John Keynes

There were many economists which I found fascinating but the most interesting economist which I found was John Maynard Keynes. John Keynes had such a great impact that there is an entire school of thought named after him. His book “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” has completely changed economics. He has worked in numerous countries such as India, UK, United States. His government managed economic policies shaped up the capitalistic societies in the 20th century. He was also a teacher in Cambridge University, editor of economic journals in many countries and also was a treasurer for England in the World War 1 and World War 2. Here is the complete story of the great economist

Early Life  and education:

John Maynard Keynes was born on 5th June 1883 in Cambridge, England, to John Neville Keynes and Florence Keynes. His father was an economist and his mother was the female mayor of the England and the world. From the beginning he was a child who usually felt sick. He used to have frequent attacks of diarrohea and fevers. He was also a victim to the disease called St. Vitus dance. Due to these illnesses he could not study in the kindergarten for long.

From the beginning, Keynes was academically brilliant in the studies. Due to the lack of kindergarten studies, he could not develop interest in sports. In 1897, he gave the scholarship examinations and won a scholarship to Kings College in Cambridge. He was under the supervision of another economist, Alfred Marshall, the person who has earned a very big name in  economics. In college he was invited to join “Apostles”, who used to discuss various economic and political problems prevailing at the time. The group consisted of high profile personalities such as Leonard Woolf, Bertrand Russell etc. He graduated in 1905, with a degree in mathematics and had also earned an award in senior mathematics for two consecutive years in 1899 and 1900. He was also the president for the students union in Cambridge and won a prize on politics also.

The Works and contributions:

After graduating in 1905 from Cambridge, Keynes attended seminars and lectures of his mentor, Adam Smith. He was awarded fellowship in Eton College in 1909.

 He then returned to England from Switzerland to teach economics in college. He gave the examination for the Civil Services for the British Army and was given the post of Treasurer and was transferred to India, which was being colonized by the British. In 1911, he was appointed the editor for the Economic Journal and also wrote his first publication, Indian currency and finance. In the book, he has shown the understanding the macroeconomics and explained for the first time how government interventions can change the production of a good. The book was published in 1913.

As a member of the treasurer in the British government, Keynes tried to help the financial sector which was badly affected by the World War 1. Kingsley Martin, claimed that Keynes had found the way for killing the many by using a very low amount of income.

After the World War 1, Keynes was sent to the Treaty of Versailles, he rejected the harsh terms implemented by the British and the Allied Force. The Allied Forces had imposed reparations on the Germans and asked them to be accountable for what they did. He wrote another book called “Economic Consequences of Peace”. In the book, John Keynes said that there should be no reparations imposed on the Germans or the maximum reparations should be till 2000 million pounds. Keynes also highlighted the Treaty of Versailles will destroy the economies of Europe and Germany did not have enough money to pay for the reparations as the price was kept very high and nearly all the world was affected by the war which took place.

In 1923, he was made the head of the Liberal and the Nation (magazines) and totally opposed the economic policies of Steve Baldwin and the Conservatives.