Keynes as a post-growth economist

Some key aspects of J.M. Keynes's economics are reassessed, showing how they fit with and can add to a modern post-growth economics. While Keynes favoured growing the economy in the short-run, he also saw the potential for a post-growth economy in the long-run. He implied that the realisation of this economy would be consistent with the ending of capitalism itself. There are different versions of Keynes (this partly reflects the volume and range of his published work as well as the tendency for his own thought to evolve over time in response to particular events) and the interpretation given of his economics is inevitably partial and potentially contentious. However, the ideas presented provide an indication of the relevance and importance of Keynes's writings for post-growth economics debates. Keynes's vision of long-run economic transition contains some weaknesses and there remain issues in applying his ideas to problems in the present – this includes the notion of ‘Green Keynesianism’ as a response to the challenge of climate change – but there are still valuable lessons to take from Keynes. Modern post-growth economists are therefore encouraged to engage with his ideas.