Abstract
Today’s Seminar takes as its theme ‘Keynes and Economic Development’. Although Keynes’ seminal work The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money was not concerned with the development problem, many of the concepts and techniques of analysis developed in the General Theory, and by a succeeding generation of Keynesian economists, are of considerable relevance to our understanding of economic development. Nevertheless, despite our greater understanding of the process of economic development, the gap between rich and poor countries of the world still remains staggering. In 1981, for example, there were about fifty countries whose national income per capita was less than US$320 per year, compared with the United Kingdom’s own $9,100 per capita per year, and a figure of $12,100 for the United States itself. Despite the problems that arise when cross-country comparisons of GNP are made, these figures do suggest that we still live in a world that is divided between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’. And the figures serve to remind those of us who are preoccupied with the performance of the British economy that our own problems are not all that great when seen in a somewhat wider perspective.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1987 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hughes, J.J. (1987). Introduction. In: Thirlwall, A.P. (eds) Keynes and Economic Development. Keynes Seminars. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08029-8_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08029-8_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-08031-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-08029-8
eBook Packages: Palgrave Economics & Finance CollectionEconomics and Finance (R0)