Keynes's General Theory and Accumulation

by Athanasios Asimakopulos

This book makes Keynes's writing on his General Theory accessible to students by presenting this theory in a careful, consistent manner that is faithful to the original. Keynes's theory continues to be important, because the issues it raised, such as the problems of involuntary unemployment, the volatility of investment, and the complexity of monetary arrangements in modern capitalist economies, are still with us. Keynes's method of analysis, which tries to allow for the complications of dealing with historical time, deserves the careful attention given in this book. Keynes's formal analysis dealt only with a short period of time during which changes in productive capacity as a result of net investment were small relative to initial productive capacity. Roy Harrod and Joan Robinson were the two most prominent followers of Keynes who attempted to extend his analysis to the long period by allowing for the effects of investment on productive capacity as well as on effective demand. The careful examination of their writings on this topic is a natural complement to the presentation of Keynes's General Theory and makes clear the severe limitations on any use of equilibrium concepts in dealing with accumulation in models that try to observe Keynes's warnings about an unknowable future in the type of world we inhabit.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521368154
• ISBN13: 9780521368155
• Release Date: June 1991
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 228 Pages
• Weight: 0.71 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.3" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A must have for students of Keynes' ideas

If you ever tried to read Keynes's General Theory you know pretty well that some of Keynes's main ideas and some of his expositions of these same ideas are pretty confusing. It is well known by now that Keynes was in a hurry to get his book published and this is probably the reason why the GT is so hermetic. Asimakopulos goes a long way in explaining Keynes's ideas or, more precisely, some possible interpretations of these ideas in a simple and convincing manner. He also gives us two most wanted chapters with analysis of the works of two distinguished disciples of Keynes (i.e, Joan Robinson and Roy Harrod) and their attempts to extend his work to a dynamic framework. Of course, Asimakopulos' is not the only interpretation of Keynes'work. There is a whole "Keynes industry" in this world. It is, however, a short, advanced and neatly written piece of work and I consider it a must have especially for those who want a quick start on the topic.