Biography of an Idea

<p>The culmination of John Maynard Keynes's thought and lifework was <em>The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money</em>. Here placing it in the context of his era David Felix examines the evolution of Keynes's theorizing. He boldly claims that <em>The General Theory</em> lacks logical and factual support as pure theory but is an achievement of great statesmanship in political economy.</p><p>Felix argues that Keynes's ideas have misled successive generations of students and practitioners. He suggests that a more discriminating view of his thought can reconcile Keynesian views with neoclassical theory and replace the false synthesis that dominates contemporary text-books with a truer one. <em>Biography of an Idea</em> devotes four chapters to an analysis of <em>The General Theory</em> and an examination of the economic logic of Keynes. The author disentangles the work's fundamentally simple theses from its difficult technical pre-sentation. He shows how Keynes shaped his economic model as he did as an effort to win public support for sensible policies that clashed with generally accepted beliefs of the time.</p><p><em>Biography of an Idea</em> is bound to be controversial due to the many cohorts of economists who have been trained in macroeconomics according to Keynes. It will be of interest and ac-cessible to intellectually curious laymen and students and important to economists historians and political scientists.</p>