Keynes was educated at King's College at the University of Cambridge, where he graduated in 1904 with a B.A. in mathematics. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Keynes spearheaded a revolution in economic thinking, challenging the ideas of neoclassical economics that held that free markets would, in the short to medium term, automatically provide full employment, as long as workers were flexible in their wage demands. He argued that aggregate demand (total spending in the economy) determined the overall level of economic activity, and that inadequate aggregate demand could lead to prolonged periods of high unemployment, and since wages and labour costs are rigid downwards, the economy will not automatically rebound to full employment. Keynes advocated the use of fiscal and monetary policies to mitigate the adverse effects of economic recessions and depressions. After the 1929 crisis, Keynes also turned away from free trade, a fundamental pillar of neoclassical economics. He criticized Ricardian comparative advantage theory (the foundation of free trade), considering the theory's initial assumptions unrealistic, and became definitively protectionist. He detailed these ideas in his magnum opus, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in early 1936. By the late 1930s, leading Western economies had begun adopting Keynes's policy recommendations. Almost all capitalist governments had done so by the end of the two decades following Keynes's death in 1946. As a leader of the British delegation, Keynes participated in the design of the international economic institutions established after the end of World War II but was overruled by the American delegation on several aspects.
Vita e carriera
His influence began to wane in the 1970s, partly as a result of the stagflation that plagued the British and American economies during that decade, and partly because of criticism of Keynesian policies by Milton Friedman and other monetarists, who disputed the ability of government to favourably regulate the business cycle with fiscal policy. The 2008 financial crisis sparked the 2008–2009 Keynesian resurgence; Keynesian economics provided the theoretical underpinning for economic policies undertaken in response to the 2008 financial crisis by President Barack Obama of the United States, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of the United Kingdom, and other heads of governments.
When Time magazine included Keynes among its Most Important People of the Century in 1999, it reported that "his radical idea that governments should spend money they don't have may have saved capitalism". The Economist has described Keynes as "Britain's most famous 20th-century economist". In addition to being an economist, Keynes was also a civil servant, a director of the Bank of England, and a part of the Bloomsbury Group of intellectuals.
Fatti chiave
- Born: June 5, 1883 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England
- Morto: 1946
- Campo: Mathematics
Eredità e Impatto
The influence of John Maynard Keynes extends far beyond his own lifetime. He fundamentally shaped the foundations of modern mathematics, and his theorems and mathematical frameworks remain foundational to this day.
Though he passed away in 1946, his ideas continue to be studied, debated, and built upon by scholars and practitioners worldwide.
John Maynard Keynes resta una delle menti più celebrate emerse da England, testimonianza del ricco patrimonio intellettuale della regione.
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