Dennis Robertson and the Economics of the Short Period

Gordon Fletcher
Additional contact information
Gordon Fletcher: University of Liverpool Management School

Chapter 9 in Dennis Robertson, 2006, pp 139-149 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In comparing Robertson and Keynes it is important to emphasise the similarities, against which the differences stand in marked contrast. They came from similar backgrounds, they both had lost their faith and both were homosexual. Or, at least, Keynes proved to be bisexual, as he was very successfully married in his forty-third year. The fact that Keynes was able to enter into such a joyous union and Robertson did not seems a not insignificant difference between them. Nevertheless, my argument does not rely upon this point of difference. Instead, all depends fundamentally upon each man’s attitude to life and death in a godless and uncaring universe. Is death to be regarded as completion, a fulfilment and natural journey’s end or as an event rendering ultimately futile all human endeavour? While Keynes’s life was governed by the first of these (see Bonadei in Marzola and Silva, 1994, pp.42–3, 54–5; Skidelsky, 1992, p. 517), Robertson’s, with his view of the ‘harshness of human destiny’ (Butler, 1963, p. 41–2) was governed by the second. These attitudes, in turn, determined which philosophy of life each man would adopt and that, with regard to Robertson, that philosophy is to be discovered in the ‘Alice’ books. With regard to Keynes, positive and progressive, there would be a desire to seek rules governing the way in which life might be lived most intensively and enjoyably in the present, looking neither to a past golden age nor beyond the grave, as we shall see.

Keywords: Banking Policy; Quantity Theory; Real Business Cycle; Secure Foundation; Liquidity Preference (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
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:palchp:978-0-230-59590-3_10

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.palgrave.com/9780230595903

DOI: 10.1057/9780230595903_10

Access Statistics for this chapter

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