tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post2988835366812687191..comments2024-03-28T17:08:15.784-07:00Comments on Social Democracy for the 21st Century: A Realist Alternative to the Modern Left: Keynes’s Early Life, 1902–1909Lord Keyneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-4475733396594703422012-03-11T07:03:50.903-07:002012-03-11T07:03:50.903-07:00"Was it likely, in your opinion, that the sup...<i>"Was it likely, in your opinion, that the support for 'public works' was pragmatic, rather then economic in nature.</i><br /><br />Was Keynes's support for "'public works' ... pragmatic, rather then economic in nature"?<br /><br />Pragmatic, practical and economic, I imagine.Lord Keyneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-37196739932229070882012-03-10T23:56:26.041-08:002012-03-10T23:56:26.041-08:00LK,
Is that likely because of the time? Keynes op...LK,<br /><br />Is that likely because of the time? Keynes operated in a world with a Gold Standard and where unskilled workers could be used in great numbers in Capital projects.<br /><br />Constrast with today where we have largely free floats and where capital works generally use advanced machinery and much higher skilled workers.<br /><br />Recent PK commentators suggest that you are going to run into supply side restrictions much earlier in the modern era.<br /><br />Was it likely, in your opinion, that the support for 'public works' was pragmatic, rather then economic in nature. It's always an easier sell to the politicians if they are allowed to build totems to their egos.NeilWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11565959939525324309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-17871283190474245662012-03-09T15:13:30.601-08:002012-03-09T15:13:30.601-08:00"Dr. Brady says that Keynes supported loan ex...<i>"Dr. Brady says that Keynes supported loan expenditures from a capital budget separated from the current account.</i><br /><br />Oh, yes, that is certainly all true.<br />But I think it is a bit misleading to say from this that Keynes "opposed deficit spending."<br /><br />What this means is that he supported public works deficit spending by another name.Lord Keyneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-13159861093380775282012-03-09T15:02:03.786-08:002012-03-09T15:02:03.786-08:00Dr. Brady distinguishes between deficit spending a...Dr. Brady distinguishes between deficit spending and loan expenditure in a technical sense...you'd have to ask the man directly. Dr. Brady says that Keynes supported loan expenditures from a capital budget separated from the current account.Blue Auroranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-43477303620301920462012-03-07T07:18:37.231-08:002012-03-07T07:18:37.231-08:00I don't have the relevant volume of CWJMK at h...I don't have the relevant volume of CWJMK at hand. Anyway, you mean he opposed it under certain circumstances? (boom times). Certainly that is true.<br /><br />But it seems strange for anyone to say Keynes "opposed deficit spending," without any further comment or explanation.<br /><br />E.g.:<br /><br /><i>"In December, Frankfurter forwarded to Roosevelt an open letter from Keynes. The letter was scheduled to appear in the New York Times and contained the rationale for deficit spending."</i><br /><br />Robert Underhill, <i>FDR and Harry: unparalleled lives</i>, p. 73.<br /> <br />http://books.google.com.au/books?id=KUf9RFtxCG4C&pg=PA73&dq=Keynes+deficit+spending+roosevelt&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aXpXT9fzJaaRiQfb1NCjDQ&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Keynes%20deficit%20spending%20roosevelt&f=false<br /><br />The relevant part of the letter:<br /><br /><i>"(17) <b>In the field of domestic policy, I put in the forefront, for the reasons given above, a large volume of Loan-expenditures under Government auspices.</b> It is beyond my province to choose particular objects of expenditure. But preference should be given to those which can be made to mature quickly on a large scale, as for example the rehabilitation of the physical condition of the railroads. The object is to start the ball rolling. The United States is ready to roll towards prosperity, if a good hard shove can be given in the next six months. "</i><br /><br />http://socialdemocracy21stcentury.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/keynes-on-new-deal-in-1933.html<br /><br />Keynes also urged more US deficit spending in an open letter in early 1938.Lord Keyneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-21193283929384245382012-03-07T05:22:24.126-08:002012-03-07T05:22:24.126-08:00According to Dr. Michael Emmett Brady, John Maynar...According to Dr. Michael Emmett Brady, John Maynard Keynes opposed deficit spending. He cites Volume 27 of the CWJMK for reference.Blue Auroranoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-6514082158240422972012-03-07T04:54:38.840-08:002012-03-07T04:54:38.840-08:00Yes, he does the raise the possibility of debt mon...Yes, he does the raise the possibility of debt monetization:<br /><br /><i>"or public authority must be called in aid to create additional current incomes through the expenditure of borrowed or printed money."</i><br /><br />I suspect he was somewhat less inclined to go the way of debt monetization than borrowing. however:<br /><br /><i>"at a dinner Alvin Hansen had arranged for Keynes, Lerner and Keynes had another exchange which is also worth noting. Lerner approached Keynes and asked: ‘Mr. Keynes, why don’t we forget all this business of fiscal policy, public debt and all those things, and have some printing presses.’ Keynes, after looking around the room to see that no newspaper reporters could hear, replied: ‘It’s the art of statesmanship to tell lies but they must be plausible lies.’”</i><br /><br />David Colander, “Was Keynes a Keynesian or a Lernerian?” Journal of Economic Literature 22.4 (1984): p. 1574.<br /><br />http://socialdemocracy21stcentury.blogspot.com.au/2010/09/would-keynes-have-endorsed-modern.htmlLord Keyneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06556863604205200159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6245381193993153721.post-1946802738631068542012-03-07T04:06:30.282-08:002012-03-07T04:06:30.282-08:00Lord Keynes, Hope you don’t mind if I pick your br...Lord Keynes, Hope you don’t mind if I pick your brain.<br /><br />Keynes was famous for his idea that government should borrow money and spend it during recessions. However, in this letter to Roosevelt, he said that printing money instead of borrowing it was an equally good option. See 2nd half of 5th paragraph here: <br /><br />http://www.scribd.com/doc/33886843/Keynes-NYT-Dec-31-1933<br /><br />However he seems to have kept relatively quite about the “print” option. Are there any other passages you know of from his writings where advocates the print option?Ralph Musgravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09443857766263185665noreply@blogger.com