“The Great Depression, like most other periods of severe unemployment,” wrote American economist Milton Friedman, “was produced by government mismanagement rather than by any inherent instability of the private economy.” Friedman’s early career was defined by his support of the Keynesian principles that embraced large-scale government intervention through spending in order to stimulate a depressive [...]
“The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones,” wrote British economist John Maynard Keynes in his 1935 text The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. “As these old ideas ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds.” Keynes [...]
The story of the rise of Keynesian economics is fascinating. From the late 19th century onwards, neoclassical economics theory dominated the mainstream discourse of macro and microeconomics. Under the assumption that humans are rationale and their decisions are rooted in efforts to maximize the utility of their purchasing power, neoclassical economics theory stressed the importance [...]