The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes

In 1936 Keynes published the most provocative book written by any economist of his generation. The General Theory, as it is known to all economists, cut through all the Gordian Knots of pre-Keynesian discussion of the trade cycle and propounded a new approach to the determination of the level of economic activity, the problems of employment and unemployment and the causes of inflation. Arguments about the book continued until his death in 1946 and still continue today. Despite all that has been written in the subsequent years, Keynes and his book still represent the turning point between the old economics and the new from which each generation of economists needs to take its inspiration.

This volume, with its companion, Volume 14, provides all the surviving letters, drafts and articles arising from Keynes's work as a monetary economist between 1924 and 1939. It contains wherever possible both sides of all correspondence concerning his Treatise on Money and General Theory, both before and after publication, as well as complete texts of all surviving drafts of both works. In addition it contains important correspondence concerning D. H. Robertson's Banking Policy and the Price Level and such post-General Theory contributions as R. F. Harrod's first work on the theory of economic growth. As such, it provides a remarkable chronicle of one man's intellectual development over the quarter of a century that saw a revolution in economics.

This volume, with its companion, Volume 14, provides all the surviving letters, drafts and articles arising from Keynes's work as a monetary economist between 1924 and 1939. It contains wherever possible both sides of all correspondence concerning his Treatise on Money and General Theory, both before and after publication, as well as complete texts of all surviving drafts of both works. In addition it contains important correspondence concerning D. H. Robertson's Banking Policy and the Price Level and such post-General Theory contributions as R. F. Harrod's first work on the theory of economic growth. As such, it provides a remarkable chronicle of one man's intellectual development over the quarter of a century that saw a revolution in economics.

In 1936 Keynes published the most provocative book written by any economist of his generation. The General Theory, as it is known to all economists, cut through all the Gordian Knots of pre-Keynesian discussion of the trade cycle and propounded a new approach to the determination of the level of economic activity, the problems of employment and unemployment and the causes of inflation. Arguments about the book continued until his death in 1946 and still continue today. Despite all that has been written in the subsequent years, Keynes and his book still represent the turning point between the old economics and the new from which each generation of economists needs to take its inspiration.