Wednesday, May 30, 2012

What Would Keynes Think of Krugman?

In the below clip, Friedrich Hayek is not referring to the Keynesian Paul Krugman (Krugman was probably a grad student when this interview took place), but Hayek does specifically call out Keynesians who call for more inflation. Krugman is the king of Keynesian inflationistas. This is not an uncommon type quote to see from Krugman:
In short, far from fearing that more action against uneployment might lead to an uptick in inflation, the Fed should actually welcome that prospect.

Hayek knew Keynes very well. Would Keynes have objected to Krugman's call for more inflation? Hayek clearly thinks so.

2 comments:

  1. Hayek said that "The General Theory" as conceived was completely ad hoc:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaQcbGoW2C0

    It became popular because politicians loved hearing that irresponsible spending was doing good for the people:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N364sN5E0hQ

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  2. Krugman's recent claims that a war with aliena eould be just what we need provides a good point of comparison between he and Keynes. Keynes pamphlet "How to pay for the war" shows someone whose economics are significantly removed from Krugman's.

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