PREFACE

Keynes's involvement with Cambridge was so deep and had so many dimensions that to write about it is a daunting task. This chapter approaches it from three directions. The first - and probably the simplest - is to provide a concise account of what Keynes did in Cambridge, summarizing those parts of his biography relevant to this topic (pp. 119-24). The second line leads to the issue of how Keynes was perceived by those close to him in Cambridge (pp. 124- 29). The number involved is too large to be dealt with in one paper, and I shall confine my considerations to those colleagues and pupils he was most in contact with. The sources on which this section is based are mainly correspondence and later recollections mainly by economists who were in Cambridge during Keynes's lifetime. Finally, I address a more general, but also more difficult, question, namely what Keynes meant to Cambridge economics, which he endowed with impetus, and of which he is still considered the leading player (pp. 129-32). It also addresses the issue of the so-called Keynesian tradition in economics, as synonymous with public expenditure and the welfare state.