THE GENERAL THEORY OF EMPLOYMENT,
INTEREST, AND MONEY
John Maynard Keynes
Distinguished British economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) set off a series of movements
that dramatically altered the ways in which economists view the world. In his most important
work, The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936), Keynes critiqued the
laissez faire policies of the day, particularly the proposition that a normally functioning market
economy will bring full employment. Keynes' forward-looking work transformed economics from
merely a descriptive and analytic discipline to one that is policy-oriented. For Keynes, enlightened
government intervention in a nation's economic life was essential to curbing what he saw as the
inherent inequalities and instabilities of unregulated capitalism.
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