Keynes on Domestic and International Monetary Reform

Citation

Dow S (2018) Keynes on Domestic and International Monetary Reform. In: Dow S, Jespersen J & Tily G (eds.) The General Theory and Keynes for the 21st Century. New Directions in Modern Economics. The General Theory and Victoria Chick at 80, UCL, London, 11.07.2016-11.07.2016. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 132-144.

Abstract
First paragraph: Within a capitalist economy, the institution of money both enables and constrains. It enables by providing a safe asset as the basis for contracts and as a refuge from uncertainty. But by the same token it constrains by providing an alternative to effective demand, creating unemployment, and by forming the basis for a financial system which can promote inequality of income and wealth. It was to address these concerns that Keynes put forward ideas for monetary reform, to create structures which would discourage the propensity to hoard money, 'a first approximation to the concept of liquidity preference' (Keynes [1936] 1973, p. 174) and to reduce the impact of such a propensity.

People

Professor Sheila Dow

Emeritus Professor, Economics