James Crotty, Keynes Against Capitalism: His Economic Case for Liberal Socialism. New York: Routledge, 2019, 397 p.

Year 2020, Volume: 10 Issue: 3, 228 - 233, 15.09.2020

Bahar Baysal Kar

Abstract

John Maynard Keynes was a unique and inuential economist of the 20th century. €rough his dimensions of method, theory, and policy, he was more than just a capitalist revolutionary (Backhouse & Bateman 2009; O’Donnell 1996); his uniqueness also derived from his approach as a moral philosopher, and he tried to account for what the purpose of economic activity is. For him, the purpose of economic activity is a “good life,” rather than the production of goods and services to meet human wants. Mainstream economists argue that, for Keynes, the necessary stage of the ideal of “good life” is “reformed capitalism.” €ey claim Keynes tried to save capitalism, but he was not its uncritical enthusiast (Skidelsky, 2009). He did not reduce capitalism to the pure economic logic of the market and challenged the traditional state-market dichotomy. €us, he justied economic interventionism for the welfare of the whole community.

Keywords

John Maynard, Keynes, James Crotty