ABSTRACT
The optimism which characterised the Keynesian era was a twosided affair. Keynesianism was premised on a pessimistic view of the capitalist economy-it was seen to be lacking strong selfregulating properties. Keynes (1936) argues that:
In conditions of laissez faire the avoidance of wide fluctuations in employment may, therefore, prove impossible…. I conclude that the duty of ordering the current volume of investment cannot be left in private hands.
