John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes is considered to be one of the most influential economists and authors of all time. He was very successful during his lifetime and is known as the Father of Keynesian. Some may have believed him to be the academic scribbler who feasted on mindless followers while others consider him to be the greatest economist who lived, and a man who could even fix our current woes today. Keynes was born on June 5, 1883 to a prestigious family. His father, John Neville was an economist and lecturer who taught at Cambridge University while his mother Florence was the city’s first female mayor. He was a sickly child and endured many illnesses as a young boy. He was diagnosed with rheumatic fever, but overcame that after a short time and was entered for a scholarship evaluation at Eton College. In 1902, he was granted the scholarship to King’s College for Mathematics. Keynes thrived and became a member of the exclusive debating group known as the Apostles Cambridge which included some of the brightest students. He did post-graduate work under economists Alfred Marshall and Arthur Pigou, but chose to take a position with Britain’s Civil Service in 1905. This was where he began to gather information for his first book about India’s monetary system. By 1909, he began to follow in his father’s footsteps and returned to Cambridge to lecture. During his time there he became the editor of the Economist’s Journal. After that, in 1913, Keynes was appointed to the Royal Commission on Indian Currency and Finance after publishing his book of the same name that was primarily based on lectures he had taught two years prior at Cambridge. Though by 1919, he was employed by the British Treasury and was promoted quickly to serve as chief principal representative at the Peace Conference in Versailles. He was a pacifist, but wanted to contribute to Britain’s war efforts. He did not agree with the harsh terms that were negotiated at the
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