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Role of government in economic activity
Briefly summarize the two schools of thought keynes vs. hayek
Briefly summarize the two schools of thought keynes vs. hayek
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Recommended: Role of government in economic activity
The clash between Hayek and Keynes has defined modern economics. On one hand we have Keynes standpoint, which was if investment exceeded savings, there would be inflation, but if savings exceeded inflation, a recession would be present. On the other hand Hayek presented ideas of less government initiative and to have people make their choices on economic decisions more freely. Hayek argument on Keynes government spending was that if the economy should be more concerned with consuming or investing.
The particular opinions of these two rivals were quite different and in many respects set the groundwork for today’s great debate between the Keynesians and so-called “Austrian School” of economics (O’Driscoll, 2011). They both recognized problems, however, somewhat opposite viewpoints on the importance of combining credit and credit breakdown into any serious large economic examination.
In 1929 Hayek indicated that a serious delay to trade was expected, since the easy money policy initiated by the US Federal Reserve Board in July 1927 (Bas, 2011) had continued for two years after it should have ended. This suggestion would initiate Keynes argument on inflation as Keynes stated that the government had plenty of savings and no evidence of inflation was present. The downfall of trade would be due to overinvestment in securities and real estate. For Hayek the depression was threatened by ‘investment running ahead of saving’; for Keynes by ‘saving running ahead of investment’. (Bas, 2011)
Of course, once the downfall started and increased, predictions grew into explanations and policy recommendations, it became clear that Keynes would win this debate, mostly because his ideas were far more politically acceptable than those of Hayek. It was...
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...oduct is still high because the feelings of the well-informed are that of needing to pay the taxes to keep everything in a balance. Keynes had thought of this in his debate with Hayek explaining that in order to keep everything glued together you have to spend to make money. The government uses this same thought today throughout the decision making process of borrowing, and taxing. Hayek’s view has not been fully pursued in today’s economy, as he wanted to save with bonds and such in order for the government to have a balance.
Although the idea of having low taxes is ideal, it cannot contribute to the growing economy debt that has been placed. With taxes being paid by well-informed citizens the economy can still continue to borrow money in order to spend money for the safety and well-being of the people. Keynes has been the theorist whose ideas we still use today.
Amity Shlaes tells the story of the Great Depression and the New Deal through the eyes of some of the more influential figures of the period—Roosevelt’s men like Rexford Tugwell, David Lilienthal, Felix Frankfurter, Harold Ickes, and Henry Morgenthau; businessmen and bankers like Wendell Willkie, Samuel Insull, Andrew Mellon, and the Schechter family. What arises from these stories is a New Deal that was hostile to business, very experimental in its policies, and failed in reviving the economy making the depression last longer than it should. The reason for some of the New Deal policies was due to the President’s need to punish businessmen for their alleged role in bringing the stock market crash of October 1929 and therefore, the Great Depression.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, president of the united states from 1933 to 1945 (and the distant cousin of Theodore Roosevelt), was the first to convert to Keynes’s theories. He implemented massive public works programs to put people to work. Called the “New Deal”, an echo of Theodore Roosevelt’s square deal, it consisted of a series of programs from 1933 to 1938. As well as providing employment through massive works projects such as the Tennessee valley authority, which built dams to generate electricity. New deal programs provided emergency relief, reformed the banking system, and tried to invigorate agriculture and the economy. Many other programs were also put into place with were used to attemp...
Keynes ideas were very radical at the time, and Keynes was called a socialist in disguise. Keynes was not a socialist, he just wanted to make sure that the people had enough money to invest and help the economy along. As far as stressing extremes, Keynesian economics pushed for a “happy medium” where output and prices are constant, and there is no surplus in supply, but also no deficit. Supply Side economics emphasized the supply of goods and services. Supply Side economics supports higher taxes and less government spending to help economy.
Archibald, Robert, and David Feldman. "Investment during the Great Depression: Uncertainty and the Role of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff." Southern Economic Journal. 64. no. 4 (1998): 857-879. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1061208 (accessed October 7, 2011).
Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address in 1933[ Richard Polenberg, The Era of Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945: A Brief History with Documents (Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2000), 39-44.] was a famous speech because it instilled new hope in the people. During the speech, President Roosevelt said, “our greatest primary task is to put people to work/ there must be a strict supervision of a banking and credits and investments, so that there will be an end to speculation with other people’s money; and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.” Imaginably,a number of people could not find jobs and people were worried about putting money in a bank. Roosevelt emphasized the seriousness of reducing unemployment, reinforcing reliable baking system, and distributing currency. These problems were important contexts that shaped the content of this speech.
Post the era of World War I, of all the countries it was only USA which was in win win situation. Both during and post war times, US economy has seen a boom in their income with massive trade between Europe and Germany. As a result, the 1920’s turned out to be a prosperous decade for Americans and this led to birth of mass investments in stock markets. With increased income after the war, a lot of investors purchased stocks on margins and with US Stock Exchange going manifold from 1921 to 1929, investors earned hefty returns during this time epriod which created a stock market bubble in USA. However, in order to stop increasing prices of Stock, the Federal Reserve raised the interest rate sof loanabel funds which depressed the interest sensitive spending in many industries and as a result a record fall in stocks of these companies were seen and ultimately the stock bubble was finally burst. The fall was so dramatic that stock prices were even below the margins which investors had deposited with their brokers. As a reuslt, not only investor but even the brokerage firms went insolvent. Withing 2 days of 15-16 th October, Dow Jones fell by 33% and the event was referred to Great Crash of 1929. Thus with investors going insolvent, a major shock was seen in American aggregate demand. Consumer Purchase of durable goods and business investment fell sharply after the stock market crash. As a result, businesses experienced stock piling of their inventories and real output fell rapidly in 1929 and throughout 1930 in United States.
Keynes and Hayek each approach the economy from a different perspective. In Keynes’ estimation, it is all about the flow of money. The economy is improving when money is moving, and thus, stability is achieved as much as is possible. Consequently, spending, and more specifically government spending, is the key to unlock the door blocking economic growth. By contrast, Hayek contends that money is not everything. What the money is used for, whether it be saved, invested, loaned, or spent, also plays an important role in the progression of the economy. Growth comes from saving and investing not consumption and spending. The stability of the economy, according to Hayek, is brought about by the forces of supply and demand.
...e excessive speculation in the late 1920's kept the stock market artificially high, but inevitably led to the big crash. Overproduction may have seemed like a good idea but in the long really hurt the U.S. as the farm industry fell, workers fired, and purchasing levels across the country were at all time lows. These speculators combined with the overproduction and the maldistribution of wealth, caused the American economy to crash. Today, our government still argues over who should have the nation’s wealth and even if the wealthier should pay higher taxes then the less wealthy. Some could argue that the government should of utilized laissez faire and kept there hands off of the people’s business and let the people work things out on there own. Either way, the country did a very good job of making changes and not letting anything get as worse as it was in the 1920’s.
John Maynard Keynes, British economist, journalist, was born on June 5th 1883, in Cambridge, England. His father, Dr. John Neville Keynes, was an economist and a philosopher. Keynes attended Eton and then Cambridge University. At first he studied Mathematics but then turned his attention to Economics when he was offered the job at the British treasurer after the First World War when the British economy was at pressure. A man who gained a modicum amount of wealth during 1919 to 1938, married to Lydia Lopokova in 1926 and passed away in April 21st, 1946. Keynes believed that price level has to be stabled in order to have a stabled economy, and that is only possible if interest rates go down when prices rise. He also believed that the market forces alone will not deliver full employment but boosting government spending (main force of the economy in Keynes theory) will aim in his theory full employment or close to that. He believes by Governments intervening and spending will finally stop recession, unemployment and most importantly depression. For spending will increase the aggregate demand of the economy.
Economics and Policy 29.1 (2010): 1-12. Print. The. Maiello, Michael. A. “Keynes vs. Hayek Debate Rages With OWS and Tea Party.”
During World War I the main theories of economics came to light from two friends but intellectual rivals and are still used today. John Maynard Keynes believed that during tough economic times the market economies would go into excess and the market would not work. This is when the government should step in a help. Freidrich von Hayek believed that Keynes idea of the government stepping in was a threat to freedom and that the market would eventually balance by itself. Keynes theory dominated for decades until the end of World War I when the global market disappeared until about eighty years later.
Keynesian Economics was developed and founded by John Maynard Keynes. He believed and wrote in his book “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” that it is essential for the Government to play a vital role in economic stability. Keynesian theorists believe government spending, tax hikes and tax breaks are vital to economic success. Keynesian assumptions include: Rigid or Inflexible Prices, Effective Demand, and Savings-Investment Determinants. Rigid or Inflexible Prices suggest that wage increases are easier to take while wage decreases hit resistance; likewise, a producer will increase prices yet when needed will be reluctant to decrease prices.
The theory of economics does not furnish a body of settled conclusions immediately applicable to policy. It is a method rather than a doctrine, an apparatus of the mind, a technique for thinking, which helps the possessor to draw correct conclusions. The ideas of economists and politicians, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist." (John Maynard Keynes, the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money p 383)
Keynesian method and world-systems theory deserve special attention. It is Keynesianism that makes possible for the radical political economists to apply the bipolar model, centered on
...rough higher taxation in times of economic growth. the book also contrasted classical theory of economics. Keynes claimes that classical economica are applicable to only special cases which happen not to be those of the economic society in which we actually live.Milton Friedman and other economists who were pessimistic about the ability of governments to regulate the business cycle with fiscal policy.Argued that consumption expenditure responds to changes in permanent income not tempeporary changes in income. And that monetary factors have greater significance than Keyne allowed. in order to support his theor friedman publish studies in the quantity theory of money.Keynes also served as representative for Great britian in the 1944 Brenton Wood convention that set up the international monetary Fund and the world bank. Kenyes died april 21 1946 due to health problems.