How John Maynard Keynes Thought About Future Generations

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http://www.businessinsider.com/john-maynard-keynes-niall-ferguson-gay-comments-future-generations-2013-5

How John Maynard Keynes Thought About Future Generations Is Completely The Opposite Of What People Assume


Today's big economic brouhaha comes courtesy of historian Niall Ferguson, who reportedly told a group that John Maynard Keynes' economic philosophies were informed by the fact that he was childless and gay, and thus not concerned about the ramifications of policy on future generations.

A lot of people have this idea that Keynes didn't care about the future because of the famous line "In the long run we're all dead," which people take to mean that the only thing that matters is the short term.

But the full line is: "In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if, in tempestuous seasons, they can only tell us that when the storm is long past the ocean is flat again."

In other words, he's slamming economists for being sanguine about near-term troubles, merely because in the long term, stability and equilibrium will return.


Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/john-maynard-keynes-niall-ferguson-gay-comments-future-generations-2013-5#ixzz2SQTgruIk