Letter from the Editor

摘要

John Maynard Keynes remains a lightning rod in fundamental debates about public policy. We are delighted to begin a series of eight articles on aspects of Keynes that are relevant today and not adequately discussed. Jonathan Kirshner of Cornell organized this very fine series and I paraphrase his remarks here. Though Keynes is a lightning rod in almost all economic debates today, relatively few people-even, if not especially, those who vilify "Keynesianism"-have read much of what Keynes has written. Keynes's collected writings fill thirty thick volumes, and his vast trove of writings hold timeless lessons-many of which are especially relevant for some of today's most pressing problems. Too few are aware of this. When people invoke Keynes, they are usually referring to a certain type of "Keynesianism" that was practiced in the 1960s and seemed to come apart in the 1970s, or making claims, poorly grounded in theory, about the effects of contemporary "stimulus." But Keynes died in 1946, and postwar Keynesianism, Kirshner argues, was but a distillation of a few cherry-picked chapters of The General Theory. Little wonder Keynes was able to quip in a wartime meeting in Washington that he was "the only non-Keynesian in the room." To appreciate Keynes, then, is to read the original, and discover numerous enduring insights about economic theory-for example, why the engine of capitalism is to be found in the passions of "animal spirits," not the bloodless logic of so-called "rational expectations." Or why a boom not a slump may be the right time for austerity, widely discussed, we admit. Or his concern with the perennial challenge of global economic governance-the dilemma of preserving crucial domestic policy autonomy while embracing a thriving, open international economy. All of these problems-and so many others that Keynes wrestled with-are still alive and with us.