John Quiggin – Prospects of a Keynesian utopia. I first became an economist in the early 1970s, at a time when revolutionary change still seemed like an imminent possibility and when utopian ideas were everywhere, exemplified by the Situationist slogan of 1968: ‘Be realistic. Demand the impossible.’ Preferring to think in terms of the possible I was much influenced by an essay called ‘Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren,’ written in 1930 by John Maynard Keynes, the great economist whose ideas still dominated economic policymaking at the time.
Like the rest of Keynes’s work, the essay ceased to be discussed very much during the decades of free-market liberalism that led up to the global financial crisis of 2007 and the ensuing depression, through which most of the developed world is still struggling. And, also like the rest of Keynes's work, this essay has enjoyed a revival of interest in recent years, promoted most notably by the Keynes biographer Robert Skidelsky and his son Edward. Linear growth? A Point of View: What would Keynes do? 21 July 2012Last updated at 19:52 ET In the 1930s, Keynes urged investment in public works to restart growth What would John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential economists of the 20th Century, have made of the current economic situation, ponders philosopher John Gray. "I can see us as water-spiders, gracefully skimming, as light and reasonable as air, the surface of the stream without any contact at all with the eddies and currents underneath.
" That was how John Maynard Keynes, speaking in 1938 in a talk later published as his brilliant memoir My Early Beliefs, recalled his younger self and his friends in the Bloomsbury Group as they had been in the years before World War I. The influential Cambridge economist has figured prominently in the anxious debates that have gone on since the crash of 2007-2008. For most of those invoking his name, he was a kind of social engineer, who urged using the power of government to lift the economy out of the devastating depression of the 30s. The Real Roots of the Crisis - Umair Haque. By Umair Haque | 4:23 PM February 24, 2010 Remember Superman’s slogan?
Let me remind you. “Truth, Justice, and The American Way.” Corny, sure. But doesn’t it get you a little bit? Lately, macroeconomists of all stripes have been on a tear. Macroeconomists argue that the roots of the crisis are in imbalances: asymmetries in the flow of trade between nations. The real roots of the crisis aren’t about liquidity requirements, reserve ratios, or monetary transmission mechanisms. What really caused the crisis was the fact that we didn’t care.
The fundamental question, then, is this: why not? It is those institutions — not mere stuff — that underpin authentic value. The real crisis is inside us. Culture is what makes a 20-something walk away from a life-changing bonus — because some things aren’t worth selling your soul for. Culture is what makes a CEO not listen to the beancounting consultants who advise him to offshore — and upskill his workers instead.
Yet even that’s not enough. La conjuration des imbéciles. En se contentant d'imposer l’austérité aux pays endettés, l’Union et ses dirigeants font preuve d’aveuglement, voire de bêtise: ils mettent leurs partenaires en difficulté, sans en tirer aucun avantage, remarque un juriste portugais. Il y a quelque temps, au vu des conclusions du Conseil européen de ce printemps, j'en suis venu à me demander si le roi n'était pas nu. Je m'efforçais de comprendre ce qui m'apparaissait comme un écart béant entre ce qui avait été promis et annoncé et les résultats terriblement maigres et modestes.
Ici et là, j'ai assisté stupéfait au miracle de la multiplication des déclarations parfois contradictoires et presque toujours incendiaires à l'égard des marchés, de la part de responsables de l'Union européenne. Réelle stupidité, ou mise en scène élaborée? Serait-ce donc, puisqu'il n'y a pas d'explication morale qui tienne, que tout cela s'explique par des politiques tout acquis aux intérêts financiers? One Reason Why Keynesian Stimuli Aren't Working: They Aren't Keynesian. In The Washington Times, businessman Mike Whalen (who's associated the free-market think tank NCPA) writes up an interesting take on why various federal stimulus program have tanked like the Titanic (while causing few ripples on the way down).
His points are worth thinking about. According to the Keynesians, the remedy for today’s economic problem is for the federal government, as the single biggest actor, to “prime the pump.” As government money starts to ripple through the economy, consumers and businesses will be encouraged and cautiously respond with limited increases of their own. Vroom! There are many reasons to doubt that the multiplier exists at all and if it does, it certainly isn't at the levels the Obama administration has claimed.
But Whalen isn't simply dumping on Keynesianism, he's bent on pointing out that even its latter-day adherents are straying far from their master's theory. Whalen again: Except, of course, that it wouldn't be Keynesian at all. Understanding and Forecasting the Credit Cycle—Why the Mainstream Paradigm in Economics and Finance Collapsed - Full Article. Introduction Professor Richard A. Werner, DPhil (Oxon), BSc (Economics, LSE), began his academic career as Marie Curie Fellow of the European Commission at the University of Oxford. From 1997 to 2004 he was Assistant Professor at Sophia University, Tokyo. Since 2004 he has been at the University of Southampton, School of Management, where he is Chair in International Banking and founding director of the Centre for Banking, Finance and Sustainable Development.
Professor Werner has two decades of experience in the financial sector, including as chief economist at Jardine Fleming Securities (Asia) Ltd, Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns Asset Management, and as senior consultant or visiting researcher at the Asian Development Bank, the Japanese Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Japan, the Japan Development Bank and the Nomura Research Institute. His book Princes of the Yen was a no. 1 bestseller in Japan in 2001. Back to top Crises Have Disproven Mainstream Neo-Classical Economics.