ABSTRACT
In a spate of interviews between 8 and 11 October, Vickrey noted that he was pleased to be a Nobel laureate, not for the money he would personally receive, but rather for the public platform it would give him to explain how "the insane pursuit of the holy grail of a balanced budget in the end is going to drive the economy into a depression." Here, finally, was a voice that could attract attention to the Keynesian verity that there was an important need for government "to exercise a guiding influence" to ensure that effective demand is maintained at its full-employment level. There is no doubt in my mind that his Nobel Prize acceptance speech would have developed this theme. But before Vickrey could reiterate this message sufficiently to offset the conventional wisdom of mainstream economists who emphasize the need to maintain a natural rate of unemployment, his voice was silenced.
