Keynes and his Contemporaries

Book excerpt: This book examines how the Cambridge School economists, such as J. M. Keynes, constructed revolutionary theories and advocated drastic policies based on their ideals for social organizations and their personal characteristics. Although vast numbers of studies on Marshall, Keynes and Marshallians have been published, there have been very few studies on the ‘Keynesian Revolution’ or Keynes’s relevance to the modern world from archival and intellectual viewpoints which focus on Keynes as a member of the Cambridge School. This book approaches Keynes from three directions: person, time and perspective. The book provides a better understanding of how Keynes struggled with problems of his time and it also offers valuable lessons on how to survive fluctuating global capitalism today. It focuses on eight key economists as a group in ‘a public sphere’ rather than as a school (a unified theoretical denominator), and clarifies their visions and the widespread beliefs at the time by investigating their common motivations, lifestyles, values and habits.