The Keynesian Episode

Download or read book The Keynesian Episode written by William Harold Hutt and published by Indianapolis : Liberty Press. This book was released on 1979 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this unsparing analysis of the theories of John Maynard Keynes, W. H. Hutt explains why Keynes' ideas attracted both practical politicians and ardent academics and why they do not square with the logic of long-accepted laws of economics. Professor Hutt outlines methods by which modern economies can extricate themselves from the disasters into which Keynesian theory has plunged them. The popularity of Keynes' General Theory is explained by the fact that it provided scholarly justification for the inflationary programs that politicians had long wanted to pursue. For labor leaders and their politician friends, Keynes furnished support for the refusal to reduce wage rates and encouragement for the theory that wages should, in fact, be increased to provide more "purchasing power." As for the Keynesian claque that rapidly developed in the universities following the appearance of the General Theory, Keynes offered an economic theory so profound as to be inscrutable to all but the initiated-- and thus an exclusive cult was born. As Professor Hutt observes, "All too many people in all spheres-- the academic sphere not excluded-- are apt to accept obscurity for profundity." The chief danger of Keynesian economics, which Professor Hutt describes as an "untidy jumble of theorems," arises from the abuse of mathematical concepts by applying them to a science that is not mathematical in the development of its basic theorems. "Economists are capable of erecting impressive mathematical models upon conceptually confused foundations," Professor Hutt declares. "It has become obvious that Keynesianism, especially when it is combined with the policy of the welfare state, is destructive of labor incentives to productivity; and other disastrous, sociological results of the Keynesian experiment are being perceived, I think, by an ever-widening circle." The Keynesian Episode should serve to widen that circle even more. For almost half a century economic theorists have been embroiled in heated controversy over the so-called revolutionary ideas of John Maynard Keynes. Now, after the demonstrated failure of applied Keynesian economics in Great Britain and the United States, that controversy seems destined to be settled by cold realities as well as by cogent argument." --