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J. M. Keynes, thinker of economic complexity

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  • Roberto Marchionatti

    (University of Torino - Department of Economics)

Abstract

The paper reconstructs Keynes’s conception of the nature and method of economics focusing on The Theory of Probability and The General Theory and shows that Keynes’s theoretical work as an economist was an attempt to cope with the complexity of the economic world and the organic interdependence of the economic variables. Keynes offers a theoretical framework where the macroscopic outcome of the model is the result of the interaction of heterogeneous and not fully rational agents that revise their behaviour as they accumulate information. In the presence of true uncertainty the interactions of agents generate macro-instability and out-ofequilibrium paths. This approach has much in common with the approaches to complexity that have recently emerged.

Suggested Citation

  • Roberto Marchionatti, 2010. "J. M. Keynes, thinker of economic complexity," History of Economic Ideas, Fabrizio Serra Editore, Pisa - Roma, vol. 18(2), pages 115-146.
    • Handle: RePEc:hid:journl:v:18:y:2010:2:5:p:115-146
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    Cited by:

    1. Mario A. Cedrini & Roberto Marchionatti, 2017. "On the Theoretical and Practical Relevance of the Concept of Gift to the Development of a Non-imperialist Economics," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 49(4), pages 633-649, December.
    2. Nguyen, Canh Phuc & Su, Thanh Dinh, 2021. "Economic integration and economic complexity: The role of basic resources in absorptive capability in 40 selected developing countries," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 609-625.
    3. John Davis, 2020. "Belief reversals as phase transitions and economic fragility: a complexity theory of financial cycles with reflexive agents," Review of Evolutionary Political Economy, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 67-84, May.
    4. John B. Davis, 2017. "The Continuing Relevance of Keynes's Philosophical Thinking: Reflexivity, Complexity and Uncertainty," Annals of the Fondazione Luigi Einaudi. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Economics, History and Political Science, Fondazione Luigi Einaudi, Torino (Italy), vol. 51(1), pages 55-76, June.
    5. Lino Sau, 2013. "Instability and Crisis in Financial Complex Systems," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 496-511, July.
    6. Marchionatti, Roberto, 2012. "The economists and the primitive societies," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 529-540.
    7. Gonzalo Castañeda, 2010. "Crisis económicas y cambios de paradigma," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 25(2), pages 425-441.
    8. Verónica Amarante & Ivone Perazzo, 2011. "Cantidad de niños en los hogares uruguayos: un análisis de los determinantes económicos, 1996-2006," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 26(1), pages 3-34.
    9. Anna M. Carabelli & Mario A. Cedrini, 2010. ">i>Indian Currency>/i> and beyond: the legacy of the early economics of Keynes in the times of Bretton Woods II," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(2), pages 255-280, January.
    10. Mornati, Fiorenzo & Becchio, Giandomenica & Marchionatti, Roberto & Cassata, Francesco, 2009. ""Quando l'economica italiana non era seconda a nessuno" Luigi Einaudi e la Scuola di Economia a Torino," CESMEP Working Papers 200910, University of Turin.
    11. Anna M. Carabelli & Mario A. Cedrini, 2010. "“Veiling The Controversies with Dubious Moral Attitudes”? Creditors and Debtors in Keynes’s Ethics of International Economic Relations," Working Papers 127, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont.
    12. Anna M. Carabelli & Mario A. Cedrini, 2014. "Keynes's General Theory , Treatise on Money and Tract on Monetary Reform : different theories, same methodological approach?," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(6), pages 1060-1084, December.
    13. Anna Carabelli & Mario Cedrini, 2011. "The Economic Problem of Happiness: Keynes on Happiness and Economics," Forum for Social Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(3), pages 335-359, January.
    14. Anna M. Carabelli & Mario A. Cedrini, 2011. "Chapter 18 of the General Theory “Further Analysed”: The Theory of Economics as A Method," Working Papers 128, SEMEQ Department - Faculty of Economics - University of Eastern Piedmont.

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