10 Comments

I've not been a fan of most of Keynes's economics but what's interseting is even he pushed back on FDR's New Deal many times. Great book on the topic is FDR's Folly

https://amzn.to/3tB6KMR

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I certainly knew that he was one of the most influential economists who ever lived. I didn't know how tall he was, or that he was addressed by his middle name.

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The earlier article I wrote had a lot more personal stuff about Keynes. This one morphed from one big collaborative piece into two separate ones, so it was a pretty quick summary. However, you might enjoy the "Economic Consequences of Peace" one I penned (no obligation! just if you're curious). I think it contained a lot of what I wanted to say about Keynes.

https://goatfury.substack.com/p/economic-consequences-of-peace

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To answer your question, I can tell you that I got some books on Keynes' meetings with his Bloomsbury Group friends. I found 'em quite interesting.

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Nice. I find the personal side of his life utterly fascinating (not that the professional side wasn't also interesting, of course). Everything Keynes did was riveting in its own way! he just sucked up all the intellectual oxygen in the room, even when titans were present.

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Don't hate me. I confess that I have often been on von Hayek's side when reading about economics.

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Oh, I don't hate you at all! I think that if you don't ever go back and forth between Keynes and Hayek in your head, you're missing a lot of the conversation.

I'm a fan of stimulating the economy when it's down; that's pure Keynes. But austerity has a place, especially RE preventing moral hazard. I think it's complicated and unfair to pigeonhole anyone based on liking either/or, honestly.

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Yeah. I agree :-)

And generally, I like going back and forth between povs to better understand something.

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Same! Glad you're here to help sharpen minds. We need diverse points of view; I'm not interested in telling anyone how it is, but instead in figuring out how it is!

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Thanks Andrew. And indeed, that's what I like most about your articles.

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