John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes was one of the most important economists of all time. Here, we’ve listed all the books by John Maynard Keynes that have been recommended by experts on Five Books.
If you’re after books about Keynes, we asked Keynes biographer Robert Skidelsky to recommend the best books about John Maynard Keynes.
Books by John Maynard Keynes
“It’s among the dozen—perhaps half-dozen—most influential economics books that have ever been written. From an economic point of view, it highlighted the importance of the transfer problem—the fact that when you force a country to pay resources, it not only loses those resources but, because it has to sell more, it puts its goods on sale, which is further impoverishing. And it established a model that no economist has subsequently lived up to, the model of an economist as both an analyst and an extraordinary polemicist.” Read more...
The best books on Globalization
Larry Summers, Economist
“It is a difficult book, because it’s the first book that tries to figure this stuff out. You don’t teach Keynesian economics from Keynes anymore. Keynes was actually working on The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money before the Great Depression, but, obviously, the Great Depression gave it urgency. It’s a first stab – it’s one hell of a first stab – but because it is a first stab, it’s got all the awkwardnesses that go with that. He goes off on tangents that seemed important to him at the time, but don’t seem so important now. It’s not an easy read.” Read more...
Books that Inspired a Liberal Economist
Paul Krugman, Economist
“As Keynes anticipated, we have come very close to solving the traditional economic problem, the struggle for subsistence that preoccupied humankind for so long. This piece of prescience is, in part, what makes his essay so engaging. But there is also an error of judgement that runs through Keynes’ essay. He was right that, in theory, we would come very close to solving that fundamental economic problem—that the economic pie would be large enough for everyone to live on.” Read more...
The Best Books on the Future of Work
Daniel Susskind, Economist
“The reason why I cite Keynes’s earlier Tract on Monetary Reform is that Keynes was a very astute commentator on monetary policy as well as fiscal policy. I would ask the people who call themselves Keynesians to read Keynes. Or read, for example, the last volume of Robert Skidelsky’s wonderful biography. I’ve long revered Keynes’s intellect. I spent much of my time as a graduate student in an argument with him about German hyperinflation. That argument seems to me still to be relevant today, and one that people who quote him seem to have forgotten.” Read more...
Niall Ferguson on His Intellectual Influences
Niall Ferguson, Historian
Interviews where books by John Maynard Keynes were recommended
Niall Ferguson on His Intellectual Influences
Harvard historian Niall Ferguson tells us about the diverse influences on his work, from Keynes and Tolstoy to an Austrian satirist. He explains how he prefers a philosophy of history that emphasises the contingent and the chaotic, rather than the neatly predictable.
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1
The New Division of Labor: How Computers Are Creating the Next Job Market
by Frank Levy & Richard J Murnane -
2
The Race between Education and Technology
by Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F Katz -
3
Essays in Persuasion
by John Maynard Keynes -
4
Future Politics: Living Together in a World Transformed by Tech
by Jamie Susskind -
5
Marienthal: The Sociography of an Unemployed Community
by Hans Zeisel, Marie Jahoda & Paul F Lazarsfeld
The Best Books on the Future of Work, recommended by Daniel Susskind
The Best Books on the Future of Work, recommended by Daniel Susskind
For many us, work is not only a vital source of income, but also an important part of our identity. As computers become ever better at doing jobs that used to be the exclusive preserve of humans, the work available to us and the rewards for doing it will change dramatically. As economist Daniel Susskind explains, these developments are going to force us to rethink how society as a whole works at a very fundamental level, changing the role of the state, the way we think about how individuals contribute to society and how they can, or should, be rewarded.
Books that Inspired a Liberal Economist, recommended by Paul Krugman
Paul Krugman, Nobel prize-winning economist, Op-Ed columnist for the New York Times, and Emeritus Professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton, discusses the books that most influenced his formation as a liberal economist.
The best books on Utopia, recommended by John Quiggin
The Australian economist and author of Zombie Economics says we need to inspire people with a view of a better society. In short, we need a new utopia.
The best books on British Democracy, recommended by Peter Kellner
Political commentator and President of YouGov.com chooses older books from both sides of the Atlantic to show what really matters in politics.
The best books on How the World’s Political Economy Works, recommended by Mark Blyth
If you were the last person alive and had to leave a testament to how our world worked, which five books would you choose? Political economist Mark Blyth makes his ‘desert island’ choices.
The best books on Globalization, recommended by Larry Summers
Globalization benefits mankind and we are learning how better to deal with the disruption it causes. But one thing is for sure, the laws of economics are no more escapable than the laws of physics. Harvard professor and former US Treasury secretary, Larry Summers, recommends the best books on globalization.
