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*noun*; a school of economic thought prevalent after World War 2; around 1980, Keynesianism was supposedly superseded by monetarism, and then by the rational expectations hypothesis. Theory is named for John M. Keynes (1881-1946), who argued against the then-mainstream view that the economy was "self correcting." Keynes' book introducing his economic theory was The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936).
*Basic Concept*
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The basic concept of Keynesianism is that each economy has a level of aggregate demand, which does not respond to price or income levels in the same way that classical economics says it should. Rising income, for example, *does not* lead to a matching increase in consumption or business investment. Business investment is driven by investment opportunity, not {only by interest rates. Savings is driven by liquidity preference, not only by interest rates.
Keynes suggested that, for any economy, there was a marginal propensity to consume that was less than one. Hence, if the national income rose by 10%, consumption would rise by something less than 10%. This would lead to some production not being consumed, waste, and unemployment.
*What Keynesianism Says We Should Do*
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In 1936, when Keynes wrote *The General Theory*, most of the world was suffering from the Great Depression. Keynes recommended that the national government stimulation aggregate demand through a policy of deficit stimulus. In other words, the country should create adequate levels of aggregate demand by spending more than it took in as taxes (fiscal policy).
Also, Keynesianism held that aggregate demand could be stimulated *up to a point* by lowering interest rates (monetary policy).
*Application*
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In the USA and other large industrial countries, fiscal and monetary policy has been attempted often. After 1980, the Federal Reserve chair (Paul Volcker) was a monetarist, who claimed to reject Keynesianism. Nobel laureates in economics almost unanimously attacked Keynesianism as outmoded and wrong-headed, but governments continue to use fiscal stimulus and interest rate cuts in response to recessions.
Keynesianism held out the prospect that the state could reconcile the private ownership of the means of production with democratic management of the economy.
Adam Przeworski, *Capitalism and social democracy* (1986)
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Postulation that money is not a finite resource akin to a physical material.
Keynesianism removed the gold standard because it inferred that money does not work like gold: it is not retrievable in finite quantities.
Marxism--Keynesianism's predecessor--proffered that money--if accounted for correctly--is available in uncountable or infinity^infinity quantities.
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influenced by the economic theory of John M. Keynes (1883-1946); in particular, Keynes' book *The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money* (1936). The main point of Keynes' general theory (GT) was that market economies are not usually self-correcting, and occasionally require some sovereign intervention to prevent inflation or depression.
One of the policy prescriptions of the GT for curing recessions was to lower interest rates; another, more potent tool, was to deliberately run a fiscal deficit as a strategy for increasing aggregate demand. The GT was too late to have much of an impact on the Great Depression, but it did have a major impact on the economic policies of the Western Democracies from 1946 to the present.
During the period 1979 to 2001, Keynesianism was supposedly discredited, but national governments continued to use stimulus packages and monetary policy to resolve recessions. The policy has evolved, but remains the cornerstone of actually existing government behavior.
Attacks on Keynesianism: the most famous adversary of the GT was Friedrich von Hayek (1899-1992) of the London School of Economics, who insisted that an authentically free market would be self-correcting if it were only allowed to. Hayek's objections were ideological, but other economists such as John Muth argued that the GT expected people to make irrational, or unreasonable errors.
During the late 1970's, Keynesianism was eclipsed by the Rational Expectations Hypothesis; but REH failed to develop satisfactory policy proposals, while Neo-Keynesian economics evolved to address many of the original REH criticisms.
The treasury secretary wanted to respond to the inflationary spiral with a Keynesian strategy of tax increases, spending cuts, and interest rate hikes.
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An cult member, apologist for state intervention, propagandist, and all-around useful idiot.
Keynesian: GDP = C + G + I +Ne. More government spending (G) increases GDP. The government needs to stimulate to increase prosperity.
Sane Person: But doesn't that substitute the political process for the market process in determining how society's scarce resources are allocated? If central economic planning lead to prosperity wouldn't North Korea be the most prosperous place on Earth?
Keynesian: Paul Krugman didn't tell me that, so it can't be true! Racist!
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Birther nickname for Barack Obama
Shit! This milk is like $3.50 a gallon. Screw the Keynesian Kenyan.
A paradigm asserting that the immune system distributes the ego according to a Keyenesian fashion.
Explains why folks with autoimmune disease often develop egoism.
Meta-keynesianism explains why people who suffer from autoimmune disease have largely-inflated egos and abruptly dislike people.
It is a precursor to hypersexual egoism in sufferers of auto-immune disease.