Economics
GDP per capita by country (World Bank, 2011)
General classifications
Microeconomics Macroeconomics History of economic thought Methodology Heterodox approaches
Technical methods
Econometrics Experimental Mathematical National accounting
Fields and subfields
Agricultural Behavioral Business Computational Cultural Demographic Development Ecological Economic systems Education Environmental Evolutionary Expeditionary Game theory Geography Growth Health History Industrial organization Information International Labour Law Managerial Monetary and Financial economics Natural resource Personnel Public and Welfare economics Regional Rural Urban Welfare
Lists
Categories Economists Index Journals Outline Publications
Business and economics portal

Part of a series on
Capitalism
Concepts Business Business cycle Capital Capital accumulation Capital markets Capitalist mode of production Central bank Company and Corporation Competitive markets Economic interventionism Fictitious capital Fiscal policy Financial market Free price system Free market Invisible hand Liberalization Money Monetary policy Private property Privatization Profit Regulated market Supply and demand Surplus value Wage labour
Economic systems Corporate Anglo-Saxon Free market Laissez-faire Mercantile Mixed Nordic Regulatory Rhine Social market State Welfare
Economic theories American Austrian Chicago Classical Institutional Keynesian Marxian Monetarist Neoclassical New institutional New Keynesian Supply-side
Origins Age of Enlightenment Atlantic slave trade Capitalism and Islam Commercial Revolution Feudalism Industrial Revolution Mercantilism Primitive accumulation Physiocracy Simple commodity production
Development Advanced Consumer Corporate Crony Finance Financial Global Late Merchant Rentier State monopoly Techno
People Adam Smith John Stuart Mill David Ricardo Thomas Malthus Jean-Baptiste Say Milton Friedman Friedrich Hayek John Maynard Keynes Alfred Marshall Karl Marx Ludwig von Mises Murray Rothbard Joseph Schumpeter Thorstein Veblen Max Weber Ronald Coase
Related topics Anti-capitalism Consumerism Corporatism Crisis theory Criticism of capitalism Cronyism Capitalist state Exploitation Globalization History History of theory Market economy Periodizations of capitalism Perspectives on capitalism Speculation Spontaneous order Venture philanthropy
Ideologies Anarcho-capitalism Democratic capitalism Dirigisme Eco-capitalism Humanistic capitalism Inclusive capitalism Liberalism (economic) Libertarianism Neo-Capitalism Neoconservatism Neoliberalism Objectivism Ordoliberalism Social capitalism Social democracy
Capitalism portal Economics portal Philosophy portal Politics portal

Keynesian economics (/[unsupported input]ʔ k[unsupported input]n z i ʔ n/ KAYN-zee-?n; also called Keynesianism and Keynesian theory) are the group of macroeconomic schools of thought based on the ideas of 20th-century economist John Maynard Keynes. Keynesian economists believe that, in the short run, productive activity is influenced by aggregate demand (total spending in the economy), and that aggregate demand does not necessarily equal aggregate supply (the total productive capacity of the economy). Instead, it is influenced by a host of factors and sometimes behaves erratically, affecting production, employment, and inflation.[1]

Advocates of Keynesian economics argue that private sector decisions sometimes lead to inefficient macroeconomic outcomes which require active policy responses by the public sector, particularly monetary policy actions by the central bank and fiscal policy actions by the government to stabilize output over the business cycle.[2] The theories forming the basis of Keynesian economics were first presented by Keynes in his book, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936. Keynes contrasted his approach to the 'classical' (more commonly 'neoclassical') economics that preceded his book. The interpretations of Keynes that followed are contentious and several schools of thought claim his legacy.

Keynesian economics advocates a mixed economy ? predominantly private sector, but with a role for government intervention during recessions ? and in the US served as the standard economic model during the later part of the Great Depression, World War II, and the post-war economic expansion (1945?1973), though it lost some influence following the stagflation of the 1970s.[3] The advent of the global financial crisis in 2008 has caused a resurgence in Keynesian thought.[4]

## Theory[edit]

Prior to the publication of Keynes' General Theory, mainstream economic thought was that the economy existed in a state of general equilibrium, meaning that the economy naturally consumes whatever it produces because the needs of consumers are always greater than the capacity of the economy to satisfy those needs. This perception is reflected in Say's Law[5] and in the writing of David Ricardo,[6] which is that individuals produce so that they can either consume what they have manufactured or sell their output so that they can buy someone else's output. This perception rests upon the assumption that if a surplus of goods or services exists, they would naturally fall in price to the point where they would be consumed.

Keynes' theory was significant because it overturned the mainstream thought of the time and brought about a greater awareness that problems such as unemployment are not a product of laziness, but the result of a structural inadequacy in the economic system. He argued that because there was no guarantee that the goods that individuals produce would be met with demand, unemployment was a natural consequence. He saw the economy as unable to maintain itself at full employment and believed that it was necessary for the government to step in and put under-utilised savings to work through government spending. Thus, according to Keynesian theory, some individually rational microeconomic-level actions such as not investing savings in the goods and services produced by the economy, if taken collectively by a large proportion of individuals and firms, can lead to outcomes wherein the economy operates below its potential output and growth rate.

Prior to Keynes, a situation in which aggregate demand for goods and services did not meet supply was referred to by classical economists as a general glut, although there was disagreement among them as to whether a general glut was possible. Keynes argued that when a glut occurred, it was the over-reaction of producers and the laying off of workers that led to a fall in demand and perpetuated the problem. Keynesians therefore advocate an active stabilization policy to reduce the amplitude of the business cycle, which they rank among the most serious of economic problems. According to the theory, government spending can be used to increase aggregate demand, thus increasing economic activity, reducing unemployment and deflation.

Keynes argued that the solution to the Great Depression was to stimulate the economy ("inducement to invest") through some combination of two approaches:

1. A reduction in interest rates (monetary policy), and
2. Government investment in infrastructure (fiscal policy).

By reducing the interest rate at which the central bank lends money to commercial banks, the government sends a signal to commercial banks that they should do the same for their customers. In reality, government loans to commercial banks make up a tiny proportion of the overall funding of commercial banks, and as a consequence, it can be ineffective at times when the degree of economic contraction is significant.[citation needed]

Investment by government in infrastructure injects income into the economy by creating business opportunity, employment and demand and reversing the effects of the aforementioned imbalance.[7] Governments source the funding for this expenditure by borrowing funds from the economy through the issue of government bonds, and because government spending exceeds the amount of tax income that the government receives, this creates a fiscal deficit.

A central conclusion of Keynesian economics is that, in some situations, no strong automatic mechanism moves output and employment towards full employment levels. This conclusion conflicts with economic approaches that assume a strong general tendency towards equilibrium. In the 'neoclassical synthesis', which combines Keynesian macro concepts with a micro foundation, the conditions of general equilibrium allow for price adjustment to eventually achieve this goal. More broadly, Keynes saw his theory as a general theory, in which utilization of resources could be high or low, whereas previous economics focused on the particular case of full utilization.

The new classical macroeconomics movement, which began in the late 1960s and early 1970s, criticized Keynesian theories, while New Keynesian economics has sought to base Keynes's ideas on more rigorous theoretical foundations.

Some interpretations of Keynes have emphasized his stress on the international coordination of Keynesian policies, the need for international economic institutions, and the ways in which economic forces could lead to war or could promote peace.[8]

### Concepts[edit]

#### Wages and spending[edit]

During the Great Depression, the classical theory defined economic collapse as simply a lost incentive to produce, and the mass unemployment as a result of high and rigid real wages.[citation needed]

To Keynes, the determination of wages is more complicated. First, he argued that it is not real but nominal wages that are set in negotiations between employers and workers, as opposed to a barter relationship. Second, nominal wage cuts would be difficult to put into effect because of laws and wage contracts. Even classical economists admitted that these exist; unlike Keynes, they advocated abolishing minimum wages, unions, and long-term contracts, increasing labour-market flexibility. However, to Keynes, people will resist nominal wage reductions, even without unions, until they see other wages falling and a general fall of prices.

Keynes rejected the idea that cutting wages would cure recessions. He examined the explanations for this idea and found them all faulty. He also considered the most likely consequences of cutting wages in recessions, under various different circumstances. He concluded that such wage cutting would be more likely to make recessions worse rather than better.[9]

Further, if wages and prices were falling, people would start to expect them to fall. This could make the economy spiral downward as those who had money would simply wait as falling prices made it more valuable?rather than spending. As Irving Fisher argued in 1933, in his Debt-Deflation Theory of Great Depressions, deflation (falling prices) can make a depression deeper as falling prices and wages made pre-existing nominal debts more valuable in real terms.

#### Excessive saving[edit]

To Keynes, excessive saving, i.e. saving beyond planned investment, was a serious problem, encouraging recession or even depression. Excessive saving results if investment falls, perhaps due to falling consumer demand, over-investment in earlier years, or pessimistic business expectations, and if saving does not immediately fall in step, the economy would decline.

The classical economists argued that interest rates would fall due to the excess supply of "loanable funds". The first diagram, adapted from the only graph in The General Theory, shows this process. (For simplicity, other sources of the demand for or supply of funds are ignored here.) Assume that fixed investment in capital goods falls from "old I" to "new I" (step a). Second (step b), the resulting excess of saving causes interest-rate cuts, abolishing the excess supply: so again we have saving (S) equal to investment. The interest-rate (i) fall prevents that of production and employment.

Keynes had a complex argument against this laissez-faire response. The graph below summarizes his argument, assuming again that fixed investment falls (step A). First, saving does not fall much as interest rates fall, since the income and substitution effects of falling rates go in conflicting directions. Second, since planned fixed investment in plant and equipment is based mostly on long-term expectations of future profitability, that spending does not rise much as interest rates fall. So S and I are drawn as steep (inelastic) in the graph. Given the inelasticity of both demand and supply, a large interest-rate fall is needed to close the saving/investment gap. As drawn, this requires a negative interest rate at equilibrium (where the new I line would intersect the old S line). However, this negative interest rate is not necessary to Keynes's argument.

Third, Keynes argued that saving and investment are not the main determinants of interest rates, especially in the short run. Instead, the supply of and the demand for the stock of money determine interest rates in the short run. (This is not drawn in the graph.) Neither changes quickly in response to excessive saving to allow fast interest-rate adjustment.

Finally, Keynes suggested that, because of fear of capital losses on assets besides money, there may be a "liquidity trap" setting a floor under which interest rates cannot fall. While in this trap, interest rates are so low that any increase in money supply will cause bond-holders (fearing rises in interest rates and hence capital losses on their bonds) to sell their bonds to attain money (liquidity). In the diagram, the equilibrium suggested by the new I line and the old S line cannot be reached, so that excess saving persists. Some (such as Paul Krugman) see this latter kind of liquidity trap as prevailing in Japan in the 1990s. Most economists agree that nominal interest rates cannot fall below zero. However, some economists (particularly those from the Chicago school) reject the existence of a liquidity trap.

Even if the liquidity trap does not exist, there is a fourth (perhaps most important) element to Keynes's critique. Saving involves not spending all of one's income. Thus, it means insufficient demand for business output, unless it is balanced by other sources of demand, such as fixed investment. Therefore, excessive saving corresponds to an unwanted accumulation of inventories, or what classical economists called a general glut.[10] This pile-up of unsold goods and materials encourages businesses to decrease both production and employment. This in turn lowers people's incomes?and saving, causing a leftward shift in the S line in the diagram (step B). For Keynes, the fall in income did most of the job by ending excessive saving and allowing the loanable funds market to attain equilibrium. Instead of interest-rate adjustment solving the problem, a recession does so. Thus in the diagram, the interest-rate change is small.

Whereas the classical economists assumed that the level of output and income was constant and given at any one time (except for short-lived deviations), Keynes saw this as the key variable that adjusted to equate saving and investment.

Finally, a recession undermines the business incentive to engage in fixed investment. With falling incomes and demand for products, the desired demand for factories and equipment (not to mention housing) will fall. This accelerator effect would shift the I line to the left again, a change not shown in the diagram above. This recreates the problem of excessive saving and encourages the recession to continue.

In sum, to Keynes there is interaction between excess supplies in different markets, as unemployment in labour markets encourages excessive saving?and vice-versa. Rather than prices adjusting to attain equilibrium, the main story is one of quantity adjustment allowing recessions and possible attainment of underemployment equilibrium.

#### Active fiscal policy[edit]

| This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

As noted,[clarification needed] the classicals wanted to balance the government budget. To Keynes, this would exacerbate the underlying problem: following either the expansionary policy or the contractionary policy[clarification needed] would raise saving (broadly defined) and thus lower the demand for both products and labour. For example, Keynesians would advise tax cuts instead.[11]

Keynes' ideas influenced Franklin D. Roosevelt's view that insufficient buying-power caused the Depression. During his presidency, Roosevelt adopted some aspects of Keynesian economics, especially after 1937, when, in the depths of the Depression, the United States suffered from recession yet again following fiscal contraction. But to many the true success of Keynesian policy can be seen at the onset of World War II, which provided a kick to the world economy, removed uncertainty, and forced the rebuilding of destroyed capital. Keynesian ideas became almost official in social-democratic Europe after the war and in the U.S. in the 1960s.

Keynes developed a theory which suggested that active government policy could be effective in managing the economy. Rather than seeing unbalanced government budgets as wrong, Keynes advocated what has been called countercyclical fiscal policies, that is, policies that acted against the tide of the business cycle: deficit spending when a nation's economy suffers from recession or when recovery is long-delayed and unemployment is persistently high?and the suppression of inflation in boom times by either increasing taxes or cutting back on government outlays. He argued that governments should solve problems in the short run rather than waiting for market forces to do it in the long run, because, "in the long run, we are all dead."[12]

This contrasted with the classical and neoclassical economic analysis of fiscal policy. Fiscal stimulus could actuate production. But, to these schools, there was no reason to believe that this stimulation would outrun the side-effects that "crowd out" private investment: first, it would increase the demand for labour and raise wages, hurting profitability; Second, a government deficit increases the stock of government bonds, reducing their market price and encouraging high interest rates, making it more expensive for business to finance fixed investment. Thus, efforts to stimulate the economy would be self-defeating.

The Keynesian response is that such fiscal policy is appropriate only when unemployment is persistently high, above the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU). In that case, crowding out is minimal. Further, private investment can be "crowded in": Fiscal stimulus raises the market for business output, raising cash flow and profitability, spurring business optimism. To Keynes, this accelerator effect meant that government and business could be complements rather than substitutes in this situation. Second, as the stimulus occurs, gross domestic product rises, raising the amount of saving, helping to finance the increase in fixed investment. Finally, government outlays need not always be wasteful: government investment in public goods that will not be provided by profit-seekers will encourage the private sector's growth. That is, government spending on such things as basic research, public health, education, and infrastructure could help the long-term growth of potential output.

In Keynes's theory, there must be significant slack in the labour market before fiscal expansion is justified.

Contrary to some critical characterizations of it, Keynesianism does not consist solely of deficit spending. Keynesianism recommends counter-cyclical policies.[13] An example of a counter-cyclical policy is raising taxes to cool the economy and to prevent inflation when there is abundant demand-side growth, and engaging in deficit spending on labour-intensive infrastructure projects to stimulate employment and stabilize wages during economic downturns. Classical economics, on the other hand, argues that one should cut taxes when there are budget surpluses, and cut spending?or, less likely, increase taxes?during economic downturns. Keynesian economists believe that adding to profits and incomes during boom cycles through tax cuts, and removing income and profits from the economy through cuts in spending and/or increased taxes during downturns, tends to exacerbate the negative effects of the business cycle. This effect is especially pronounced when the government controls a large fraction of the economy, and is therefore one reason fiscal conservatives advocate a much smaller government.

#### "Multiplier effect" and interest rates[edit]

Main article: Spending multiplier

Two aspects of Keynes's model has implications for policy:

First, there is the "Keynesian multiplier", first developed by Richard F. Kahn in 1931. Exogenous increases in spending, such as an increase in government outlays, increases total spending by a multiple of that increase. A government could stimulate a great deal of new production with a modest outlay if:

1. The people who receive this money then spend most on consumption goods and save the rest.
2. This extra spending allows businesses to hire more people and pay them, which in turn allows a further increase in consumer spending.

This process continues. At each step, the increase in spending is smaller than in the previous step, so that the multiplier process tapers off and allows the attainment of an equilibrium. This story is modified and moderated if we move beyond a "closed economy" and bring in the role of taxation: The rise in imports and tax payments at each step reduces the amount of induced consumer spending and the size of the multiplier effect.

Second, Keynes re-analyzed the effect of the interest rate on investment. In the classical model, the supply of funds (saving) determines the amount of fixed business investment. That is, under the classical model, since all savings are placed in banks, and all business investors in need of borrowed funds go to banks, the amount of savings determines the amount that is available to invest. Under Keynes's model, the amount of investment is determined independently by long-term profit expectations and, to a lesser extent, the interest rate. The latter opens the possibility of regulating the economy through money supply changes, via monetary policy. Under conditions such as the Great Depression, Keynes argued that this approach would be relatively ineffective compared to fiscal policy. But, during more "normal" times, monetary expansion can stimulate the economy.[citation needed]

#### IS/LM model[edit]

The IS/LM model is nearly as influential as Keynes's original analysis in determining actual policy and economics education. It relates aggregate demand and employment to three exogenous quantities, i.e., the amount of money in circulation, the government budget, and the state of business expectations. This model was very popular with economists after World War II because it could be understood in terms of general equilibrium theory. This encouraged a much more static vision of macroeconomics than that described above.[citation needed]

#### Phillips curve[edit]

The second main part of a Keynesian policy-maker's theoretical apparatus was the Phillips curve. This curve, which was more of an empirical observation than a theory, indicated that increased employment, and decreased unemployment, implied increased inflation. Keynes had only predicted that falling unemployment would cause a higher price, not a higher inflation rate. Thus, the economist could use the IS-LM model to predict, for example, that an increase in the money supply would raise output and employment?and then use the Phillips curve to predict an increase in inflation.[citation needed]

## History[edit]

### Precursors[edit]

Keynes's work was part of a long-running debate within economics over the existence and nature of general gluts. While a number of the policies Keynes advocated (the notable one being government deficit spending at times of low private investment or consumption) and the theoretical ideas he proposed (effective demand, the multiplier, the paradox of thrift) were advanced by various authors in the 19th and early 20th centuries, Keynes's unique contribution was to provide a general theory of these, which proved acceptable to the political and economic establishments.

#### Schools[edit]

See also: Underconsumption, Birmingham School (economics), and Stockholm school (economics)

An intellectual precursor of Keynesian economics was underconsumption theory in classical economics, dating from such 19th-century economists as Thomas Malthus, the Birmingham School of Thomas Attwood,[14] and the American economists William Trufant Foster and Waddill Catchings, who were influential in the 1920s and 1930s. Underconsumptionists were, like Keynes after them, concerned with failure of aggregate demand to attain potential output, calling this "underconsumption" (focusing on the demand side), rather than "overproduction" (which would focus on the supply side), and advocating economic interventionism. Keynes specifically discussed underconsumption (which he wrote "under-consumption") in the General Theory, in Chapter 22, Section IV and Chapter 23, Section VII.

Numerous concepts were developed earlier and independently of Keynes by the Stockholm school during the 1930s; these accomplishments were described in a 1937 article, published in response to the 1936 General Theory, sharing the Swedish discoveries.[15]

#### Concepts[edit]

The multiplier dates to work in the 1890s by the Australian economist Alfred De Lissa, the Danish economist Julius Wulff, and the German American economist Nicholas Johannsen,[16] the latter being cited in a footnote of Keynes.[17] Nicholas Johannsen also proposed a theory of effective demand in the 1890s.

The paradox of thrift was stated in 1892 by John M. Robertson in his The Fallacy of Savings, in earlier forms by mercantilist economists since the 16th century, and similar sentiments date to antiquity.[18][19]

Today these ideas, regardless of provenance, are referred to in academia under the rubric of "Keynesian economics", due to Keynes's role in consolidating, elaborating, and popularizing them.

### Keynes and the classics[edit]

Keynes sought to distinguish his theories from and oppose them to "classical economics," by which he meant the economic theories of David Ricardo and his followers, including John Stuart Mill, Alfred Marshall, Francis Ysidro Edgeworth, and Arthur Cecil Pigou. A central tenet of the classical view, known as Say's law, states that "supply creates its own demand." Say's Law can be interpreted in two ways. First, the claim that the total value of output is equal to the sum of income earned in production is a result of a national income accounting identity, and is therefore indisputable. A second and stronger claim, however, that the "costs of output are always covered in the aggregate by the sale-proceeds resulting from demand" depends on how consumption and saving are linked to production and investment. In particular, Keynes argued that the second, strong form of Say's Law only holds if increases in individual savings exactly match an increase in aggregate investment.[20]

Keynes sought to develop a theory that would explain determinants of saving, consumption, investment and production. In that theory, the interaction of aggregate demand and aggregate supply determines the level of output and employment in the economy.

Because of what he considered the failure of the ?Classical Theory? in the 1930s, Keynes firmly objects to its main theory?adjustments in prices would automatically make demand tend to the full employment level.

Neo-classical theory supports that the two main costs that shift demand and supply are labour and money. Through the distribution of the monetary policy, demand and supply can be adjusted. If there were more labour than demand for it, wages would fall until hiring began again. If there were too much saving, and not enough consumption, then interest rates would fall until people either cut their savings rate or started borrowing.

### Military Keynesianism[edit]

Main article: Military Keynesianism

### Postwar Keynesianism[edit]

Main articles: Neo-Keynesian economics, New Keynesian economics, and Post-Keynesian economics

Keynes's ideas became widely accepted after WWII, and until the early 1970s, Keynesian economics provided the main inspiration for economic policy makers in Western industrialized countries.[3] Governments prepared high quality economic statistics on an ongoing basis and tried to base their policies on the Keynesian theory that had become the norm. In the early era of new liberalism and social democracy, most western capitalist countries enjoyed low, stable unemployment and modest inflation, an era called the Golden Age of Capitalism.

In terms of policy, the twin tools of post-war Keynesian economics were fiscal policy and monetary policy. While these are credited to Keynes, others, such as economic historian David Colander, argue that they are, rather, due to the interpretation of Keynes by Abba Lerner in his theory of Functional Finance, and should instead be called "Lernerian" rather than "Keynesian".[21]

Through the 1950s, moderate degrees of government demand leading industrial development, and use of fiscal and monetary counter-cyclical policies continued, and reached a peak in the "go go" 1960s, where it seemed to many Keynesians that prosperity was now permanent. In 1971, Republican US President Richard Nixon even proclaimed "I am now a Keynesian in economics."[22] However, with the oil shock of 1973, and the economic problems of the 1970s, modern liberal economics began to fall out of favor. During this time, many economies experienced high and rising unemployment, coupled with high and rising inflation, contradicting the Phillips curve's prediction. This stagflation meant that the simultaneous application of expansionary (anti-recession) and contractionary (anti-inflation) policies appeared to be necessary. This dilemma led to the end of the Keynesian near-consensus of the 1960s, and the rise throughout the 1970s of ideas based upon more classical analysis, including monetarism, supply-side economics,[22] and new classical economics. At the same time, Keynesians began during the period to reorganize their thinking (some becoming associated with New Keynesian economics); one strategy, utilized also as a critique of the notably high unemployment and potentially disappointing GNP growth rates associated with the latter two theories by the mid-1980s, was to emphasize low unemployment and maximal economic growth at the cost of somewhat higher inflation (its consequences kept in check by indexing and other methods, and its overall rate kept lower and steadier by such potential policies as Martin Weitzman's share economy).[23]

Multiple schools of economic thought that trace their legacy to Keynes currently exist, the notable ones being Neo-Keynesian economics, New Keynesian economics, and Post-Keynesian economics. Keynes's biographer Robert Skidelsky writes that the post-Keynesian school has remained closest to the spirit of Keynes's work in following his monetary theory and rejecting the neutrality of money.[24][25]

In the postwar era, Keynesian analysis was combined with neoclassical economics to produce what is generally termed the "neoclassical synthesis", yielding Neo-Keynesian economics, which dominated mainstream macroeconomic thought. Though it was widely held that there was no strong automatic tendency to full employment, many believed that if government policy were used to ensure it, the economy would behave as neoclassical theory predicted. This post-war domination by Neo-Keynesian economics was broken during the stagflation of the 1970s. There was a lack of consensus among macroeconomists in the 1980s. However, the advent of New Keynesian economics in the 1990s, modified and provided microeconomic foundations for the neo-Keynesian theories. These modified models now dominate mainstream economics.

Post-Keynesian economists, on the other hand, reject the neoclassical synthesis and, in general, neoclassical economics applied to the macroeconomy. Post-Keynesian economics is a heterodox school that holds that both Neo-Keynesian economics and New Keynesian economics are incorrect, and a misinterpretation of Keynes's ideas. The Post-Keynesian school encompasses a variety of perspectives, but has been far less influential than the other more mainstream Keynesian schools.

## Relationship to other schools of economics[edit]

The Keynesian schools of economics are situated alongside a number of other schools that have the same perspectives on what the economic issues are, but differ on what causes them and how to best resolve them:

### Monetarism[edit]

Monetarists and Keynesians are in agreement over the fact that issues such as business cycles, unemployment, inflation need to be addressed, but have fundamentally different perspectives on the capacity of the economy to find its own equilibrium and as a consequence the degree of government intervention that is required to create equilibrium. Keynesians advocate that when the economy is experiencing a decline in confidence that governments should borrow under-employed savings from the economy and spend it on infrastructure, while monetarists argue that governments should balance their budgets and regulate the supply of money through interest rates.

Keynesian policies fell out of favour in the 1970s when it was realised that government spending was leading to inflation rather than create the economic stimulation that was required. Monetarism then became the dominant economic school and as a consequence, inflation rates fell across most developed countries and since the 1980s have remained significantly lower than they were in the 1970s. The Global Financial Crisis, however, has highlighted the need for Keynesian type government intervention through spending as governments found it impossible to stimulate economies through monetary policy alone.

### Austrian School[edit]

Austrian economists favour diminished government intervention in the economy. They have a particular interests in the business cycle, arguing that economic booms are caused by excessive and unsustainable credit expansion to businesses and individual borrowers by the banks.[26] The excess supply of funds to capital tends to cause capital goods prices to rise and stimulates an unsustainable shift of investment from consumer goods to capital goods. The bidding up of house prices due to the abundance of credit prior to the Global Financial Crisis add credibility to the Austrian perspective, but does not form part of the mainstream thought.

### Stockholm School[edit]

The Stockholm School rose to prominence at about the same time that Keynes published his General Theory and shared a common concern in business cycles and unemployment. The second generation of Swedish economists also advocated government intervention through spending during economic downturns[27] although opinions are divided over whether they conceived the essence of Keynes' theory before he did.[28]

## Criticisms[edit]

### Austrian School criticisms[edit]

Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek criticized Keynesian economic policies for what he called their fundamentally "collectivist" approach, arguing that such theories encourage centralized planning, which leads to malinvestment of capital, which is the cause of business cycles. Hayek also argued that Keynes's study of the aggregate relations in an economy is fallacious, as recessions are caused by micro-economic factors. Hayek claimed that what starts as temporary governmental fixes usually become permanent and expanding government programs, which stifle the private sector and civil society.[29]

Austrian economist Henry Hazlitt criticized, paragraph by paragraph, Keynes's General Theory in The Failure of the New Economics.[30]

### New Classical Macroeconomics criticisms[edit]

See also: Lucas critique

Another influential school of thought was based on the Lucas critique of Keynesian economics. This called for greater consistency with microeconomic theory and rationality, and in particular emphasized the idea of rational expectations. Lucas and others argued that Keynesian economics required remarkably foolish and short-sighted behavior from people, which totally contradicted the economic understanding of their behavior at a micro level. New classical economics introduced a set of macroeconomic theories that were based on optimising microeconomic behavior. These models have been developed into the Real Business Cycle Theory, which argues that business cycle fluctuations can to a large extent be accounted for by real (in contrast to nominal) shocks.

Beginning in the late 1950s new classical macroeconomists began to disagree with the methodology employed by Keynes and his successors. Keynesians emphasized the dependence of consumption on disposable income and, also, of investment on current profits and current cash flow. In addition, Keynesians posited a Phillips curve that tied nominal wage inflation to unemployment rate. To support these theories, Keynesians typically traced the logical foundations of their model (using introspection) and supported their assumptions with statistical evidence.[31] New classical theorists demanded that macroeconomics be grounded on the same foundations as microeconomic theory, profit-maximizing firms and rational, utility-maximizing consumers.[31]

The result of this shift in methodology produced several important divergences from Keynesian Macroeconomics:[31]

1. Independence of Consumption and current Income (life-cycle permanent income hypothesis)
2. Irrelevance of Current Profits to Investment (Modigliani-Miller theorem)
3. Long run independence of inflation and unemployment (natural rate of unemployment)
4. The inability of monetary policy to stabilize output (rational expectations)
5. Irrelevance of Taxes and Budget Deficits to Consumption (Ricardian Equivalence)

## See also[edit]

- Functional finance
- Job guarantee

## References[edit]

1. ^ Blinder, Alan. "Keynesian Economics". The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
2. ^ Sullivan, Arthur; Steven M. Sheffrin (2003). Economics: Principles in action. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-063085-3.
3. ^ a b Fletcher, Gordon (1989). The Keynesian Revolution and Its Critics: Issues of Theory and Policy for the Monetary Production Economy. Palgrave MacMillan. pp. xix?? xxi, 88 , 189?191, 234?238, 256?261. ISBN 0-312-45260-8.
4. ^ "Economic Crisis Mounts in Germany". Der Spiegel. 4 November 2008. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
5. ^ Say, Jean-Baptiste (2001). A Treatise on Political Economy; or the Production Distribution and Consumption of Wealth. Kitchener: Batoche Books.
6. ^ Ricardo, David (1871). On The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation.
7. ^ Blinder, Alan S. (2002). "Keynesian Economics". The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. Retrieved 2008-04-09
8. ^ Markwell, Donald (2006). John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-829236-8
9. ^ Keynes, John Maynard (2008). The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Chapter 19: BN Publishing. ISBN 9650060251.
10. ^ "The General Glut Controversy"
11. ^ Galbraith, John K. (2009) The Great Crash.Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 137
12. ^ Keynes, John Maynard (1924). "The Theory of Money and the Foreign Exchanges". A Tract on Monetary Reform.
13. ^ "I Think Keynes Mistitled His Book". The Washington Post. 26 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
14. ^ Glasner, David (1997). "Attwood, Thomas (1783?1856)". In Glasner, David. Business Cycles and Depressions: An Encyclopedia. Taylor Francis. p. 22. ISBN 0-8240-0944-4. Retrieved 2009-06-15
15. ^ Ohlin, Bertil (1937). "Some Notes on the Stockholm Theory of Savings and Investment". Economic Journal
16. ^ Dimand, Robert William (1988). The origins of the Keynesian revolution. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 117. ISBN 0-8047-1525-4
17. ^ Keynes, John Maynard (1930). Treatise on Money. London: Macmillan. p. 90
18. ^ Nash, Robert T.; Gramm, William P. (1969). "A Neglected Early Statement the Paradox of Thrift". History of Political Economy 1 (2): 395?400. doi:10.1215/00182702-1-2-395.
19. ^ Robertson, John M. (1892). The Fallacy of Saving.
20. ^ cf. General Theory, Ch.1,2
21. ^ "What eventually became known as textbook Keynesian policies were in many ways Lerner?s interpretations of Keynes's policies, especially those expounded in The Economics of Control (1944) and later in The Economics of Employment (1951). . . . Textbook expositions of Keynesian policy naturally gravitated to the black and white 'Lernerian' policy of Functional Finance rather than the grayer Keynesian policies. Thus, the vision that monetary and fiscal policy should be used as a balance wheel, which forms a key element in the textbook policy revolution, deserves to be called Lernerian rather than Keynesian." (Colander 1984, p. 1573)
22. ^ a b Lewis, Paul (15 August 1976). "Nixon's Economic Policies Return to Haunt the G.O.P.". New York Times
23. ^ Blinder, Alan S. (1987). Hard Heads, Soft Hearts: Tough Minded Economics for a Just Society. New York: Perseus Books. pp. 65?66. ISBN 0-201-14519-7.
24. ^ Skidelsky 2009
25. ^ Financial markets, money and the real world, by Paul Davidson, pp. 88?89
26. ^ Theory of Money and Credit, Ludwig von Mises, Part III, Part IV
27. ^ Jonung, Lars (1991). The Stockholm School of Economics Revisited. Cambridge University Pres. p. 5.
28. ^ Jonung, Lars (1991). The Stockholm School of Economics Revisited. Cambridge University Pres. p. 18.
29. ^ Hayek, Friedrich (1989). The Collected Works of F.A. Hayek. University of Chicago Press. p. 202. ISBN 978-0-226-32097-7.
30. ^ Hazlitt, Henry (1959). The Failure of the 'New Economics': An Analysis of the Keynesian Fallacies. D. Van Nostrand. [page needed]
31. ^ a b c Akerlof, George A. (2007). "The Missing Motivation in Macroeconomics". American Economic Review 97 (1): 5?36. doi:10.1257/aer.97.1.5.

## Further reading[edit]

- Blinder, Alan. "Keynesian Economics". Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.
- Keynes, John Maynard (2004) [1919]. The Economic Consequences of the Peace. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 0-7658-0529-4.
- Keynes, John Maynard (31 December 1933). "An Open Letter to President Roosevelt". New York Times.
- Keynes, John Maynard (2007) [1936]. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-230-00476-8.
- Lindahl, Erik (1954). "On Keynes' economic system". Economic Record 30: 19?32. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4932.1954.tb03070.x. Especially up to p.?26. ? This offers a compact summary of the Keynes equations and their interrelation.
- Donald Markwell, John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace, Oxford University Press, 2006.
- Traill, R.R. (2008). Problems with Economic Rationalism ? Psychology, Green-issues, and Jobs. Melbourne: Ondwelle. ? Includes a more concise structured version of Lindahl's summary (in Section 2.1 Appendix), ? a discussion of the 2008 financial-crash, ? and comments on J.L.Stein's generalization:-
- Stein, Jerome L. (1982). Monetarist, Keynesian New classical economics. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-12908-1.
- Gordon, Robert J. (1990). "What Is New-Keynesian Economics?". Journal of Economic Literature 28 (3): 1115?1171. JSTOR 2727103.
- Hazlitt, Henry (1959). The Failure of the ?New Economics?. An Analysis of the Keynesian Fallacies. Princeton, NJ: Van Nostrand.
- Colander, David (December 1984). "Was Keynes a Keynesian or a Lernerian?". Journal of Economic Literature 22: 1571?79, argues for the influence of Abba Lerner's interpretation Keynes in "textbook" Keynesianism.

## External links[edit]

- Works by John Maynard Keynes at Project Gutenberg
- Gon?alo L. Fonseca, The Keynesian Revolution
- "We are all Keynesians now" ? Historic article from Time magazine, 1965

Keynesians
Founder | John Maynard Keynes
Neo-Keynesians | Alvin Hansen John Hicks James Meade Roy Harrod William Phillips Trygve Haavelmo Paul Samuelson James Tobin Franco Modigliani James Duesenberry William Baumol Don Patinkin Lloyd Metzler Robert Eisner Arthur Melvin Okun Robert Mundell Lawrence Klein William Poole
Post-Keynesians | Paul Davidson Joan Robinson Richard Kahn Michał Kalecki Abba P. Lerner Nicholas Kaldor Evsey Domar Hyman Minsky Jan Kregel Sidney Weintraub Geoff Harcourt Victoria Chick G. L. S. Shackle Anthony Thirlwall Steve Keen Marc Lavoie Myron J. Gordon Basil Moore
New Keynesians | Edmund Phelps George Akerlof Guillermo Calvo Stanley Fischer Alan Blinder John B. Taylor Olivier Blanchard Robert J. Gordon Joseph Stiglitz Robert Shiller Stephany Griffith-Jones Mark Gertler Maurice Obstfeld Paul Krugman Kenneth Rogoff Ben Bernanke Lawrence Summers Julio Rotemberg Michael Woodford Nobuhiro Kiyotaki Richard Clarida David Romer Greg Mankiw Nouriel Roubini Andrei Shleifer Jordi Galí Marc Melitz

Macroeconomic schools of thought
Austrian School Keynesian economics Monetarism Neo-Keynesian economics New classical macroeconomics New Keynesian economics Post-Keynesian economics Supply-side economics

Schools of economic thought
Pre-modern | Ancient schools Medieval Islamic Scholasticism
Early modern | Cameralism Mercantilism Physiocrats School of Salamanca
Modern | American (National) Anarchist Birmingham Classical English historical Georgism German historical Lausanne Malthusian Marxian Mutualism Neoclassical Neomercantilism Ricardian
20th century | Austrian Capability approach Carnegie Chartalism Chicago Circuitism Constitutional Evolutionary Institutional Keynesian Monetarism Neo-Chartalism Neo-Keynesian Neo-Malthusian Neo-Marxian Neo-Ricardian New classical New institutional Post-Keynesian Public choice Saltwater/Freshwater Stockholm Supply-side Virginia
Related | Economics Heterodox economics History of economic thought History of macroeconomic thought