308: The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes

The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money by John Maynard Keynes

Wikipedia offers a nice summation of Keynes's General Theory --

"The central argument of The General Theory is that the level of employment is determined, not by the price of labour as in neoclassical economics, but by the spending of money (aggregate demand). He argues that it is wrong to assume that competitive markets will, in the long run, deliver full employment or that full employment is the natural, self-righting, equilibrium state of a monetary economy. On the contrary, under-employment and under-investment are likely to be the natural state unless active measures are taken. One implication of The General Theory is that a lack of competition is not the fundamental problem and measures to reduce unemployment by cutting wages or benefits are not only hard-hearted but ultimately futile."

Check out this introduction by Paul Krugman.

Why this is liberal/progressive: Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I'm a big proponent of reading the original. Regardless of how difficult the reading may seem it's better to read Marx than to read about Marx, better to read Keynes than to read about Keynes, and better to read the works of your ideological opponents than to read about those works. Even if you don't understand everything about a work (and there's lots I don't understand about Keynes magnum opus) you still come out with a better understanding of what all the fuss is about. Don't be afraid to read challenging works. It's more rewarding than you might think.