tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post4148143338588049752..comments2023-08-29T01:27:13.772-07:00Comments on Magpie's Asymmetric Warfare: Keynes' Close Friends. A reply to AGM.Magpiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07528637318288802178noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3634628224045926034.post-51736385518357416652014-04-12T16:53:16.475-07:002014-04-12T16:53:16.475-07:00I agree with Antonio that your argument does not h...I agree with Antonio that your argument does not hold up. In an essay on the English resumption of the gold standard in the 20s, Keynes approvingly cites Sigmund Freud as having expounded important insights on the psychological resonance of gold. Freud was Jewish. So clearly, Keynes did not discount the arguments of Jewish intellectuals as a class.<br /><br />Another possibly relevant fact is that Keynes approvingly used Marx's C-M-C/M-C-M' circuits in lectures, and in drafts of the General Theory.<br /><br />And while I agree that "I have friends who are ____" is a poor defense, in the case of Sraffa, Keynes actually intervened to get him a position at Cambridge, and thus out of fascist Italy, and later to get him tasked with the position editing the complete works of David Ricardo. So "professional ally" seems a better descriptor than "friend". Keynes also drew on Sraffa's famous 1925 paper in some of his 30s writings, further falsifying the proposition that Keynes categorically ignored Jews' intellectual contributions. <br /><br />For what it's worth, I think that Keynes's attitude toward Marx was probably a result of a) his elitism, as you say; b) his acculturation in the Marshallian tradition, which posited Marx and others as illegitimate heirs to Ricardo, and Marshall as the legitimate heir who had read the Great Man correctly; c) a generally weak familiarity with the history of economic thought.<br /><br />Also, too, if DeLong is indeed being deferential to earlier Keynesians in his assessment of Marx, it seems more likely to be Paul Samuelson he is following than Keynes himself.<br /><br />WillAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com