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Economics and Business - What Is Keynesian Economics?
What is Keynesian economics?
Keynesian economics refers to the theories of British economist and monetary expert John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), who in 1935 published his landmark work The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. A macroeconomist (one who studies a nation's economy as a whole), Keynes departed from many of the concepts of the free-market philosophy—that is, the idea that the market must be permitted to operate without government intervention. In order to ensure growth and stability, he argued, government needs to be involved in certain aspects of a nation's economic life. He believed in state intervention in fiscal policies, and during recessionary times he favored deficit spending (creating a debt), the loosening of monetary policies, and government public works programs (such as those of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal) to promote employment. Keynes's theories are considered...
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