Will Hutton wrote under the above title today.
I think that the article is important for three reasons. The first is that someone like Hutton can say that he is a Keynesian. It has been hard to do that for a long time.
The second is that he seeks to shatter the myth that Keynesianism is simply about high government spending. It isn't. It is about counter cyclical spending.
The third is that he draws out the disconnect between the financial and real economies which I refer to often on this blog and makes clear that this is the root cause of the problem with relying on monetary policy alone.
It's worth reading.
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Richard,
One issue:
“It is about counter cyclical spending.”
All well and good ….. with one problem. It is the hard left which howls during times of prosperity at the mere thought of governmental spending being slashed. Ususally tagged with some ill-defined and vague notion of “social justice”.
Being a follower of Keynes is fine, as long as one is consistent. Alas, as everyone knows, consistency is not a trait readily found amongst the hard left.
Georges
Your concept of the Hard Left is somewhat strange. It would certainly embrace the Conservative Party and the US Republicans.
Where does that leave you on the political landscape?
Richard
Richard,
Libertarianism. Free individuals making free individual choices.
Now, back on topic, Keynes and consistency …… cutting govermental spending during times of prosperity?
Three cheers for Will Hutton giving us a sophisticated understanding of Keynes and his relevance today. Interesting that on The Guardian website his superb article, with his reference to the work of Leijonhufvud (who had a colleague called Clower, also worth reading), has led others to mention other books – like the eccentric and dangerous George and the intellectually insightful Polanyi. I’d like to mention three books that I think everyone should be reading – Donald Moggridge’s “Maynard Keynes: An Economist’s Biography” (Moggridge was the chief editor of Keynes’s Collected Writings), Donald Markwell’s “John Maynard Keynes and International Relations: Economic Paths to War and Peace” (which helps us see Keynes’s important stress on international political and economic relations, and the interaction between them – something it would have been good if Will Hutton made more of, and which is very important with hopes of a ‘new Bretton Woods’ having some chance of realisation), and (no prizes for guessing) Robert Skidelsky’s biography (which gives you the sex as well as the economics). Thanks again, Will – and thanks for putting it here, Richard.