Tuesday, December 24, 2019

How to Teach Your Mother to Debate a Keynesian College Professor

Henry Hazlitt
At the post, The Great Criticism of Keynes That Every Economist Should Read, where the great Henry Hazlitt book, The Failure of the "New Economics" is discussed, reader Jule Herbert writes in the comments:
Some number of people must have read it, as my original Van Nostrand edition, received by me from FEE in December 1967, reflects that it had gone back to new press runs six times since April 1959. I recall a story: My mother was taking a college extension course, Introductory Economics. I was in high school and discussed her course work with her. I objected to the notion of liquidity preference as the explanation of the rate of interest along with Keynes' claim that money was "barren." I showed her the relevant passages in Hazlitt's _The Failure of the "New Economics"_. She took my volume to class, where the professor, who knew Hazlitt through his Newsweek column, dismissed his view without any substantive retort because "Hazlitt has no PhD in economics." On hearing this, I said, "I hope you replied that Keynes had no such degree either, and was denying the lessons taught by economics." Unfortunately, she was not aware of that fact. 
-RW


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