The Development of Keynes's Economics: From Marshall to MillBenniaPism

0ne long-standing interpretation of the General Theory, which has been growing in influence recently, emphasizes that Keynes's sociopolitical vision was formulated long before and, in fact, inspired the heterodox economic analysis and policy prescriptions that were served up in his most influential work. One of the earliest proponents of this interpretation, Joseph Schumpeter ([19511 1965, p. 268) writes that "In those pages of the Economic Consequences of the Peace [published in 19191 we find nothing of the theoretical apparatus of the General Theory. But we find the whole of the vision of things social and economic of which that apparatus is the technical complement. The General Theory is the final result of a long struggle to make the vision of our age analytically operative." More recently this interpretive thread has been taken up by scholars who can be classified mainly, though not exclusively, as opponents of textbook Keynesian economics. For example, in a recent article on "The Sociopolitical Vision of Keynes," the late Karl Brunner reaches a conclusion similar to Schumpeter's. According to Brunner (1987, p. 321, "The general direction of Keynes's sociopolitical thoughts had . . .already emerged many years before he wrote the General Theory. .. .P'he latter work] provided the underlying vision of the socioeconomic process in an extensive analytic context. The sociopoliticaI program outlined over the prior decade naturally fitted with the General Theory into a coherent story of modem Western society." In another recent contribution, Allan Meltzer (1988, p. 5)declares that "[ilt is nearer the truth to say that the Geneml Theory provided