Abstract
More has been written about Keynes's General Theory than any other work in economics in the twentieth century. It has a reputation of being a difficult book to understand. Some of Keynes's greatest supporters were initially hostile in their reviews. The doyen of American economics, Paul Samuelson found the book so confusing it took him 12 to 18 months to begin to understand it, and then only when it was put in mathematical form. Popularizers had to simplify the book for mass consumption. In the process of simplification and interpretation, the General Theory was presented in a way that was comfortable to those brought up on the microeconomic supply and demand apparatus. Again there was a simple graphical presentation (either IS-LM or the Keynesian 'cross') and issues could be discussed in terms of shifts of curves, and slopes and elasticities, and marginal changes of variables. Its pedagogical attractiveness and simplicity soon ruled the textbooks (Schneider 2010).
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | The Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian Economics |
| Editors | John E. King |
| Place of Publication | U.K. |
| Publisher | Edward Elgar |
| Pages | 29-35 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Edition | 2nd ed. |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781849803182 |
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
Keywords
- Keynesian economics
- econometrics
- stagflation
- uncertainty