Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/31594 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2005
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 427
Publisher: 
Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY
Abstract: 
This paper revisits Keynes's liquidity preference theory as it evolved from the Treatise on Money to The General Theory and after, with a view of assessing the theory's ongoing relevance and applicability to issues of both monetary theory and policy. Contrary to the neoclassical special case interpretation, Keynes considered his liquidity preference theory of interest as a replacement for flawed saving or loanable funds theories of interest emphasizing the real forces of productivity and thrift. His point was that it is money, not saving, which is the necessary prerequisite for economic activity in monetary production economies. Accordingly, turning neoclassical wisdom on its head, it is the terms of finance as determined within the financial system that rule the roost to which the real economy must adapt itself. The key practical matter is how deliberate monetary control can be applied to attain acceptable real performance. In this regard, it is argued that Keynes's analysis offers insights into practical issues, such as policy credibility and expectations management, that reach well beyond both heterodox endogenous money approaches and modern Wicksellian orthodoxy, which remains trapped in the illusion of money neutrality.
Subjects: 
liquidity preference theory
interest rate determination
loanable funds fallacy
bank behavior
monetary policy
credibility
liquidity traps
money neutrality
JEL: 
B22
B31
B41
E12
E43
E52
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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