Says Law and the Keynesian Revolution: How Macroeconomic Theory Lost its Way
`Steven Kates has written an important 250 page pamphlet on the history of Say's Law and its misinterpretation inThe General Theory. He argues that Keynes is responsible for a fundamental misunderstanding of classical - and in fact all pre-Keynesian - economics, which has disfigured mainstream macroeconomics since 1936. This is no small reproach, but Kates makes his point in a well-documented and convincing way. . . I consider this book required reading for macroeconomists as well as historians of economic thought and intellectual historians. . . A work of true scholarship and thought-provoking content. You may disagree with Kates, but you cannot easily dismiss him.' --- Evert Schoorl,De Economist`The original classical formulators of Say's Law never said what Keynes claimed they said. On the contrary, far from dismissing slumps as impossibilities, they stressed their occurrence. They differed from Keynes only in denying that demand failure could be the cause. . . A convincing and authoritative account.' --- Thomas M. Humphrey,The Economic Journal`Based on the comprehensive and well-written historically analytical chapters alone, this book is highly recommended for students interested in the history of economic thought, as well as for contemporary theorists and empiricists who are concerned with non-Keynesian research on business cycles and unemployment.' --- Roy Rotheim,Journal of Economic Literature