John Maynard Keynes: Profiled People in Economics and Banking

Executive Summary

• John Maynard Keynes was an economist who often went against the established view.

Introduction

Keynes was an early heterodox economist who argued against austerity when austerity concepts were as popular at this time as they are today. He was also one of the most influential economists of all time. Keynes promoted FDR to stimulate the economy during the Great Depression. It was the experience of advising FDR and how the US economy responded that Keynes began to believe that the US greenback system the US had previously used would be desirable to instantiate again. And Keynes promoted a similar debt-free currency for the International Monetary Fund, which was called the Bancor. He helped design the IMF, but the IMF has strayed so far from its original purpose, today Keynes would barely recognize it and not approve of what it has become.