Whatever your view of John Maynard Keynes, or Keynesianism (mine is quite favorable) last week Planet Money did a terrific, brief but wonderfully complete and insightful piece on the origins of his thinking. Their guest:
As great figures from history go, John Maynard Keynes should consider himself lucky, at least when it comes to his biography. His biographer, Lord Robert Skidelsky, is one of the best. His three-volume biography of Keynes is not only comprehensive (1000+ pages) — it’s also funny, insightful and frankly, a little raunchy.
Skidelsky has a new book about Keynes out, called Keynes: The Return of the Master. We talk with him about how Keynes developed the ideas that (at least according to some people) got us out of the Great Depression.
It’s soo worth the 19 minutes. I listened twice. I recommend it.