The Legacy of Keynes as Public Intellectual

Sherry D. Kasper

Chapter 3 in Keynes’s General Theory After Seventy Years, 2010, pp 43-62 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract Today the name John Maynard Keynes usually evokes thoughts of his book The General Theory and the revolution in macroeconomic theory and policy it inspired in the United States. Yet, in his 22, April 22, 1946 obituary, the New York Times only refers in passing to The General Theory in a long list of Keynes’s books, instead focusing on him “as a political and social economist who influenced both specialists and general public” (New York Times, 1946). Much of the Times’ tribute is devoted to Keynes’s impact as the author of The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919). He “first won public attention” with his departure from the Paris Peace Conference and publication of the book three months later: The book created a storm of controversy but was so widely in demand that it ran five editions the first year and was translated into eleven languages.1 Lord Keynes was not again associated with the British government in any official capacity until the spring of 1940, by which time much of what he had prophesied had come true. (New York Times 1946) The book’s “sensation” was due in part to its revealing portrait of the conference, but the Times also noted “its lucid literary style”. Subsequently its ideas captivated US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Keywords: Public Opinion; York Time; Public Intellectual; General Audience; Liberal Party (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:intecp:978-0-230-27614-7_4

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230276147

DOI: 10.1057/9780230276147_4

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in International Economic Association Series from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().