Keynes: Useful Economics for the World Economy

by Peter Temin, David Vines

Why Keynes is relevant to today's global economic crisis, and how Keynesian ideas can point the way to renewed economic growth. As the global economic crisis continues to cause damage, some policy makers have called for a more Keynesian approach to current economic problems. In this book, the economists Peter Temin and David Vines provide an accessible introduction to Keynesian ideas that connects Keynes's insights to today's global economy and offers readers a way to understand current policy debates. They survey economic thinking before Keynes and explain how difficult it was for Keynes to escape from conventional wisdom. They also set out the Keynesian analysis of a closed economy and expand the analysis to the international economy, using a few simple graphs to present Keynes's formal analyses in an accessible way. Finally, they discuss problems of today's world economy, showcasing the usefulness of a simple Keynesian approach to current economic policy choices. Keynesian ideas, they argue, can lay the basis for a return to economic growth.

Genres: Economics

117 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

About the author

Peter Temin was an economist and economic historian, serving as the Gray Professor Emeritus of Economics at MIT, where he was formerly the head of the Economics Department.

Reviews

[Jason Furman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short history of Keynes thought and summary of his relevance to today's issues, particularly the Great Recession and the euro zone. Unfortunately it is neither fish nor fowl, being a somewhat overly cursory treatment of the historiography of Keynes while also being overly simplistic about the analogies to today's situation. It also has attempts to teach the IS-LM and other models with simple graphs that will be too easy for anyone with intermediate macro and, I suspect, bewildering to anyone without it. Still some interesting parts, especially describing Keynes' struggle to develop a model/argument in which output is not taken as given.

[Sina Mousavi · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent introduction to the basics of Keynesian economics. What I particularly like about the book's approach is the fact that Keynes' theoretical breakthroughs are put in the context of the historical and practical challenges that he had to deal with. I certainly believe this should be the standard approach in pedagogy of economics. But, alas, it's not usually the case. It's quite telling that I learned so much more from Temin and Vines' compact book than Mankiw's unempirical and ahistorical joke of a textbook.

[Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was pretty deep for what is considered to be a primer, but it was good and touched on liquidity preference, the role of money in society, interest rates and investments, monetary policy, money and uncertainty, and general theory. All this will help you understand how changes in the money supply affect output and employment.

I think that from the perspective of someone who takes risks in financial trading or sports gambling, you can learn how to better manage your bankroll by prioritizing productivity and output and not just holding on to your cash in periods that are not beneficial for you. From the perspective of traveling or just living, you gain a better understanding of what influences prices, such as why that Pad Thai in Bangkok is more expensive today than it was two years ago, or why there are so many homeless people in Los Angeles.

[Jough · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good primer on Keynesian economic policy and history. Each chapter of this book could be expanded to a text book. Highly recommended if you need an overview or have just a passing interest in macroeconomics; otherwise, there are better books on the subject.

[Jeremy Punnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

The genius of Keynes made relevant for the world today.

[R. Reddebrek · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay as an intro to Keynesian economics. Makes some interesting arguments about contemporary economic strategies regarding the 2008 financial crisis and the damage caused by US and German policy.

[Eric Bottorff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very useful introduction to Keynes' thought and his continuing relevance for our world. Does an especially good job of situating Keynes' thought within the history of economics and within its historical context.

The only real problem with the book is that it's a little less introductory-level than the authors think--this is probably best suited for those who at some point took an intro to econ course (or have a similar level of knowledge) and want to better understand Keynes' importance to current policy debates. And the particular way the graphs are employed could be occasionally confusing for someone without much familiarity with the material.

[Mills College Library]

330.156 T279 2014