How Keynes came to Britain

Robert Skidelsky
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Robert Skidelsky: University of Warwick, UK

Review of Keynesian Economics, 2016, vol. 4, issue 1, 4-19

Abstract: I explore how Keynesian ideas made their way into British public policy. I argue that the breakdown of pre-First World War macroeconomic conditions led to a 'blocked' system, where the adjustment mechanisms presupposed by classical economics were jammed, and that Keynesian economics offered an escape from this system. I explain the Keynesian response to the new problems in monetary and fiscal policy: the gold standard impeding credit control, and the tenacity of the balanced budget rule, respectively. Finally, I outline how Keynes's ideas took hold after the Great Depression via the events at the Macmillan Committee, and their policy implications.

Keywords: Keynes; Keynesian economics; the Great Depression; economic thought; history of economic thought; macroeconomics; monetary policy; fiscal policy; economic history; the Keynesian revolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B22 E12 E63 N14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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