Book 21

Keynes

by Professor Roger E. Backhouse

Published 1 March 1999
Keynes's "General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money" (published February, 1936) is arguably the most influential and controversial economics book of the 20th century. In it, Keynes claimed to have undermined the foundations of orthodox economics and to have developed a new way of thinking about unemployment. Some (often young) economists took up Keynesian ideas, whilst others were hostile. There was also controversy over what Keynes was saying. This volume brings together 40 reviews published before the end of 1936, showing how a range of economists and political and literary figures responded to the book. As they are all early reviews, they pre-date the articles (notably by J.R. Hicks) that appeared early in 1937 and which provided the framework (the so-called IS-LM model) through which economists have come to interpret Keynes's ideas.