John Maynard Keynes is the great British economist of the twentieth century whose hugely influential work The General Theory of Employment, Interest and * is undoubtedly the century's most important book on economics--strongly influencing economic theory and practice, particularly with regard to the role of government in stimulating and regulating a nation's economic life. Keynes's work has undergone significant revaluation in recent years, and "Keynesian" views which have been widely defended for so long are now perceived as at odds with Keynes's own thinking. Recent scholarship and research has demonstrated considerable rivalry and controversy concerning the proper interpretation of Keynes's works, such that recourse to the original text is all the more important. Although considered by a few critics that the sentence structures of the book are quite incomprehensible and almost unbearable to read, the book is an essential reading for all those who desire a basic education in economics. The key to understanding Keynes is the notion that at particular times in the business cycle, an economy can become over-productive (or under-consumptive) and thus, a vicious spiral is begun that results in massive layoffs and cuts in production as businesses attempt to equilibrate aggregate supply and demand. Thus, full employment is only one of many or multiple macro equilibria. If an economy reaches an underemployment equilibrium, something is necessary to boost or stimulate demand to produce full employment. This something could be business investment but because of the logic and individualist nature of investment decisions, it is unlikely to rapidly restore full employment. Keynes logically seizes upon the public budget and government expenditures as the quickest way to restore full employment. Borrowing the * to finance the deficit from private households and businesses is a quick, direct way to restore full employment while at the same time, redirecting or siphoning

Capital, Accumulation, and Money: An Integration of Capital, Growth, and Monetary Theory is a book about capital. A root concept of capital is developed which allows for most existing concepts of capital to be unified and related to one another in consistent fashion. Such a root concept of capital offers a framework for integrating monetary and capital theory, and for analyzing the functioning of an economy, whether that economy is in a steady state of subsistence or in a process of sustainable growth. Specifically, it is shown that a conservation principle emerges that both implies and imposes a variety of constraints on the macro behavior of an economy, constraints which make for straightforward understanding and analysis of such concepts as the real stock of money, real-balance effects, and the general price level. New and illuminating insights are also provided into aggregate supply and demand, natural and money rates of interest, the relationship between real and monetary economies, and economic growth and development.

The novel feature of this study is the application of Keynes' principle of effective demand to demonstrate the existence of a long-run unemployment equilibrium without the assumption of rigid wages.

The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money is Keynes' masterpiece published right after the Great Depression. It sought to bring about a revolution, commonly referred to as the "Keynesian Revolution", in the way economists thought - especially challenging the proposition that a market economy tends naturally to restore itself to full employment on its own. Regarded widely as the cornerstone of Keynesian thought, this book challenged the established classical economics and introduced new concepts. It remains a relevant topic of debate to this day, perhaps more than ever. Given the economic turmoil of recent years, this debate is more heated than ever, between the Keynesian model of economics of Bush and Obama which favors bailouts and other government intervention to try to stabilize the market, and the Austrian school of economics which sees government intervention as detrimental and favors letting the market sort itself out on its own with minimal government interference. You decide.

Is macroeconomic equilibrium possible under capitalism? How do economic bubbles develop? How does a monetary system influence the market mechanism? Is the return on capital a beneficial feature of the economic system? How does complexity of a capitalist organization influence the market process? Can output under capitalism be easily measured and modeled? Such questions and many others relate to the central concept discussed in the book: heterogeneous structure of production, an envisioned theoretical connection between stages of the capitalist process. An inquiry into the functioning of a capital structure is necessary to understand the workings of the interest rate, savings, aggregate demand, and economic growth. Additionally it provides a theoretical framework to recognize consequences of monetary regimes and interest rate policies performed by the central banks. Capital structure concepts have their place at the center of economic theory as they can provide a broad range of insights into our understanding of the real world. Money, Interest, and the Structure of Production offers key insights in that direction.

The greater part of the book has been translated by Tor Fernholm. First published in 1939. The dynamic approach to economic theory.--The rate of interest and the price level (1930)--The place of capital in the theory of price (1929)--Appendix: the problems of balancing the budget (1935).

It is well-known that the Swedish experiment in practical economic control was inspired by a simultaneous development of economic thought in Sweden. Despite Swedish economics being known globally, until this book was originally published in 1939 there was little except second-hand descriptions of what the Swedes were really saying. This volume remedied that and explained hitherto hidden contemporary Swedish monetary theory.