ABSTRACT OF PAPER
Title: The Morality of Keynesian Policy
Author: Kates Steven
Keynesian economic policy is on one level a matter of the technical requirements of economic management. But at another, deeper level Keynesian policy is related to a desire on the part of both policy makers and the community to take positive action in the face of recession and unemployment. This paper will argue that the endurance of Keynesian models within macroeconomic theory is due to a desire to do good, rather than any positive effects that using the theory has had. The paper will discuss Keynesian policy in the context of three separate attempts to pull economies from recession using public expenditure. These will be the application of fiscal policy by the Roosevelt administration between 1933 and 1941, the period of deficit-driven stagflation during the 1970s and the Japanese reflation which commenced during the 1990s. It will be argued that not only did the policies adopted actually add to the economic problems of each economy but there was a refusal to recognise the failure of the specific policies taken because of an unwillingness to acknowledge that Keynesian-type expenditure policies do not work.
Registred web users only can download this paper - Go back
Please note that files available for download have not been checked for viruses. These files have been submitted by authors of the conference to this web site. Conference organisers can't accept any responsibility for damages caused to users by downloading such files.