Byron Dorgan
former United States Senator from North Dakota
John Maynard Keynes
British economist (1883-1946)
John Maynard Keynes was an influential 20th-century English economist and philosopher whose ideas revolutionized macroeconomics and government economic policies. He challenged the prevailing economic theories of his time and advocated for the use of fiscal and monetary policies to stabilize the economy during recessions and depressions.
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About the John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes determined the overall level of economic activity, and that inadequate aggregate demand could lead to prolonged periods of high unemployment, and since wages and labour costs are rigid downwards the economy will not automatically rebound to full employment. Keynes advocated the use of fiscal and monetary policies to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions and depressions. He detailed these ideas in his magnum opus, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in early 1936. By the late 1930s, leading Western economies had begun adopting Keynes’s policy recommendations. Almost all capitalist governments had done so by the end of the two decades following Keynes’s death in 1946. As a leader of the British delegation, Keynes participated in the design of the international economic institutions established after the end of World War II but was overruled by the American delegation on several aspects.
Keynes’s influence started to wane in the 1970s, partly as a result of the stagflation that plagued the British and American economies during that decade, and partly because of criticism of Keynesian policies by Milton Friedman and other monetarists, who disputed the ability of government to favourably regulate the business cycle with fiscal policy. The 2007-2008 financial crisis sparked the 2008-2009 Keynesian resurgence. Keynesian economics provided the theoretical underpinning for economic policies undertaken in response to the 2007-2008 financial crisis by President Barack Obama of the United States, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, and other heads of governments.
When Time magazine included Keynes among its Most Important People of the Century in 1999, it reported that “his radical idea that governments should spend money they don’t have may have saved capitalism”. The Economist has described Keynes as “Britain’s most famous 20th-century economist”. In addition to being an economist, Keynes was also a civil servant, a director of the Bank of England, and a part of the Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals.
Frequently Asked Questions
John Maynard Keynes was an English economist and philosopher who is considered one of the most influential economists of the 20th century. His ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments.
Keynes challenged the prevailing economic theories of his time, arguing that aggregate demand, not just flexible wages, determined the overall level of economic activity. He advocated the use of fiscal and monetary policies to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions and depressions, which became known as Keynesian economics.
By the late 1930s, leading Western economies had begun adopting Keynes’ policy recommendations, and almost all capitalist governments had done so by the end of the two decades following Keynes’ death in 1946. Keynesian economics provided the theoretical underpinning for economic policies undertaken in response to the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
As a leader of the British delegation, Keynes participated in the design of the international economic institutions established after the end of World War II, but he was overruled by the American delegation on several aspects.
Keynes’ influence started to wane in the 1970s, partly due to the stagflation that plagued the British and American economies and partly because of criticism of Keynesian policies by Milton Friedman and other monetarists. However, the 2007-2008 financial crisis sparked a Keynesian resurgence, with Keynesian economics providing the theoretical underpinning for economic policies undertaken in response to the crisis.
28 Quotes by John Maynard Keynes
- 1.
It would not be foolish to contemplate the possibility of a far greater progress still.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 2.
The importance of money flows from it being a link between the present and the future.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 3.
Ideas shape the course of history.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 4.
It is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 5.
There is no harm in being sometimes wrong – especially if one is promptly found out.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 6.
The avoidance of taxes is the only intellectual pursuit that still carries any reward.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 7.
The disruptive powers of excessive national fecundity may have played a greater part in bursting the bonds of convention than either the power of ideas or the errors of autocracy.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 8.
If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 9.
Capitalism is the astounding belief that the most wickedest of men will do the most wickedest of things for the greatest good of everyone.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 10.
Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 11.
The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 12.
The best way to destroy the capitalist system is to debauch the currency. By a continuing process of inflation, governments can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 13.
Successful investing is anticipating the anticipations of others.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 14.
Nothing mattered except states of mind, chiefly our own.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 15.
The decadent international but individualistic capitalism in the hands of which we found ourselves after the war is not a success. It is not intelligent. It is not beautiful. It is not just. It is not virtuous. And it doesn’t deliver the goods.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 16.
A study of the history of opinion is a necessary preliminary to the emancipation of the mind.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 17.
Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 18.
I do not know which makes a man more conservative – to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 19.
Long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 20.
The day is not far off when the economic problem will take the back seat where it belongs, and the arena of the heart and the head will be occupied or reoccupied, by our real problems – the problems of life and of human relations, of creation and behavior and religion.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 21.
The social object of skilled investment should be to defeat the dark forces of time and ignorance which envelope our future.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 22.
Like Odysseus, the President looked wiser when he was seated.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 23.
I work for a Government I despise for ends I think criminal.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 24.
In the long run we are all dead.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 25.
Americans are apt to be unduly interested in discovering what average opinion believes average opinion to be.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 26.
By a continuing process of inflation, government can confiscate, secretly and unobserved, an important part of the wealth of their citizens.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 27.
For at least another hundred years we must pretend to ourselves and to every one that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not. Avarice and usury and precaution must be our gods for a little longer still.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)
- 28.
Most men love money and security more, and creation and construction less, as they get older.
John Maynard KeynesBritish economist (1883-1946)