On Say’s Law, Keynes’s Money, and Post Keynesians
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52195/pm.v4i2.326Abstract
Say’s Law maintains that there can never be a superabundance of all goods (if any good were available in greater supply than needed, such as water or air, it would no longer be an economic good at all) and that if there is an excess of some items that are still goods, it will be matched with an insufficiency of others. The reputation of Keynes (1936) was made in part on the basis of a supposed refutation of Say’s Law. This paper attempts to probe the irrationality of Keynes’ position by examining his concept of money and its relationship to his theory.
Key words: Say’s Law; Keynes; money; economic goods; animal spirits; unemployment.
JEL Category: E12.
References
BLOCK, W. (1999). «The Gold Standard: A Critique of Friedman, Mundell, Hayek, Greenspan,» Managerial Finance, Vol. 25, N.º 5, pp. 15-33. http://giorgio.emeraldinsight.com/vl=4558845/cl=18/nw=1/rpsv/cw/www/mcb/03074358/contp1-1.htm; http://www.mises.org/etexts/goldcritique. pdf http://141.164.133.3/faculty/Block/Blockarticles/goldstandard.htm
BLOCK, W. and GARSCHINA, K.M. (1995). «Hayek, Business Cycles and Fractional Reserve Banking: Continuing the De-Homoginization Process,» Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 9, N.º 1, 1995, pp. 77-94; http://www.mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/rae9_1_3.pdf
BORDO, MICHAEL D. and ANNA J. SCHWARTZ. (2003). «IS-LM and Monetarism.» Speech given at Duke University, April 25. http://econweb.rutgers.edu/bordo/ISLM.pdf
CALLAHAN, G. (2003). «The Libertarian Case Against Fractional-Reserve Banking,» Anti-State.com, July 22.
DAVIDSON, P. (1998). «Post Keynesian Employment Analysis and the Macroeconomics of OECD Unemployment.» The Economic Journal. 108 (448): 817-831.
EINSTEIN, A. (1920). Relativity: The Special and General Theory. trans. Lawson, R. W. New York: Henry L. Holt.
FRIEDMAN, M. and ANNA J. SCHWARTZ (1963). A Monetary History of the U.S., 1867-1960, New York: National Bureau of Economic Research.
GARRISON, ROGER W. (1989). «The Austrian Theory of the Business Cycle In the Light of Modern Macroeconomics.» Review of Austrian Economics. 3(1): pp. 3-29.
— (2001). Time and Money: The Macroeconomics of Capital Structure. London: Routledge.
GILLIS, M. (2003). «Economics and The Chicago School: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. March 18. Rice University.» http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/031820031.asp?SnID=325297287
HARCOURT, G.C. ed. (1977). The Microfoundations of Macroeconomics. Macmillan.
HAHN, F.H. (1977). «Keynesian Economics and General Equilibrium Theory.» In: Harcourt, G. C. ed. The Microfoundations of Macroeconomics.
HANSEN, ALVIN H. (1953). A Guide to Keynes. McGraw-Hill.
HAZLITT, H. (1959). The Failure of the «New Economics,» New York: Van Nostrand.
— ed. (1960). The Critics of Keynesian Economics,Princeton,N.J.: D.Van Nostrand.
— (1979). Economics in One Lesson. New York: Arlington House Publishers.
HO E Y, R.B. (2001). «Pushing on a string? The State of the Debate.» http://www.mellon.com/news/stateofthedebate/SD3.pdf (1998). «Against Fiduciary Media,» Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Vol. 1, N.º 1, pp. 19-50, http://www.mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae1_1_2.pdf
HOPPE, HANS-HERMANN. (1994). «How is Fiat Money Possible? or, The Devolution of Money and Credit,» Review of Austrian Economics, 7(2), pp. 49-74.
HUERTA DE SOTO, J. (2001). «A Critical Note on Fractional Reserve Free Banking,» The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Vol. 1, N.º 4, Fall, pp. 34, 35
— (1995). «A Critical Analysis of Central Banks and Fractional-Reserve Free Banking from the Austrian Perspective,» Review of Austrian Economics, 8(2), pp. 25-38.
— (2006). Money, Bank Credit and Economic Cycles, Auburn Ala.: The Ludwig von Mises Institute.
HÜLSMANN, JORG GUIDO. (2002a). «Free Banking and the Free Bankers.» Review of Austrian Economics. Vol. 9, N.º 1. pp. 3-53; http://www.mises.org/journals/rae/pdf/rae9_1_1.pdf
— (2002b). «Free Banking Fractional Reserves: Reply to Pascal Salin.» Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 1, N.º 3. http://www.mises.org/journals/qjae/pdf/qjae1_3_8.pdf
IKEDA, S. (1997). Dynamics of the Mixed Economy: Toward a Theory of Interventionism London and New York: Routledge. Ikeda discussed Rothbard’s typology pp. 245-47 in the Appendix C: Rothbard’s Typology of Interventionism.
KEYNES, J.M. (1913). Indian Currency and Finance. Reprinted in Keynes, Collected Writings, vol. 1.
— (1923). Tract on Monetary Reform. Reprinted in Keynes, Collected Writings, vol. 4.
— (1930a). A Treatise on Money. Vol. 1: The Pure Theory of Money. 1930. Reprinted in Keynes, Collected Writings, vol. 5.
— (1930b). A Treatise on Money. Vol. 2: The Applied Theory of Money. 1930. Reprinted in Keynes, Collected Writings, vol. 6.
— (1936). The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. Harcourt, Brace & Co.
KUDLOW, L. (2002). «Milton’s on the money: The Fed should tune in to Friedman.» National Review On Line. October 4. http://www.nationalreview.com/kudlow/kudlow100402.asp
LAVOIE, D. (1982). «The Development of the Misesian Theory of Interventionism» in Method, Process and Austrian Economics: Essays in Honor of Ludwig von Mises, Israel Kirzner, ed. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath and Company; pp. 169-183.
LERNER, A.P. (1952). «The Essential Properties of Interest and Money.» The Quarterly Journal of Economics. 66 (2): 172-193.
MISES, LUDWIG VON (1969). Omnipotent Government, New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House.
— (1998). Human Action: The Scholar’s Edition, Auburn, Ala.: The Mises Institute.
NORTH, G. (2001). «Pushing on a string?» December 27. http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north75.html
NORTH, G. (2004). «Sitting on a string?» January 15. http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north242.html
PIGER, J. (2003). «Pushing on a string.» Monetary Trends. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. http://research.stlouisfed.org/publications/mt/20030301/cover.pdf
ROTHBARD, M.N. (1962). «The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar,» In Search of a Monetary Constitution, Leland B. Yeager, ed., Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 94-136, and Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1991. See also «The Logic of Action One» pp. 364-384.
ROTHBARD, M. (1963). America’s Great Depression. Kansas City: Sheed Andrews.
ROTHBARD, M.N. (1970). Power and Market: Government and the Economy, Menlo Park CA: Institute for Humane Studies.
— (1982). «Interventionism: Comment on Lavoie.» I. Kirzner (ed.), Method, Process, and Austrian Economics. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books, pp. 185188.
— (2005). What Has Government Done to Our Money and The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar. Auburn, AL: The Mises Institute.
SALERNO, J. (2004). «Money matters no more?» June 29. http://www.mises.org/fullstory.aspx?control=1550&id=74
SAMUELSON, P.A. (1946). «Lord Keynes and the General Theory.» Econometrica. July. Reprinted in: Harris, Seymour, ed. The New Economics. Alfred A. Knopf (1948)
— 1967 (1970). Economics. 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill
SAY, JEAN-BAPTISTE ([1880] 1971). A Treatise on Political Economy: or the Production, Distribution and Consumption of Wealth. Translated by C.R. Prinsep and Clement C. Biddle. New York: Augustus M. Kelley
SECHREST, L.J. (1988). «White’s Free-Banking Thesis: A Case of Mistaken Identity,» Review of Austrian Economics, 2, pp. 247-258.
— (1993). Free Banking: Theory, History, and the Laissez-Faire Model. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
SELGIN, G.A. (1988). The Theory of Free Banking: Money Supply Under Competitive Note Issue, Totowa, N.J.: Rowman and Littlefield.
SELGIN, G.A., and WHITE, LAWRENCE H. (1996). «In Defense of Fiduciary Media - or, We are Not Devo(lutionists), We are Misesians!,» Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 9, N.º 2, pp. 83-107
SHAH, P. (1997). «The Option Clause in Free-Banking Theory and History: A Reappraisal,» The Review of Austrian Economics, Vol. 10, N.º 2, pp. 1-26.
SKOUSEN, M. (2001). «The Perseverance of Paul Samuelson’s Economics.» Forecasts & Strategies. February 1. http://www.mskousen.com/Books/Articles/perserverance.html SOWELL, T. (1972). Say’s Law: An Historical Analysis. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.
WHITE, L.H. (1989). Competition and Currency, New York: New York University Press.