We Should Dismiss Keynesian Economics Because He Was Gay

Fiscal stimulus is immoral.  It focuses on the short term and it ignores the long term.  It is the economic philosophy of an effete snob who has no concern for the long term because he never fathered a child.  This is the story that right wing critics of fiscal stimulus use to discredit Keynes.

There are two problems with their story.  In the first place, Brad Delong provides us with the quote that is often misused to discredit Keynes.  It is obvious that Keynes did not favor the short term at the expense of the long term.  He was unhappy with the lack of concern that economists had for the plight of the unemployed.  They believed that markets were self correcting and that market forces would restore employment.  Keynes argued that economists were wrong to dismiss the problems of the duration of high unemployment.  It was not helpful to argue that market forces may take a long time to work their magic.  He provided a well reasoned description of things that government could do to increase employment.  There was no reason to believe that ending the Great Depression would be harmful to the long term economic outlook. Keynes argued that government should run surpluses during good times to prepare for bad times.  The real reason that conservative economists are critical of Keynes has nothing to do with his lack of concern for the long term.  They are really opposed to government intervention in the economy.  Rational expectations theory, and many of the models used to describe the economy, assume that rational agents will anticipate the results of any actions that government might use to moderate the business cycle, and that their reactions will negate the intended impact.  Conservative business leaders are generally less concerned about government intervention in the economy.  They love government subsidies, tax preferences and anything else that government can do to funnel government tax revenues their way. 

The second problem with conservative efforts to discredit Keynes is that they imply that his homosexuality provides the reason for his purported lack of concern for the long term.  Apparently, only heterosexual parents are concerned about the future.  Many of the conservative critics of Keynes are also global warming deniers.  They care little about the state of the planet that we will leave to future generations.  They are primarily concerned about leaving their heirs with large untaxed estates.

This article provides a large number of quotes by those who use Keynes's sexual preferences and his purported lack of concern for future generations to discredit his economics.  Included among them are several well known conservative economists and conservative pundits.