Keynesian economics conquered academia before shaping public policy

Evidence

Although The General Theory had little immediate impact on public policy, it swept through the profession with, in the terms of the MIT economist Paul Samuelson, “the unexpected virulence of a disease fi rst attacking and decimating an isolated tribe of South Sea islanders.” — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, 78

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the reader’s interest in how Mont Pèlerin ideas eventually turned into policy: both movements show a lag between intellectual capture and policy implementation, an inversion of the common assumption that policy drives theory. — connects to: The 2008 crisis briefly revived Keynesian fiscal stimulus across academia and institutions — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 159; Working economists abandoned laissez-faire decades before the public realized it — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 12; Keynes’s General Theory swept academic economics before it changed any policy. — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 78 (+1 more)