Was Keynes a Keynesian? I had to answer this essay question at university and managed to answer No. The issue was whether John Maynard Keynes’ 1930s ideas really entailed the interventionist policies that bore his name, and which rightly took much blame for 1970s stagflation.

Since then, an era of distinctly non-Keynesian economics by any definition has culminated in a global crash, leaving the world in what looks like what Keynes called a “liquidity trap” – where lower interest rates have little or no effect. In a week when the European Central Bank, the People’s Bank of China and the Bank of England have all eased monetary policy, the debate about Keynes’ legacy rages. It is barely a debate at all – a sterile recitation by each side of a preconceived position. Read more