Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-18T01:33:51.141Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Genesis of the Only Diagram in the General Theory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 June 2009

Rod O'Donnell
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is well known that the General Theory contains only one diagram, this occurring in chapter 14 criticising the orthodox theory of the rate of interest. Attached to the diagram is a footnote containing an acknowledgement: “This diagram was suggested to me by Mr. R.F. Harrod” (CW VII, p. 180). The impression conveyed by this remark is that Harrod drew the diagram and offered it to Keynes, who then accepted and used it. Further enquiry into the diagram's origins reveals the existence of an initial version which grew out of correspondence between Keynes and Harrod in August-September 1935 (CW XIII, pp. 526-63). Two of Harrod's writings–his (1951) Keynes biography and a letter to Hawtrey in 1951–imply that he was the author of the initial version, and that this was essentially the same as the published version. And, in seeming corroboration of Harrod's comments, there is the virtual equivalence of the initial version given in The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes (CW XIII, p. 557) and the final version printed in the General Theory (CW VII, p. 180J. Taken individually and collectively, these items of evidence all point in the same direction. They support the reasonable inference that, apart from trivial changes in lettering, Harrod was the sole author and creator of the initial and final versions of the diagram, and that Keynes was merely the recipient.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the History of Economic Thought , Volume 21 , Issue 1 , March 1999 , pp. 27 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Harcourt, G. C. and Riach, P., eds. 1997. A ‘Second Edition’ of the General Theory. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Harrod, R. F. 1951. The Life of John Maynard Keynes. London: Macmillan & Co.Google Scholar
Keynes, J. M. 1936. The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Reprinted as Volume VII of The Collected Writing of John Maynard Keynes. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Keynes, J. M. 1973. The General Theory and After, Part I Preparation, Volume XIII of The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
King, J. E. 1994. “Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis Since Keynes: A Partial History.” Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 17(1): 3–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kregel, J. A. 1985. “Harrod and Keynes: Increasing Returns, the Theory of Employment and Dynamic Economics.” In Harcourt, G. C., ed., Keynes and His Contemporaries. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Moggridge, D. E. 1974. “Keynes: The Economist.” In Moggridge, D.E., ed., Keynes: Aspects of the Man and His Work. London: Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Donnell, R. M. 1989. Keynes: Philosophy, Economics and Politics: The Philosophical Foundations of Keynes's Thought and their Influence on his Economics and Politics. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, R. M. 1995. “A Supplementary Edition of J.M. Keynes's Writings: Rationale, Nature and Significance.” History of Economics Review 23 (Winter): 61–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Donnell, R. M. 1997. “Keynes and Formalism.” In Harcourt, G. C. and Riach, P., eds., A ‘Second Edition’ of the General Theory. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Robertson, D. H. 1934. “Industrial Fluctuations and the Natural Rate of Interest.” Economic Journal 44 (1912): 650–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rymes, T. K., ed. 1989a. Keynes's Lectures, 1932–35: Notes of a Representative Student. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rymes, T. K., ed. 1989b. Keynes's Lectures, 1932–35: Notes of Students. Carleton Economics Papers, Carleton University, Canada.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skidelsky, R. 1992. John Maynard Keynes, Vol. II: The Economist as Saviour 1920–1937. London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Stigler, G. J., Stigler, S. M. and Friedland, C.. 1995. “The Journals of Economics.” Journal of Political Economy 103(2): 331–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, W. 1987. Interpreting Mr. Keynes: The IS-LM Enigma. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar