A Criticism of Keynes General Theory

John Maynard Keynes was a really great man with keen sense of purpose and mission in his life to make the world a better place to live in and put in his maximum effort both in his academic work and in the larger affairs of the world. And he succeeded admirably well in his effort, but in the academic field, while he certainly removed the debris and won the freedom and independence for the economists to pursue their own paths and stressed the need for fresh thinking, in his own work, in the author’s judgement, Keynes did not succeed in his positive contribution, and that too inspite of the full and unstinting support of some of the most brilliant minds in economic analysis like R.F. Khan, Joan Robinson and R.F. Harrod. Even though much work has been done in appraising The General Theory, in the author’s view, the myth continues, and hence further work is required in analysing and critically examining the arguments put forward by Keynes. In so doing it will help us not only to get rid of what is wrong, but also to find out what is in the right direction. It is this which prompted the author to write this book. Keynes himself has stated that it is by an assault on old ideas that new ideas emerge. This is an assault of Keynes’ own ideas, which literally conquered the world and still linger on, with the hope that in the course of the discussion something in the right direction will emerge.