Keynes on the Sequencing of Economic Policy: Recovery and Reform in 1933 / Sebastian Edwards.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Edwards, Sebastian.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w24367.

NBER working paper series no. w24367

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Keynes on the Sequencing of Economic Policy

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2018.

Summary:

On December 31 1933, The New York Times published an open letter from John Maynard Keynes to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In it Keynes encouraged FDR to expand public works through government borrowing. He also criticized FDR's exchange rate policy, and argued that there was a need for lower long-term interest rates. But perhaps the most interesting feature of this letter is that Keynes made comments on the sequencing and speed of economic policies. He argued that "recovery" policies should precede "reform" measures. In this paper I analyze this particular aspect of the open letter, and I argue that for Keynes exchange rate stability was a key component of what he considered to be the appropriate order of policy. I also provide a comparison between Keynes's views on sequencing and those developed in the 1980s and 1990s.

Notes:

Print version record

March 2018.