. Yet bad policies, wasted resources, and class hatred die slowly.'

Economic theories made enjoyable.......2007-03-10

The three colorful and informative biographies which form the core of this book are followed by vignettes of the economic thinkers who came after them, and trace the development of economic theory. The book is thus an easily used guide to the history of economic thought. Graphs and technical material are held to a necessary and elucidating minimum.

On March 6, Mark Skousen had a commentary in The Christian Science Monitor on "Atlas Shrugged" after 50 years. I had never wanted to read the book--and still don't--but I was impressed by Skousen's logical thinking and clear writing. So, when I saw the reference to his newly published "Big Three" I ordered the book, pretty much convinced I would learn something painlessly. And I did.

Just for starters: Did you know that Marx died a wealthy man--with an income in the top 2% of the English populace? Did you know that Adam Smith's theory of free markets was an opposition to the European mercantile system of government-sanctioned cartels? Did you know that he regarded the right to sell one's labor and products as a function of human liberty? Did you know that he posited an "invisible hand" that guided economics where there was human liberty? Did you know that Thomas Carlyle dubbed economics the "dismal science?"

Did you know that the historical way of increasing the labor supply and expanding assets was to go to war and take slaves and steal another nation's gold? Did you know that it was not generic "capitalism" but the failure of the Federal Reserve Bank to act that caused the Great Depression?

These are a few of the gems of wisdom garnered from just a quick reading of this book.

Mark Skousen is an unabashed believer in the free-market system. Here he clearly presents its problems and practical limitations, as well as the criticisms levelled against it, He also points out the deficiencies in logic in Marx and Keynes's theories.

I had taken a year of Econ in college and enjoyed it, and then I worked as a translator from a Norwegian trade journal for several years, translating articles by members of the Austrian school of economics (Mises, Hayek, etc). A lot of it had to do with keeping a destroyed Europe from going economically socialist and politically bolshevist in the aftermath of WWII and the occupation of the East by Russia. BUT - I had no idea who Adam Smith was until I read this book, nor did I understand how the various theories hung together.

So, whether you're a beginner or just have gaps in your knowledge, this
small, inexpensive, and thoroughly enjoyable book should prove immediately and permanently valuable.

Keynes's General Theory, the Rate of Interest and 'Keynesian' Economics

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Provides a correct overview of Keynes's preventive policies

Keynes's General Theory, the Rate of Interest and 'Keynesian' Economics
Geoff Tily
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1403996288
Release Date: 2007-03-20

Book Description

This book argues that Keynesian economists have betrayed Keynes's theory and policy conclusions. Keynesian economics has not merely led to an easily dismissed justification for 'Keynesian' policies, but the world has been grossly misled about just what those policies are. Keynesians have focused attention exclusively on policies for dealing with effects of economic failure as they arise, whereas in contrast, Keynes was concerned with the cause and then the prevention of economic failure. While these effects can be addressed with fiscal policy, the cause and prevention was a matter for monetary policy. Keynes's legacy is that of national and international policy measures that permit the necessary control over the financial system.

Customer Reviews:

Provides a correct overview of Keynes's preventive policies.......2006-06-29

Tily has written a very good book examining the policies laid down by Keynes to help prevent the occurrences of recessions and depressions in the first place.Keynes relies on his generalized quantity theory of money as laid out in chapter 21 of the General Theory,although this is overlooked by Tily.Keynes's generalized general theory is expressed by the condition w/p=mpl/e,where e=Mdp/pdM as defined by Keynes on p.305 of the GT.If e=1,then w/p=mpl and you have a full employment equilibrium in the aggregate labor market,where w is the money wage ,p is the expected price level,and mpl is the marginal product of labor derived from an aggregated neoclassical production function(see p.283 and p.285 of the GT).If e <1,then you have a set of multiple unemployment equilibriums.Keynes's monetary policy prescription is to require that the interest rate be fixed at a low rate.This prescription goes back to the policies of the Thomistic scholastic philosophers and Adam Smith in the Wealth of Nations(see WN,1776,pp.338-340).In fact,Smith's and Keynes's policy prescriptions are identical(GT,p.352).They require that the unsatisfied fringe of borrowers must consist of currency speculators,leveraged buyout artists,and stock market speculators(projectors) using margin account loans to leverage their stock holdings.Credit would have to be skewed away from these individuals by policy actions of the central bank.Keynes's policy is thus one of permanent easy money where all bank loans are made to individuals who intend to use it to attain or rent productive capital goods,build houses, construct factories,etc.Tily does not emphasize sufficiently Keynes's warning that the forces of banking and finance will oppose such a policy,making it practically impossible to implement.The policy is correct in theory,but is not practical to actually implement.This is where the promulgation of Bismarck's social welfare state or a negative income tax system comes into play.The deleterious impacts of a speculator-casino " crony capitalism " can be mitigated by such policies.

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The Life of John Maynard Keynes
Roy Forbes, Sir Harrod
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
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The Economics of Keynes in Historical Context: An Intellectual History of the General Theory

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The Economics of Keynes in Historical Context: An Intellectual History of the General Theory
Michael Lawlor
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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ASIN: 0333977173
Release Date: 2007-01-23

Book Description

There have been a number of important, pioneering studies in the analysis of Keynes' philosophical writings, his work as a policy advisor, as well as biographies. What has not been attempted is a full-scale analysis of how the various parts of Keynes' most mature work in the General Theory can be understood in the context of the social thought, policy questions and economics literature that shaped his outlook on theoretical questions. This book fills that gap and is a significant addition to the literature on the most influential economist of the twentieth century.

The Cambridge Companion to Keynes (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

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No new or original work on Keynes appears in this book except the essay by Hoover

The Cambridge Companion to Keynes (Cambridge Companions to Philosophy)

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The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why It Matters

ASIN: 052160060X

Book Description

John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) was the most important economist of the twentieth century. He was also a philosopher who wrote on ethics and the theory of probability and was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group of writers and artists. In this volume contributors from a wide range of disciplines offer new interpretations of Keynes’s thought, explain the links between Keynes's philosophy and his economics, and place his work and Keynesianism - the economic theory, the principles of economic policy, and the political philosophy - in their historical context. Chapter topics include Keynes's philosophical engagement with G. E. Moore and Franz Brentano, his correspondence, the role of his General Theory in the creation of modern macroeconomics, and the many meanings of Keynesianism. New readers will find this the most convenient, accessible guide to Keynes currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Keynes.

Customer Reviews:

No new or original work on Keynes appears in this book except the essay by Hoover.......2006-07-02

This book is a collection of invited essays on Keynes edited by Bateman and Backhouse.All of the essays are based on the past work of the authors.For example,Peden repeats his previous work comparing and contrasting Keynes's view and the Treasury view about the causes of the Great Depression;Bateman and Backhouse,Gillies,Raffaelli, and Bateman repeat their claims that Keynes allegedly capitulated to Ramsey's devastating and annihilating intellectual attack on his logical theory of probability and became a follower either of Ramsey's approach or something called the intersubjective theory of probability invented by Gillies in 1990(See p.5,18,173,205-208).The same pattern appears in the papers by Leijonhufvud,Laidler,Klaes,etc..The only original research that appears in this volume is the paper by Hoover on Keynes's technical approach in his 1924 Tract on Monetary Reform.

The discussion of the role of mathematics and Keynes contained in the essay by Bateman and Backhouse is not original.They state the following: "His(Keynes's)model could(italicized)be interpreted in terms of his vision,but there was no necessity to do so"(2006,p.12;see also p.15).This argument is identical to the Feb.-March,1935 assessment of D.Robertson which Keynes rejected by pointing out to Robertson that his analysis had only one interpretation that was contained in a chapter dealing with the employment function(see Collected Writings JMK,Vol.13,p.514,1973).Chapter 20 of the General Theory is titled "The Employment Function".None of the essay authors deal with this chapter on which Keynes stated that "Everything turns on".(ibid.,p.520).None of the essay writers deal correctly with chapter 10 of the GT.Not a single essay deals with the mathematical result that if the mpc,the marginal propensity to spend on consumer goods,is 1-(1/k),then ,by definition,the mpi,the marginal propensity to spend on investment goods is equal to 1/k, which is the inverse of the investment multiplier,k.

The one article most in need of revision is the article by Gillies.Gillies bases his entire assessment of Keynes 's theory on the following ad hominem argument made by Ramsey: "...there really do not seem to be any such things as the probability relations he describes...I feel confident that this is not true(that people intuit or perceive a connection between statements of an inductive nature).I do not perceive them...I shrewdly suspect that others do not perceive them either.."(See Gillies discussion on pp.205-208).These are claims that need to be proven.Since Ramsey rejects inductive logic,he needs to supply a deductive proof to support his claims.Of course,neither Ramsey nor Gillies nor any other logician or philosopher has ever supplied such a deductive proof.

The major flaw in all of the essays dealing with probability is that they ignore Keynes's clear definition of probability contained in chapter 15 of the TP on p.160 which defines probabilities to be intervals with upper and lower limits and not the ordinal rankings or comparative approach to probability that Ramsey foisted on Keynes in two book reviews written in 1922 and 1926,respectively.Ramsey's claims about Keynes's " nonnumerical probability " not using any numbers except in very special circumstances is directly contradicted by Keynes definition as well as some thirteen problems worked out on pp.161-163 and 186-194 in 1921 in the A Treatise on Probability(TP).Unfortunately ,all of the essay writers in this book who discuss Keynes's views on probability rely exclusively on these two reviews,as well as a highly selective reading of chapter 3 of the TP that ignores the six statements made by Keynes about intervals(see TP,pp.22-24,28-29,31-32,and 35).

Maynard Keynes: An Economists' Biography

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Moggridge ignores all of Keynes's theoretical contributions

Maynard Keynes: An Economists' Biography
Donal Moggridge
Manufacturer: Routledge
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0415127114

Book Description

John Maynard Keynes, the most influential economist of the twentieth century, also made a unique contribution to public affairs and to Britain's cultural life. In Maynard Keynes, Donald Moggridge draws on an unrivalled knowledge of Keynes gained from twenty years of editing his papers. Fresh in its outlook and revealing in its scope, this is the definitive biography of Keynes.

Customer Reviews:

Moggridge ignores all of Keynes's theoretical contributions.......2004-10-24

Moggridge's(M) book on Keynes is similar in many respects to R.Skidelsky's three volume study of Keynes.Both give an excellent historical overview of the major events in Keynes's personal,professional,public and academic life.There are many interesting discussions of the interactions that occurred between Keynes and a host of famous people,politicians,philosophers and economists.The reader, who wants to buy a book on Keynes for his general library ,would do well to purchase this one volume study.On the other hand,M is not successfull in discussing and analyzing the many intellectual and scientific contributions that Keynes made to applied probability,statistics,decision theory and economics.A reader will be disappointed in this book if he wants a discussion of the intellectual heritage that Keynes bequeathed to humanity.The following is a list of the intellectual accomplishments of Keynes not mentioned by M.First,Keynes is the first scholar in history to propose an interval estimate approach for calculating an estimate of probability.Keynes gave a precise approximation technique based on the work of George Boole.These topics are covered in chapters 15 and 17 of the A Treatise on Probability(1921).Second, Keynes is the first scholar in history to provide a specific index to measure the weight of the evidence,w.w measures the completeness of the relevant ,potential evidence available to a decision maker in order to calculate an estimate of a probability.It is defined on the unit interval[0,1].Third, Keynes is the first scholar in history to specify a clearcut decision rule that incorporates non linear probability preferences and the weight(or ambiguity or uncertainty)of the evidence in his conventional coefficient of risk and weight,c.Fourth,Keynes is the first scholar in history to recognize the applied importance of Chebyshev's Inequality in specifying a lower bound to unreliable estimates based on misapplications of the normal probability distribution.Fifth,Keynes was one of the first to recognize the incorrect use of the normal probability distribution,both in the TP and in his debate with Tinbergen in 1939-1940 in the Economic Journal.These last two points still have not been understood by economists and financial analysts.Benoit Mandelbrot has presented overwhelming evidence that price movements in financial markets can't accurately be represented by a normal probability distribution.Like Tinbergen,economists keep preferring to be precisely wrong rather than generally right.Finally,Keynes specified a general theory of macroeconomics under conditions of both risk and uncertainty in his theory of effective demand presented in the GT in 1936.Letting w equal the money wage,p equalling the price level,w/p equalling the real wage,MPL equalling the marginal productivity of labor,MPC equalling the marginal propensity to spend on consumption goods,MPI equalling the marginal propensity to spend on investment goods(capital goods),Keynes derives the following:w/p=MPL/(MPC+MPI).This generalizes the classical and neoclassical theory that w/p=MPL.Classical and neoclassical theory(such as rational expectations,real business cycle theory,etc.)are special cases of Keynes's general theory that require MPC+MPI=1.Moggridge is advised to incorporate all of these intellectual accomplishments of Keynes in a revised edition.

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