ABSTRACT
For both Michal Kalecki and John Maynard Keynes the key element in the determination of level of economic activity in any short period in a capitalistic economy is the rate of investment that firms have decided to implement. The availability of finance for firms was seen as an important precondition by both Kalecki and Keynes for the independence of investment from saving, an independence that was at the centre of their visions of the factors determining the levels of output and employment. The examination of the similar treatments by Kalecki and Keynes of the relation between finance, investment and saving has made clear that they underestimated the time required before it would be possible for the banks' liquidity position to be restored after an increase in bank loans to finance an increase in investment. There is the further, complementary, point about the long-term financing required by firms to match their long-term commitments in their investment projects.
