The Guardian view on a comeback for Keynes: revolutionary road | Editorial
This month, 83 years ago, perhaps the greatest-ever economist published his greatest work. John Maynard Keynes' The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money did not invent monetary analysis. But it changed the way that money, finance, demand and unemployment in a modern economy were understood. Such is its enduring power that, three years ago, it was voted the most significant British academic book of the modern age. Keynes knew what he was on to when he wrote The General Theory. In a letter to the playwright and activist George Bernard Shaw, he wrote: "I believe myself to be writing a book on economic theory, which will largely revolutionise " the way the world thinks about economic problems."
Keynes put his theory into practice. Entering the Treasury in 1940, he was central to the creation of the British government's plans for the reconstruction of the economy after the second world war. He was not the only person involved, but his blueprint of a state-guided investment policy accompanied by a generous social welfare system, progressive taxes, a low interest rate, monetary policy run by a nationalised Bank of England, strict capital controls, managed trade, and non-casino financial markets built the postwar state. It proved remarkably successful: GDP per head growth averaged 2.44% a year in the period from 1950 to 1973. Keynes's economic revolution was not some utopian dream but a politically feasible project.
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