Lord Keynes was born in 1883 and died in 1946. This volume was conceived as a tribute to the man and the economist. But it is more than that. We intend to appraise Keynes' contributions to economics: to add up the gains and to explore the weaknesses.

A volume on Keynesian economics, written mainly by Keynes' followers, naturally would be largely panegyric. But there is criticism also--both by the followers and by the minority of writers in this volume who might not be classed as Keynesian. These critics, however, unlike many of the detractors of Keynes, have read and absorbed the General Theory. Even the most enthusiastic imbibers at the Keynesian fountain will find impurities and indigestible and incongruous substances - examine the essays by Messrs. Colm, Smithies, and Samuelson in this volume, for example.

The larger part of this book is an interpretation by Keynesians of Keynes' economics and Keynesian economics. This is as it should be: I am not a supporter of Marxist economics; but when I want to learn about Marxist economics, I find it much more helpful to consult Marxists than anti-Marxists. Those who want unfriendly interpretations and destructive criticisms should consult the growing anti-Keynesian literature. The miracle of Keynes is that, despite the vested interests of scholars in the older theory, despite the preponderant influence of press, radio, finance, and subsidized research against Keynes, his influence both in scientific circles and in the arena of public policy has been extraordinary, and much beyond what could have been expected by Keynes or others in 1936.

That Keynes made large and lasting contributions to economics, all the contributors to this volume would undoubtedly agree. However, that he said the last word would most likely be denied by them. Even the most avid followers of Keynes are scarcely prepared to state that all economic problems have been solved by him, and that no further work remains to be done. One hundred years ago, J. S. Mill rashly announced the solution of the problem of the theory of value, that further work was unnecessary. Mill proved to be a poor prophet. Jevons, Marshall, Walras, Pigou, Hicks, Chamberlin, et al., contributed significant improvements and not mere embellishments to the theory of value. During World War I, a professor of economics at Harvard, impressed by the founding of the Federal Reserve System, warned his students that further work in money would be sterile. Keynesians are not guilty of such temerity. Economics is an evolutionary science and, therefore, is protean. Even foundation stones, like the contributions of Bentham, Ricardo, and others, require supplementation, amplification, and, frequently, revision.

Keynes, great contribution (cf. Mr. Copland in this volume) was to adapt economics to the changing institutional structure of modern society. Economics had failed to keep pace with the developments of science, of government, of changes in the marketplace, of organization by groups, and in general with institutional developments. Up to 1936, when the General Theory was first published, accepted economics in general belonged much more to the vanished age of competition, of capital deficiencies, of full employment or transitional unemployment, and the like, than to the twentieth-century economy which tolerated and, to some extent encouraged, monopolies, rigidities, excessive savings, deficiency of demand, and unemployment. To make up for the growing lag, Keynes sailed boldly and vigorously into uncharted waters. Navigators in the classical waters were necessarily upset by the resulting ripples or, better, waves. Many of them, and particularly the older ones, suspecting the intruder of piracy, steered their boats as best they could out of his way. Younger navigators, impressed by the greater skill shown by Keynes in the new waters, were tempted to follow him; and since their investments in the older economics were not large, they were less cautious than their teachers. Advance by easy steps, as suggested by the Marshall motto, Natura non facit saltum, had not proved enough. Keynes, therefore, set sail in new waters