A branch of economics, based, often loosely, on the ideas of Keynes, characterized by a belief in active government and suspicion of market outcomes. It was dominant in the 30 years following the second world war, and especially during the 1960s, when fiscal policy became bigger-spending and looser in most developed countries as policymakers tried to kill off the business cycle. During the 1970s, widely blamed for the rise in inflation, Keynesian policies gradually gave way to monetarism and microeconomic policies that owed much to the Neo-classical economics that Keynes had at times opposed. Even so, the idea that public spending and taxation have a crucial role to play in managing demand, in order to move towards full employment, remained at the heart of macroeconomic policy in most countries, even after the monetarist and supply-side revolution of the 1980s and 1990s. Recently, a school of new, more pro-market Keynesian economists has emerged, believing that most markets work, but sometimes only slowly.
- Part of Speech: noun
- Industry/Domain: Economy
- Category: Economics
- Company: The Economist
Creator
- summer.l
- 100% positive feedback