“What is a Keynesiandream?”
So I am asked on occasion “What is a ‘keynesiandream’?” Well First it refers to a prodigal 20th century economist named John Maynard Keynes who quite often is referred to as the father of macroeconomics. He had a couple off the wall ideas like the government was responsible for its people, the Great Depression and WWII were quite possibly avoidable, and classical economics does not always provide an optimal situation for society.
Besides being a renowned economist, he fostered a long-term love of the arts, infact he was part of the legendary “Bloomsberry Group” at Cambridge which included the likes of Bernard Shaw and Virginia Woolf. So the “Keynesiandream” is a the notion that the world around you is malleable, it can be changed for the better with a bit of foresight and courage to explore new ideas, and perhaps economics is not quite a dismal science that it was made out to be. Most of Keynes’ ideas, not all, have stood the test of time, infact President Nixon once famously said “We are all Keynesians.” (but he was referring to stagflation issues).
During the The Great Depression the classical economists kept the rigid philosophy of “In the long-run things will work themselves out”, this was not reassuring for the 25% of the population who didn’t have jobs or who’s business was failing. Perhaps in one of his most famous quotes Keynes retorted “In the long-run we are all dead.”
Why should change wait for tomorrow?