The Renaissance of Keynesian Economics

Abstract

Not so long ago, Keynesian economists had the distinct feeling of being members of an endangered species, with the prospect of extinction in the face of the onslaught of Monetarism Mark 1 (the monetarism of Milton Friedman) and Monetarism Mark 2 (the new classical macroeconomics, led in America by Professor Robert Lucas). It looks now, however, that the tide is beginning to turn. The new classical macroeconomics seems to be dying a slow death; the empirical evidence from the behaviour of the British economy and the world economy seems to be on the side of the Keynesians, and papers are being written on the rise and fall and rise again of Keynesian economics.² There is also a revival of interest in Keynes the man with the publication of two new biographies by Professors Moggridge³ and Skidelsky.⁴

First published BNL Quarterly Review, no. 186, September 1993.

The article is based on a talk given at Dalhousie University, Canada, October, 1992.