Books

First edition, first impression, in the scarce jacket, of perhaps the most significant economics book of the 20th century. The General Theory was written in the aftermath of the Great Depression, when the old economic order was widely seen to have failed. Keynes argued that government must intervene in the economy, directing wages, investment, and demand, in order to achieve full employment and end the boom and bust cycle. In so doing, a middle way was found between the laissez-faire policy of classical political economy, as founded by Adam Smith in the 18th century, and the complete state control of socialist governments, derived from Marx's theories of the 19th century. Keynes's system of controlled capitalism defined much of the 20th century, as it was embraced by the political left and right alike across Western Europe and the United States. Keynes's theories became the near-undisputed economic orthodoxy of the decades following the war, until the counter-attack of the monetarist and neoliberal schools undermined his hegemony. Moggridge A10.1; Printing and the Mind of Man 423. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gilt, rules continuing to covers in blind. With dust jacket. Contemporary ownership signature to front free endpaper, slight bump to bottom fore corner of early leaves, near-fine in very good jacket, price-clipped, chip at head of front panel discreetly restored with border infilled in high-quality pen facsimile, slight chipping and rubbing at extremities, spine panel lightly toned and soiled.

John Maynard Keynes' groundbreaking work established the framework for contemporary macroeconomic theory. It analyses the causes of fluctuating employment levels and proposes interventions to stabilize the economy.