John Keynes Flashcards
The Economy for our gradchildren
Why does Keynes say that “we are suffering just now from a bad attack of economic pessimism”?
It was after the great depression and people were discouraged due to unemployment and recession.
He wanted people to know that it was temporary and anyone who didn’t believe him was a pessimist.
What is Keynes trying to argue in this essay?
That after 100 years technology would have advanced reducing working ours for humans allowing them to focus on self growth in this free time.
Explain which factors will lead to technological unemployment. Why do they lead to technological unemployment?(2 marks)
Automation
Investment in technology
What does Keynes mean by mankind’s ‘economic problem’? How is his definition of this problem different from ‘The Great Economic Problem’? Does Keynes deny scarcity of resources?
Keynes’ ‘economic problem’ refers to humanity’s struggle to meet basic needs—food, shelter, and other essentials.
The ‘Great Economic Problem’ studied in economics often refers to how to allocate scarce resources to meet unlimited human wants.
What are Keynes’ thoughts about leisure and the ‘art of life itself’? How do they relate to work?
Keynes believes that as society becomes wealthier and solves its economic problem, people will be able to spend more time on leisure and activities that enrich their lives, such as art, culture, and personal growth.
What assumptions does Keynes (implicitly) make about access to accumulated wealth that would reduce the necessity to work? To what extent is that assumption reasonable?
Keynes assumes that wealth accumulation will be widely shared and distributed across society, making it possible for everyone to work fewer hours.
it doesn’t fully account for inequality and the uneven distribution of wealth and self- interest
In what way should economics become like dentistry? What does Keynes mean with this somewhat provocative statement, you think?
Like a dentist fixes teeth, economists would manage the economy’s fine-tuning, rather than dealing with major, complex problems of survival and scarcity.
