The End of (Economy) History
Abstract
Some papers, for reasons which remain at least partially obscure, leave a persistent
trace in intellectual history. Such is the case with Keynes’ paper “Economic
Possibilities for our Grandchildren”, although it never attracted much attention within
the economic profession, besides reference here and there to the power of simple
economic calculations: A possible explanation is that Keynes, in freeing himself from
economic rigor, is attempting to unveil his moral philosophy. Because a great
economist is not necessarily a great philosopher we should not ab initio expect the
result to be at the level we are accustomed to in reading Keynes. What matters is not so
much the way Keynes answers the questions he poses but the nature of the questions
themselves. Could the very functioning of the capitalist system lead to the solution of
the economic problem and hence to the end of capitalism itself?
This paper sustains that the answers given by Keynes to these questions are grounded
on three elements: arithmetic, the neurosis of capitalism and the communism of the
elites. On the first element, Keynes is right; one may even argue that his reasoning
anticipates Solow’s growth model. The second element is rooted in the context in
which Keynes was writing and grounded on a false interpretation of Freud’s work
which led him to a simplistic analysis of human needs. The third element unveils his
aristocratic view of society. What is remarkable in “the economic possibilities” is the
powerful intuition of Keynes and even more remarkable the nature of the questions he
poses. Each and every economist should try to answer the question of the ends of the
economic system and of its possible end. What is deceptive is the naivety with which
Keynes deals with human needs and even more deceptive his arrogance and the
questionable moral which goes with it.