Abstract
The collapse of the Keynesian paradigm and the concomitant decline of social democracy call forth a discussion of concepts such as ‘Keynesian economics’, ‘Keynesianism’ and ‘Keynesian social democracy’. All of these terms, and others beside, have varying degrees of relevance to the retreat from full employment and the policies we have associated with the Keynesian period. In addition, each has a varying level of specificity, with Keynesian economics being the most specific (though still a contested) concept. Keynesianism, on the other hand, is a very broad term and, subsequently, its use is fraught with some danger. A term that is often used in preference to ‘Keynesianism’ is ‘Keynesian social democracy’. Although the argument in this chapter is that it is meaningful to ascribe conceptions of socialism and social democracy to Keynesianism, we have to be aware that the nature of the Keynesian legacy is itself highly contested terrain.1
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Notes
A yet even more specific concept is that of the ‘economics of Keynes’ which is supposed to be distinguished from the economics of those purporting to be Keynes’ disciples. See Axel Leijonhufvud, On Keynesian Economics and the Economics of Keynes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968).
T.W. Hutchison, Keynes versus the Keynesians (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1977).
J. Tomlinson, ‘Why Wasn’t There a ‘Keynesian Revolution’, in Economic Policy Everywhere?’, Economy and Society, vol. 20 no. 1, Feb. 1991, pp. 108–9
Tomlinson’s earlier work was pertinent to Britain: ‘Why Was There Never a “Keynesian Revolution” in Economic Policy?’, Economy and Society, vol. 10, no. 1, Feb. 1981, pp. 72–87.
R.M. Campbell, Grand Illusions: The Politics of the Keynesian Experience in Canada 1945–1975 (Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1987).
G. Whitwell, The Treasury Line (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1986).
See, for instance, her chapter, ‘What Has Become of the Keynesian Revolution?’ in Milo Keynes (ed.), Essays on John Maynard Keynes (Cambridge University Press, 1975). From an American perspective see E.J. Nell, Prosperity and Public Spending: Transformational Growth and the Role of Government (Winchester: Allen & Unwin, 1988)
W.C. Peterson, ‘Market Power: The Missing Element in Keynesian Economics’, Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 23, no. 2, June 1989, pp. 379–91.
See B. McFarlane, Radical Economics (London: Croom Helm, 1982), p. 72.
For example, Tomlinson has taken deficit financing as the cutting edge of Keynesian policy proposals whereas Booth has argued that this is far too simplistic. J. Tomlinson, ‘Why Wasn’t There a ‘Keynesian Revolution’ in Economic Policy Everywhere?’, Economy and Society, pp. 108-9; ‘Why was there never a ‘Keynesian Revolution’ in Economic Policy?’. A. Booth, ‘Defining a “Keynesian Revolution”’ Economic History Review, 37, 1984, p. 263
Booth, ‘The “Keynesian Revolution” in Economic Policy-Making’, Economic History Review, 36, 1983, pp. 103–23.
Linda Weiss and John M. Hobson, States and Economic Development: A Comparative Historical Analysis (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995).
Peter Hall, Governing the Economy: The Politics of State Intervention in Britain and France (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1986), pp. 16–17.
R. Skidelsky, ‘The Political Meaning of the Keynesian Revolution’ in Skidelsky (ed.), The End of the Keynesian Era (London: Macmillan, 1977), p. 34.
See G. Dow, ‘What Do We Know About Social Democracy?’ Economic and Social Democracy, vol. 14, no. 1, 1993, pp. 11–48
For instance, citations like Prezworski’s are rarely, if ever, accompanied by the previous paragraph wherein Keynes expressed that ‘a somewhat comprehensive socialisation of investment will prove the only means of securing an approximation to full employment’. For accounts emphasising Keynes’ credentials as an egalitarian see R. Lekachman, ‘The Radical Keynes’, in H.L. Wattel (ed.), The Policy Consequences of John Maynard Keynes (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1986), pp. 30–8.
R.M. Glassman, Democracy and Equality (New York: Praeger, 1989), pp. 67–98.
A. Fitzgibbons, Keynes’s Vision: A New Political Economy (Oxford: Clarendon, 1988).
John Vaizey, Social Democracy (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1971), p. 79.
Fred Hirsch, Social Limits to Growth (Cambridge Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1976), p. 7.
L.R. Klein, The Keynesian Revolution (New York: Macmillan Co., 1947), p. 167.
J. Krieger, Reagan, Thatcher and the Politics of Decline (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1986), pp. 22–3.
W.E. Paterson and A.H. Thomas, The Future of Social Democracy (Oxford: Clarendon, 1986), pp. 3–4.
Lekachman, ‘John Maynard Keynes’, Encounter, December 1963, p. 38. See also ‘The Radical Keynes’ in H.L. Wattel (ed.), The Policy Consequences of John Maynard Keynes (Houndmills: Macmillan, 1986), pp. 30–38.
M. Kesselman, ‘Prospects for Democratic Socialism in Advanced Capitalism: Class Struggle and Compromise in Sweden and France’, Polltics and Society, vol. 11, no. 4, p. 402.
See the discussion by A. Fitzgibbons where he distinguishes between Keynes and the Keynesians: Keynes’s Vision (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988), pp. 133–53.
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© 1997 Tim Battin
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Battin, T. (1997). Keynesian Ideas, Keynesianism and Keynesian Social Democracy. In: Abandoning Keynes. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-14350-4_2
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