scholarly journals THE GERMAN ANTI-KEYNES? ON WALTER EUCKEN’S MACROECONOMICS

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Lars P. Feld ◽  
Ekkehard A. Köhler ◽  
Daniel Nientiedt
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Full Employment ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
The Great Depression

The work of Walter Eucken (1891–1950), founder of German ordoliberalism, is often described as being in direct opposition to that of John Maynard Keynes. Our paper challenges this claim by making two main arguments. First, we show that Eucken supported a proto-Keynesian stimulus program at the height of the Great Depression, the so-called Lautenbach plan of 1931. Second, we analyze his critique of full employment policy, which reveals that Eucken’s approach to solving macroeconomic problems is fundamentally different from, if not necessarily contrary to, that of Keynes.

scholarly journals THE GERMAN ANTI-KEYNES? ON WALTER EUCKEN’S MACROECONOMICS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars P. Feld ◽  
Ekkehard Koehler ◽  
Daniel Nientiedt
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Full Employment ◽  
Employment Policy ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
The Great Depression

The work of Walter Eucken (1891–1950), founder of German ordoliberalism, is often described as being in direct opposition to that of John Maynard Keynes. Our paper challenges this claim by making two main arguments. First, we show that Eucken supported a proto-Keynesian stimulus program at the height of the Great Depression, the so-called Lautenbach plan of 1931. Second, we analyze his critique of full employment policy, which reveals that Eucken’s approach to solving macroeconomic problems is fundamentally different, if not necessarily contrary to that of Keynes.

War and the Next Lesson

Money ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kenneth Galbraith ◽  
James K. Galbraith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Monetary Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
World War I ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
The Great Depression

This chapter examines the lessons of World War II with respect to money and monetary policy. World War I exposed the fragility of the monetary structure that had gold as its foundation, the great boom of the 1920s showed how futile monetary policy was as an instrument of restraint, and the Great Depression highlighted the ineffectuality of monetary policy for rescuing the country from a slump—for breaking out of the underemployment equilibrium once this had been fully and firmly established. On the part of John Maynard Keynes, the lesson was that only fiscal policy ensured not just that money was available to be borrowed but that it would be borrowed and would be spent. The chapter considers the experiences of Britain, Germany, and the United States with a lesson of World War II: that general measures for restraining demand do not prevent inflation in an economy that is operating at or near capacity.

The Pragmatic Basis of Keynes's Political Economy

1946 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dudley Dillard
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Widespread Adoption ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second World

Although we still live in the shadow of the years between the First and the Second World Wars, already it seems quite clear that future historians of economic thought will regard John Maynard Keynes as the outstanding economist of this turbulent period. As one writer has recently said, “The rapid and widespread adoption of the Keynesian theory by contemporary economists, particularly by those who at first were highly critical, will probably be recorded in the future history of economic thought as an extraordinary happening.” Book after book by leading economists acknowledges a heavy debt to the stimulating thought of Lord Keynes. The younger generation of economists, especially those whose thinking matured during the great depression of the thirties, have been particularly influenced by him.

World War II Fiscal Policies and the End of the Great Depression

1994 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 850-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Vernon
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Full Employment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
World War ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
United States Economy

The United States economy completed its recovery from the Great Depression in 1942, restoring full-employment output in that year after 12 years of below-full-employment performance. Fiscal policies were not the most important factor in the 1933 through 1940 phase of the recovery, but they became the most important factor after 1940, when the recovery was less than half-complete. World War II fiscal policies were, then, instrumental in the overall restoration of full-employment performance.

Economics in Perspective

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Kenneth Galbraith ◽  
Richard Parker
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Industrial Revolution ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

This book presents a compelling and accessible history of economic ideas, from Aristotle through the twentieth century. Examining theories of the past that have a continuing modern resonance, the book shows that economics is not a timeless, objective science, but is continually evolving as it is shaped by specific times and places. From Adam Smith's theories during the Industrial Revolution to those of John Maynard Keynes after the Great Depression, the book demonstrates that if economic ideas are to remain relevant, they must continually adapt to the world they inhabit. A lively examination of economic thought in historical context, the book shows how the field has evolved across the centuries.

scholarly journals The Macroeconomist as Scientist and Engineer

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 29-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Gregory Mankiw
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Look Ahead ◽  
History Of ◽  
Recurrent Theme

The subfield of macroeconomics was born, not as a science, but more as a type of engineering. The problem that gave birth to our field was the Great Depression. God put macroeconomists on earth not to propose and test elegant theories but to solve practical problems. This essay offers a brief history of macroeconomics, together with an evaluation of what we have learned. My premise is that the field has evolved through the efforts of two types of macroeconomists—those who understand the field as a type of engineering and those who would like it to be more of a science. While the early macroeconomists were engineers trying to solve practical problems, the macroeconomists of the past several decades have been more interested in developing analytic tools and establishing theoretical principles. These tools and principles, however, have been slow to find their way into applications. As the field of macroeconomics has evolved, one recurrent theme has been the interaction—sometimes productive and sometimes not— between the scientists and the engineers. John Maynard Keynes (1931) famously opined, “If economists could manage to get themselves thought of as humble, competent people on a level with dentists, that would be splendid.” As we look ahead, “humble” and “competent” remain ideals toward which macroeconomists can aspire.

Why was Wilsonian-Taisho moment lost in Japan in spite of its economic success?

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 571-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yutaka Harada
Keyword(s):  
Great Depression ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Japanese Population ◽  
Full Employment ◽  
International Order ◽  
Economic Success ◽  
Japanese People ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Employment Situation ◽  
The Military

AbstractJapan during the interwar period was more globalized in many ways than it is now. Japan prospered under the liberal international order. The Japanese people at the time believed that the country needed more land overseas to feed the increasing population, but the growing mainland economy gave jobs to the most Japanese population. The benefits the colonies conferred were not great, but some Japanese, particularly military and civil personnel in the colonies, were major beneficiaries. Japan was among the first to recover from the Great Depression, and by the middle of the 1930s was in a full employment situation. Japan did not need to export its population to other countries or to acquire territories through military action. The military expansion into China and the shift to a controlled economy in Japan and Manchukuo benefitted those who supplied goods to the military and obeyed the authorities. Such benefits, though, came at the expense of Japanese taxpayers and consumers, who were oppressed and were unable to criticize the military. The benefits gained from the military clampdown and a controlled economy were quite visible, but the benefits of the liberal international order often cannot be clearly seen. Japan still had a chance to recognize the true benefits of the liberal international order and the false benefits of colonization, military expansion, and a controlled economy, but could not. Wilsonian-Taisho moment was lost at the end of the 1930s.

THE GESELL CONNECTION DURING THE GREAT DEPRESSION

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-379
Author(s):  
Rosario Patalano
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rate ◽  
Great Depression ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Social Reformer ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Main Work ◽  
History Of

In the current recession, the proposal of negative nominal interest has received widespread attention, not only in the academic world. The negative interest rate issue was originally developed by Silvio Gesell (1862–1930), a German merchant, self-taught economist, and social reformer. In his main work,The Natural Economic Order, Gesell offered a theoretical basis for the practical implementation of the negative interest rate. This proposal, generally known as the “stamped money plan,” was favorably commented upon by two outstanding twentieth-century economists, Irving Fisher and John Maynard Keynes, and put into practice during the Great Depression. In this paper I propose a reading of Gesell’s theory of money from the point of view of quantity theory, giving prominence to elements of affinity with Fisher’s monetary theory. This re-examination entails revision of the opinion on the analytical contribution made by Gesell, who was generally tagged as a typical monetary crank, and proves that his place in the history of economic thought is less marginal than previously thought, reinforcing critical appreciation of him.

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