Some Serious Limits of John Maynard Keynes on Money, the Crisis, and the State

Abstract

The ongoing profound economic crisis has caused some to turn back to Keynesian arguments and policy proposals aiming at introducing alterations to the functioning of the capitalist system in order to make it survive. We, therefore, choose to analyze John Maynard Keynes’ thought, first in its links with the economic mainstream of his time, then in his theoretical interpretation of money, the crisis, and the State. This is an opportunity for us to underline the limits of this paradigm, especially as far as money is concerned, and to argue that a return to the “Keynesian compromise,” on the model of that of the post-World War II period, is illusory.