I am more attached to the comparatively simple funda-
mental ideas which underlie my theory than to the par-
ticular forms in which I have embodied them . . . .

J. M. Keynes, The Quarterly Journal of Economics,
February, 1937, page 211.

WITHIN the first dozen years following its publication, John Maynard Keynes
' The General Theory of Employment, In-
terest and Money ( 1936) has had more influence upon the
thinking of professional economists and public policy makers
than any other book in the whole history of economic thought
in a comparable number of years. Like Adam Smith Wealth
of Nations in the eighteenth century and Karl Marx Capital
in the nineteenth century, Keynes' General Theory has been
the center of controversy among both professional and non-
professional writers. Smith's book is a ringing challenge to
mercantilism, Marx's book is a searching criticism of capi-
talism, and Keynes' book is a repudiation of the foundations
of laissez-faire. Many economists who were at first highly
critical of Keynes have deserted their old position for the
Keynesian camp. In book after book, leading economists
acknowledge a heavy debt to the stimulating thought of Lord
Keynes.

If the influence of Lord Keynes were limited to the field

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