Does Keynesianism have its roots in mercantilism? - Politics Forum.org | PoFo

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Does Keynesianism have its roots in mercantilism?

Yes
5
18%
No
19
68%
Maybe
3
11%
Other
1
4%
User avatar
By Cheesecake_Marmalade
#13329495
No. I would not say that its roots are in mercantilism even if it is influenced (somewhat) by it. Keynesianism from what I remember deals with something else entirely.
User avatar
By Nets
#13329563
No?

Keynesian economics is just a static classical economic model with invariant prices and wages. That's it.
By stalker
#13329565
No. They are... totally different things.
User avatar
By hannigaholic
#13329668
Maybe - most ideologies have roots and equivalents in almost every other ideology, and at the very least are influenced by them, so it wouldn't be surprising that the ideas of some mercantilists filtered down into Keynes' writings. Arguably public spending on infrastructure and industry is both Keynesian and Mercantilist in nature, for example.
User avatar
By Harold Saxon
#13329745
No. This is an utterly ridiculous question.
User avatar
By Ombrageux
#13329788
The question is not inane. Keynesianism in practice is often mercantilist in the sense of "selfish-nationalist" economic policy. It means deficit spending for to boost domestic production and consumption. Devaluation also means boosting national exports necessarily to the detriment of other countries. I don't think Keynesian practice must necessarily be nationalist, but that is usually how it plays out. International trade summits and cooperation - also institutionalized through organizations like the EU - can help mitigate these protectionist tendencies.
User avatar
By The Immortal Goon
#13329792
Not in any way aside from the most broadest possible context in which capitalism itself has its roots in mercantilism.
User avatar
By Beren
#13329817
Not in any way aside from the most broadest possible context in which capitalism itself has its roots in mercantilism.

Seconded.
By Quantum
#13329865
No, if anything Keynesian economics has roots in a model which rejected mercantilism, the classical economic model which Nets mentioned. If there any roots, it's extremely small and would akin to the relationship between the English and Punjabi languages in the sense that both languages are Indo-European but have little else in common since both aren't mutually intelligible.
User avatar
By Potemkin
#13330138
Not in any way aside from the most broadest possible context in which capitalism itself has its roots in mercantilism.

Thirded.
User avatar
By BurrsWogdon
#13330893
I think, as we know it in America, it has it's roots in war economy. It was instituted by Hamiltonians who have their roots in mercantilism.
User avatar
By Dr House
#13330902
The Immortal Goon wrote:Not in any way aside from the most broadest possible context in which capitalism itself has its roots in mercantilism.

/thread.
User avatar
By BurrsWogdon
#13331026
Not in any way aside from the most broadest possible context in which capitalism itself has its roots in mercantilism.

/thread.

``We have the precedent of our first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton's takeover of all the Revolutionary War debts of the states. The Hamilton precedent is crucial today, because Hamilton set the foundations of our entire system of national banking and credit. Hamilton took over the debt obligations of the states, established the role of the Federal government as the sole source of national debt and credit. This was, and still is, to this day, fundamental. The debt obligations of the states, once assumed by Hamilton, formed the basis for the issuance of new credit for national infrastructure investments, including roads, canals and bridges, that boosted the overall productivity of our new sovereign republic. ''

``We shall launch a massive capital budget investment in high-technology, science-driver infrastructure projects, using the Constitutionally specified method of Congressional and Presidential-authorized credit. These Federal government credits, for specified infrastructure investment, will be channeled through the reorganized Federal and state-chartered commercial banks. The recapitalization of the banks, through infrastructure investment, will restore our banking system, over time, to healthy condition.

``That is how Alexander Hamilton did it. That is how Franklin Roosevelt did it. That is how I hope to see President Obama do it. This is the American System tradition, and there is no legitimate alternative available,''
-Lyndon LaRouche

Lincoln's New Deal

Morrill Tariff (1861)
First Income Tax (1861)
Expanded Postal Service (1861)
Homestead Act (1862)
Morrill Land-Grant College Act (1862)
Department of Agriculture (1862)
Bureau of Printing and Engraving (1862)
Transcontinental Railroad Land Grants (1862, 1863, 1864)
National Banking Acts (1863, 1864, 1865, 1866)
Comptroller of the Currency (1863)
National Academy of Science (1863)
Free urban mail delivery (1863)
Yosemite public nature reserve land grant (1864)
Contract Labor Act (1864)
Office of Immigration (1864)
Railway mail service (1864)
Money order system (1864)

I Don't know. I think the lineage is worth considering at least a little.
User avatar
By Dr House
#13331031
Burrs, none of that is Keynesianism. FDR's New Deal was a bastardized (and retarded) version of institutional economics.
User avatar
By BurrsWogdon
#13331044
http://internationalrelationstheory.goo ... tilism.htm
The Great Depression influenced American government to return to neo-mercantilism imposing high protectionist tariffs and suspending private ownership of gold. Finally, during the New Deal, the currency was devalued based on the government’s new neo-mercantilist leaning. Today, mercantilism has seen a resurgence in economic theories that focus on the trade surplus and deficit as determinants of monetary value, but mercantilism as a whole is rejected by many economists. However, elements of mercantilism are still accepted by some economists including Ravi Batra, Pat Choate, Eammon Fingleton, and Michael Lind.


FDR's economic advisers weren't influenced by Keynes? I think FDR met with Keynes. I think Stuart Chase quoted Keynes approvingly in The New Deal.
User avatar
By Nets
#13331050
Keep in mind Keynes' General Theory wasn't published till '36, well after the New Deal was in full swing. FDR was far more influenced by Eccles than Keynes.
By Wolfman
#13331052
I remember reading somewhere that Keynes studied the New Deal and the similar method that was used by Japan and various other countries.
User avatar
By BurrsWogdon
#13331061
Keep in mind Keynes' General Theory wasn't published till '36, well after the New Deal was in full swing. FDR was far more influenced by Eccles than Keynes.

And I think it suggests that they had some ideas in common.

Keynes letter to FDR:
http://newdeal.feri.org/misc/keynes2.htm
With these adaptations or enlargements of your existing policies, I should expect a successful outcome with great confidence. How much that would mean, not only to the material prosperity of the United States and the whole World, but in comfort to men's minds through a restsration of their faith in the wisdom and the power of Government!


We are talking about the roots, and the "existing policies" would be the roots, no?

I remember reading somewhere that Keynes studied the New Deal and the similar method that was used by Japan and various other countries.


I wonder if he studied the inflationary policies of the American Revolution. Prolly. Smart dude. Prolly studied the inflationary environment of Louis XIV and the Roman Empire as well.

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