A World Without Keynes

With the news of the death of Paul Samuelson, I was wondering what the economic situation might have been like in postwar Europe if Keynes had never been born. My guess is that the work of his precursors might still have come together in some form, but that neoclassical macroeconomics might have held sway (more on that here.)

I'm not an expert on this type of stuff, although its my understanding that Keynesian economics influenced the creation of Europe's postwar welfare states, so I was just wondering how they might have dveloped without his influence...
 
Less regulations, more free and effective market, Europe would have probable a social welfare system more akin to the US and less bureacracy. European integration would be more sensible, more based on what the voters may want and less based on what the public workers and politicians from the european Union think they need.

There would be also probably less public support to european agrarian producers, that would mean an improved situation for many peasants in the third world that could aspire to sell their products cheaper than european ones.
 
Keynes is a stuff that is thoroughly preached when it comes to make debt and is thoroughly silenced when it comes to the very idea to pay said debt back. A country shall replace the absent demand of the private sector to keep the economy going etc.

That's all such politically exploitable stuff that you'd assume that there'll always be some guy to preach what Keynes said. Same shit, different asshole, right?

And even without Keynes, the aforementioned "evils" would still be there. Welfare state? Remains, is as old as Bismarck and helping the lower half to two-thirds to get their votes also goes without Keynes. Common agrarian policy? Remains, after the war the winters were harsh and harvest were bad, hunger was a common hostage, and now tell me any country that won't subsidy its agriculture. The EU is, well, the EU. It would still be far from perfect, but that's so even today. The other stuff? OK, but as anybody wanted to avoid the wrongs that led to the depression, Keynes wouldn't be need to push into that direction.
 
For a second there I read that as a A World Without Milton Keynes. We can but dream...

Unfortunately I think someone like Keynes was inevitable at the time as his policies ideas were liked by governments as vote winners :rolleyes:.

Maybe without Keynes the US would have a proper welfare system? :D
 
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