The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (Great Minds Series) [Paperback]

John Maynard Keynes (Author)

Book Description

Series: Great Minds Series | Publication Date: May 1997

From one of the most influential economists of the modern era, Keynes and his "General Theory" shaped economic thought and government policies for decades to come. Out of this magnum opus arose the Keynesian school of economics. Keynes argues that the level of employment in a modern economy was determined by three factors: the marginal propensity to consume (income that people chose to spend on goods and services), the marginal efficiency of capital (the rate used to see whether investments are worthy) and the rate of interest. This work has enormous implications to the present day in understanding the policies and that have shaped the current environment. "The General Theory is nothing less than an epic journey out of intellectual darkness. That, as much as its continuing relevance to economic policy, is what makes it a book for the ages. Read it, and marvel." - Paul Krugman, Professor of Economics, winner of the 2008 Nobel prize in economics.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'...among the glories of modern publishing...edited with exemplary authority and lack of fuss...' - London Review of Books --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

John Maynard Keynes was a British economist and professor at Cambridge. He was a prolific author and lecturer and advised many governments and policy makers on economic policy. He was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 419 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573921394
• ISBN-13: 978-1573921398
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (78 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #460,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Be careful with the version you are purchasing, some have many errors, February 16, 2010

By 

C. Ramnaraine "The Economist" (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (Paperback)

There are a lot of comments about the quality of the specific version of Keynes' classic "The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money". I researched this using the Look Inside feature and found some notable differences in versions. Many publishers (such as "CreateSpace", BN) clearly used scanned copies of the original work and optical character recognition (OCR) software which results in many errors within the text. Specifically:
- within the equations, they use a "D" instead of the mathematical Delta character used in the original.
- incorrectly using or not using subscripts within the equations (i.e "Pwr" instead of "P" with subscript "wr").
- Many of the equations use the wrong greek math symbol altogether.
- In chapter 20, an important equation is rendered completely wrong.
- Other areas where the OCR created errors: "| Noreover" should be "Moreover"
- In chapter 15, one equation shows "MY=OP" where it should be "MV=OP".

Honestly, the quality of these versions is atrocious. Plus, in these cases, the footnotes are not even shown! Good lord.

The version from Signalman Publishing was found to be free of these errors. Other versions may be ok as well, but for now, the best version out there that I have found is from Signalman (link here: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money).

95 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This BN edition of Keynes has many errors in the equations, December 11, 2008

By 

Garett Jones (Fairfax, VA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (Hardcover)

The BN edition has errors in the equations, errors that make the book incomprehensible. Find another edition of Keynes's General Theory.

330 of 411 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Are We all Keynesians Now?, November 27, 2001

By 

Louie "DLR" (Blacksburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (Great Minds Series) (Paperback)

Are We All Keynesians Now?

Most educated Americans know something of John Maynard Keynes, the great British economist whose hugely influential work “T"The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money", strongly influenced economic theory and practice during the last half of the twentieth century, particularly with regard to the role of government in stimulating and regulating a nation's’s economic life. Nevertheless it remains true that almost all of the "intelligentsia" in general, and most economists in particular, have never read the book, despite the fact that it is readily available in today’s mega-bookstores such as of course, Amazon.com (at a reasonable price and) in a good quality paperback.

Indeed, by a curious twist, the people who seem most to have made some attempt to read Keynes' oeuvre are those who appear most outraged by it and determined to revile it. If one is skeptical about this, (read the reviews), where veritable "frothing at the mouth" denunciations seem to dominate. These would hardly be worth reading except for the mindset they reveal, which goes far toward illuminating some of the attitudes of the 1930's otherwise inexplicable at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Their very virulence convinces one that Keynes was clearly on to something; if an author enrages half the world he must be at least half right.

Keynes detractors are right about one thing: "General Theory..." is a tough read, though not for some of the reasons they indicate. Keynes actually uses very little mathematics, the alleged prevalence of which is one of the points usually cited in criticism. He uses a little elementary algebra and a little differential calculus, hardly enough to swamp even the most modestly gifted sophomore who has been exposed to the subject.
He does not generally contradict himself, as some allege, beyond the level of ambivalence to be expected of anyone who realizes he is treating an inexact science where many conflicting views can hold some claim to legitimacy. Rather, what makes Keynes' work an ideal bedtime companion for those inflicted with insomnia is the obsessive care
the author takes to be absolutely precise, the somewhat antique 1930's British English
employed (though some, including the present reviewer, may see that as one of its charms)
and the regular use of Latin phrases familiar to Keynes and his contemporaries, such as, e.g., "ceteris paribus" (roughly translated "all things being equal", meaningless to American readers whose formative collegiate experience included little in the way of foreign languages of any kind, let alone classical ones. The trick in reading Keynes is to get beyond these inconveniences of packaging and unwrap the very real gift of ideas enclosed.

Keynes' economic prescriptions are now so generally accepted, even by most conservatives, certainly including "W", that many of us find it hard to recognize what the argument is all about. These days it is taken for granted that the government has a responsibility to stimulate the economy out of recession, at least to the extent of reducing interest rates, and modestly applying the brakes during overexuberant expansion. It is accepted that two of the factors exacerbating economic downturns are the fearfulness of investors in the face of declining corporate earnings and the reluctance of consumers to to put down money they suspect they may need later if they are laid off from their jobs. It was not always so.

Some imagine that Keynes work, along with the massive nineteenth century tomes of Karl Marx, constitute a response to Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" a work at least as misunderstood, often deliberately so, as "General Theory...". That is not the case; Keynes hardly ever, refers to Smith and, in any case, those who have read "Wealth of Nations" are well aware that Smith, a truly charming writer quite apart from his undeniable genius, is far more sympathetic to the average worker and much more critical of monopolistic business practices than imagined by those who have deified him but never read him. Instead, the dragons which Keynes sets forth to slay are those who later built a truly "Dark Tower" on Smith's rather benign foundation. Those dragons include, most notably, David Ricardo, Alfred Marshall and "Professor (A. C.) Pigou".

Keynes cannot help but admit to the suspicion that these economists' written views on the question of employment, or the more pressing question of unemployment, reflected their identification of the social classes most likely to buy their books; he never states it quite that baldly, of course. It seems almost incredible to us in this age that the prevailing opinion expressed in those writings is that all unemployment, at the organizational if not the individual level, is voluntary; that depressions and large scale unemployment result from the perverse refusal of workers or their labor union representatives to recognize their labor as just another good in the market, subject to a reduced price in the absence of demand occasioned by downturns in economic activity.
One wonders if some of the tolerance for Adolf Hitler manifested by large segments of the British upper and middle classes, and smaller segments of their American counterparts, in part reflected his action on accession to the Chancellorship to reduce German wages by one third all around. Whether that, by itself, increased German employment numbers or simply made economic room for a huge rearmament program that effectively eliminated labor redundancy is a good question ?but for some other essay.

Keynes argues quite persuasively that a perception of fairness is essential in a democratic society. (10 points to Adolf for fairness?) Wage reductions in capitalist economies tend to be spotty and opportunistic, rather than universal, typically affecting those who can least afford them. Keynes also argues that they do virtually nothing to solve the problems of the economy, partly because employers may very well decide not to decrease prices comparably and, more importantly, because of cascading effects on overall demand; workers on reduced wages don't rush out to buy new automobiles.<P. (...)