(1) a letter to Roy Harrod in August 1936

Keynes wrote a letter on 30 August 1936 to Roy Harrod, commenting on Harrod’s paper “Mr. Keynes and Traditional Theory,” Econometrica 5.1 (1937): 74–86.



Keynes said this: “My dear Roy,



I like your paper (may I keep the copy you have sent me?) more than I can say. I have found it instructive and illuminating, and I really have no criticisms. I think that you have re-orientated the argument beautifully. I also agree with your hints at the end about future dynamic theory.



I am reading a paper to the economic club at Stockholm on about the same date as you will be reading this, and have been thinking (it isn’t written yet) of trying to pick out what I thought most important. But I now feel that I should like to read them your paper instead! There are, however, one or two points mainly omitted in yours which I should be inclined to put into mine:--



(1) I have been much pre-occupied with the causation, so to speak, of my own progress of mind from the classical position to my present views,--with the order in which the problem developed in my mind. What some people treat as an unnecessarily controversial tone is really due to the importance in my own mind of what I used to believe, and of the moments of transition which were for me personally moments of illumination. You don’t feel the weight of the past as I do. One cannot shake off a pack one has never properly worn. And probably your ignoring all this is a better plan than mine. For experience seems to show that people are divided between the old ones whom nothing will shift and are merely annoyed by my attempts to underline the points of transition so vital in my own progress, and the young ones who have not been properly brought up and believe nothing in particular. The portholes of light seen in escaping from a tunnel are interesting neither to those who mean to stay there nor to those who have never been there! I have no companions, it seems, in my own generation, either of earliest teachers or of earliest pupils; yet I cannot in thought help being somewhat bound to them,--which they find exceedingly irritating!



(2) My second point is, perhaps, part of my first. You don’t mention effective demand or, more precisely, the demand schedule for output as a whole, except in so far as it is implicit in the multiplier. To me the most extraordinary thing, regarded historically, is the complete disappearance of the theory of demand and supply for output as a whole, i.e. the theory of employment, after it had been for a quarter of a century the most discussed thing in economics. One of the most important transitions for me, after my Treatise on Money had been published, was suddenly realising this. It only came after I had enunciated to myself the psychological law that, when income increases, the gap between income and consumption will increase,--a conclusion of vast importance to my own thinking but not apparently, expressed just like that, to anyone else’s. Then, appreciably later, came the notion of interest being the measure of liquidity-preference, which became quite clear in my mind the moment I thought of it. And last of all, after an immense lot of muddling and many drafts, the proper definition of the marginal efficiency of capital linked up one thing with another.



(3) You do not show how in conditions of full employment, which I should now like to define as the limiting case in which the supply of output schedule ceases to be elastic, my theory merges in the orthodox theory.



I should much like to have your paper for the … [Economic Journal]. My only ground for hesitation is the personal embarrassment of how much space as editor I can properly give to discussions of my own stuff. In December I am expecting something from Ohlin. Would next March be too late from your point of view?”



581. J. M. Keynes to Harrod, 30 August 1936

http://economia.unipv.it/~dbesomi/edition/editionstuff/rfh.271.htm#18792 Given that Roy Harrod is sometimes credited with anticipating the IS-LM model of Hicks, Keynes’ praise is suggestive, and Barens (1999) argues that Harrod’s model in “Mr. Keynes and Traditional Theory” was a correct interpretation of the model in Chapter 18 of the General Theory.



The Post Keynesians Harcourt and Turnell (2012a [2005]: 35) agree that a type of IS-LM model really is to be found there, and so does Matias Vernengo, who argues that IS-LM “is a reasonable representation of some ideas in … [Chapter 18], in particular because Keynes was unable to shed some of his neoclassical ideas.”



But, as other Post Keynesians have pointed out, in Chapter 18 of the General Theory, Keynes played down the role of uncertainty (which he had stressed in Chapter 12) and, if he had really maintained the crucial role of uncertainty, as he did later in his fundamental article “The General Theory of Employment” (1937), this would have “ruled out any stable functional relationship between investment and the interest rate” (King 2002: 14).



That the door was thereby left open in Chapter 18 for neoclassical synthesis Keynesians to reformulate the General Theory as a general equilibrium model like IS-LM where the interest rate has a pivotal role, as King (2002: 14) notes, does not mean that either Chapter 18 or IS-LM is compatible with other aspects of Keynes’ thinking.



It is, furthermore, interesting to note that Kriesler and Nevile (in “IS-LM and Macroeconomics after Keynes,” pp. 4–5) argue that Harrod’s model in “Mr. Keynes and Traditional Theory” was not quite the same as that of Hicks, but has a number of differences, not least of all that Harrod’s was not a clear-cut Walrasian general equilibrium model and also that Harrod did discuss expectations, unlike Hicks.



(2) an August 1936 letter to W. Brian Reddaway

In 1936, W. B. Reddaway published a review of the General Theory (“General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,” Economic Record 12 [1936]: 28–36).



In a footnote, Reddaway produced a model that is fundamentally similar to Hicks’ IS-LM, but Keynes in a letter to Reddaway (Keynes 1973: 70) seems to have had no specific objections to it or the review generally (Harcourt 2012b [2004]: 295).



However, Kriesler and Nevile (in “IS-LM and Macroeconomics after Keynes,” p. 5) note that Reddaway’s model has a much greater role for expectations and uncertainty than Hicks’, and “can be read as consistent with either a Marshallian or Walrasian approach.”



(3) a letter to John Hicks in 31 March, 1937

In a letter commenting on a draft of J. R. Hicks’ famous paper “Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’; A Suggested Interpretation” (Econometrica 5.2 [1937]: 147–159), where IS-LM was developed, Keynes did not reject the model, but said that “I found it very interesting and really have next to nothing to say by way of criticism” (Keynes 1973: 79).



Unfortunately, I have not had the time to chase up and read the full copy of Keynes’ letter. Some have actually argued that Keynes’ reaction to Hicks’ paper was only “lukewarm” (Kriesler and Nevile, “IS-LM and Macroeconomics after Keynes,” p. 4). Others think that Keynes did have reservations about the ability of the model to represent the crucial role of expectations.



(4) an article responding to Dennis Robertson

Keynes (1938) replied to an article by Robertson (1938) in the Economic Journal, and on p. 321, note 1, he said this of Oskar Lange’s analysis of the General Theory in Lange’s “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume” (Economica n.s. 5.17 [1938]: 12–32): “In this connection Mr. Robertson refers with approval to an article by Dr. Lange which follows very closely and accurately my line of thought. The analysis which I gave in my ‘General Theory of Employment’ is the same as the ‘general theory’ explained by Dr. Lange on p. 18 of this article, except that my analysis is not based (as I think his is in that passage) on the assumption that the quantity of money is constant.” (Keynes 1938: 321, n. 1). Lange’s article “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume” (1938) was the first serious application of the IS-LM model (King 2002: 103).



(5) Keynes’ implicit support for Kaldor’s use of IS-LM in a 1937 article

In Pigou (1937), the latter defended the real balances effect against Keynes, and Kaldor (1937) was a response to this.



Keynes published Kaldor’s paper in the Economic Journal, and on p. 752–753, footnote 2, Kaldor used Hicks’ IS-LM model: Keynes did not seem to object to the use of this model.

“Only one question needs to be answered to make the case complete. Why did Keynes give it [sc. the IS-LM model] his cautious approval in 1937?



The major reason is certainly the clear cut position in IS-LM that it is effective demand that determines the level of employment not the balancing, at the margin, of the utility of wages against the disutility of work. It rejects Pigou’s theory of employment and Say’s law, against which Keynes was crusading. A second reason is probably that it showed the effects of changes in the quantity of money on the real economy. As Keynes pointed out, in the letter to Hicks already quoted, a strict classical economist would not admit that a change in the quantity of money could have any effect on the level of employment or any other real variable. Keynes argued strongly that it could. He stressed that the rate of interest, which had a key impact on output and employment, was a monetary phenomenon (1936, Chap.13, 1973, p.80). He would surely have welcomed support for this in IS-LM.”

Kriesler, Peter and John Nevile. “IS-LM and Macroeconomics after Keynes,” p. 7.

http://www.asb.unsw.edu.au/schools/economics/Documents/P.%20Kriesler%20and%20J.%20Nevile%20-%20IS-LM%20in%20Macroeconomics%20After%20Keynes.pdf

Did Keynes accept the IS-LM model? Harcourt and Turnell (2012a [2005]: 35) argue that Roy F. Harrod, James E. Meade, W. Brian Reddaway and David Champernowne all found a type of IS-LM model in theThis is an interesting subject, and a starting point is the discussion in King’s(2002), pp. 30–32.First, King notes that Keynes’ heart attacks and his burden of work related to the Second World War stopped him from making systemic, point-by-point responses to all the controversy caused by the(King 2002: 30).Others have noted that Keynes’ response to interpretations of thewas to encourage and support any favorable treatments as a pragmatic and tactical move.King notes that Keynes “never once repudiated the IS-LM interpretation of the” but “endorsed it warmly” (King 2002: 31), although Kriesler and Nevile have pointed out in their paper “IS-LM and Macroeconomics after Keynes” (Kriesler and Nevile 2002) that the early IS-LM models of Roy Harrod and W. B. Reddaway were not exactly the same as that of John Hicks (1937).Although it can be disputed that any of these data actually show Keynes, nevertheless he did not explicitly reject it either, and King lists the following evidence:As King (2002: 31) notes, the problem with all this is that it sits uncomfortably with Keynes’ later thinking on uncertainty and expectations, particularly in his 1937 article “The General Theory of Employment” (51.2: 209–223).Moreover, at the same time that Keynes was praising the IS-LM interpretation of the, he also endorsed the emerging heterodox interpretations of it too (King 2002: 32). If Keynes was also supporting non-general equilibrium interpretations of the, then there is a clear problem with saying that Keynes gave some explicit and consistent support for IS-LM.One can only conclude that Keynes gave mixed signals on this subject and his thinking was not entirely coherent. But this can also be said of the General Theory itself. Kriesler and Nevile have an interesting view on why Keynes did not explicitly reject IS-LM models:A final point to be borne in mind is that, while many Post Keynesians think IS-LM is worthless (and indeed the problems with it are devastating ), others (who may well be in a minority) argue that a suitably reformulated IS-LM model has some analytical value: Harcourt and Turnell (2012a [2005]: 35) argue that a type of IS-LM model can capture “Keynes’s most abstract model in which short-term expectations and long-term expectations are assumed to be independent of one another, and short-term expectations are assumed to be realised immediately ... .” (Harcourt and Turnell 2012a [2005]: 35). Of course, one would assume that such an abstract model does not really describe the real world, but is an analytical tool only.Finally, does anyone know where there is an online complete copy of Keynes’ letter to John Hicks, 31 March, 1937, in which Keynes discusses the draft of J. R. Hicks’ famous paper “Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’; A Suggested Interpretation” (5.2 [1937]: 147–159)?Lars Syll has an impressive list of problems with IS-LM in the post below, and his conclusion is that it is “difficult to see how and why Keynes in earnest should have ‘accepted’ Hicks’s construct”:Barens, I. 1999. “From Keynes to Hicks – An Aberration? IS-LM and the Analytical Nucleus of the,” in Peter Howitt et al. (eds.),. Edward Elgar, Cheltenham UK.Cord, Robert. 2013.. Routledge, London.Dillard, Dudley. 1990. “Interpreting Mr. Keynes: The IS-LM Enigma,”22.3: 582–584.Harcourt, Geoffrey Colin and Sean Turnell. 2012a [2005]. “On Skidelsky’s Keynes,” in Geoffrey Colin Harcourt,Palgrave Macmillan, New York. 13–58.Harcourt, Geoffrey Colin. 2012b [2004]. “Reddaway, [William] Brian, 1913–2002,” in Geoffrey Colin Harcourt,Palgrave Macmillan, New York. 294–304.Harrod, R. F. 1937. “Mr. Keynes and Traditional Theory,”5.1: 74–86.Hicks, J. R. 1937. “Mr. Keynes and the ‘Classics’; A Suggested Interpretation,”5.2: 147–159.Kaldor, Nicholas. 1937. “Prof. Pigou on Money Wages in Relation to Unemployment,”47.188: 743–753.Keynes, John Maynard. 1937. “The General Theory of Employment,”51.2: 209–223.Keynes, John Maynard. 1938. “Mr. Keynes and ‘Finance,’”48.190: 318–322Keynes, John Maynard. 1973.. Macmillan London and Basingstoke.King, J. E. 2002.. Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA.Kriesler, Peter and John Nevile. 2002. “IS-LM and Macroeconomics after Keynes,” in Philip Arestis, Meghnad Desai, and Sheila Dow (eds.),. Routledge, London and New York.Kriesler, Peter and John Nevile. 2002. “IS-LM and Macroeconomics after Keynes.”http://www.asb.unsw.edu.au/schools/economics/Documents/P.%20Kriesler%20and%20J.%20Nevile%20-%20IS-LM%20in%20Macroeconomics%20After%20Keynes.pdfLange, Oskar. 1938. “The Rate of Interest and the Optimum Propensity to Consume,”n.s. 5.17: 12–32.Moggridge, D. E. 1976.. Penguin Books, New York.Pigou, A. C. 1937. “Real and Money Wage Rates in Relation to Unemployment,”47.187: 405–422.Reddaway, W. B. 1936. “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money,”12: 28–36.Robertson, D. H. 1938. “Mr. Keynes and ‘Finance,’”48.190: 314–318.Young, Warren. 1988. “Interpreting Mr Keynes: The IS-LM Enigma,”98.389: 214–216.