ABSTRACT
The influence and reputation of John Maynard Keynes are not explained by his having been a great economist, nor did his importance lie primarily in his economic theories. Keynes's theoretical analysis of the new social and economic reality is a masterpiece that will endure. Keynes, who could write prose of a rare lucidity if he wanted to, chose to present his theories in the technical and jargon-ridden language, but his central ideas are simple. Classical economics knew neither money nor time as factors in the economics process. Keynesian theory is based on the assertion, axiomatic in an industrial age, that the economic process is not only in time but largely determined by time and that the economic expression of the time factor is money. According to Keynes the economic theorist, the level of business activity is determined by the amount of investment in capital goods, which in turn is determined by the confidence which leads businessmen to borrow for expansion.
