Blockquoting X

X = Robert E. Lucas, Jr. on Keynes and the Keynesian consensus:

I think that in writing the General Theory, Keynes was viewing himself as a spokesman for a discredited profession. That’s why he doesn’t cite anyone but crazies like Hobson. He knows about Wicksell and all the “classics,” but he is at pains to disassociate his views from theirs, to overemphasize the differences. He’s writing in a situation where people are ready to throw in the towel on capitalism and liberal democracy and go with fascism or corporatism, protectionism, socialist planning. Keynes’s first objective is to say, “Look, there’s got to be a way to respond to depressions that’s consistent with capitalist democracy.” What he hits on is that the government should take some new responsibilities, but the responsibilities are for stabilizing overall spending flows. You don’t have to plan the economy in detail in order to meet this objective. And in that sense, I think for everybody in the postwar period—I’m talking about Keynesians and monetarists both—that’s the agreed-upon view: We should stabilize spending flows, and the question is really one of the details about how best to do it. Friedman’s approach involved slightly less government involvement than a Keynesian approach, but I say slightly.

Round Two

Buchanan and Wagner (1977)

[HT: Josh Hall]

Financial Panic: The Musical

Courtesy The Browser, this headline from FT.com:

Depicting the financial crisis in music. An orchestral interpretation from Julian Anderson, London Philharmonic Orchestra's composer in residence. "The notes of Keynes’s surname emerge, and with them a sense of hope"

What I'm Reading

Hayek v. Keynes Rap

Without further ado...

Keynes vs. Hayek (Word to your mother.)

In what is arguably the most even representation of two viewpoints in the entire history of news reporting, Russ Roberts debates Lord Skidelsky on the merit of adopting Keynesian policy at present. The video also features the Keynes vs. Hayek rap song Roberts wrote (I'll go ahead and apologies for my ridiculous title).



If anyone spots the full version of the rap video, I'd greatly appreciate an email. It does not appear to be available at present.