John Maynard Keynes
By: Haley Ponce and Sarah Bearden
Education and Work Experience
John Maynard Keynes was born on June 5, 1883. He first attended Eton College, but left to King's College for broader studies in 1902. He received a first class Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics in 1904, then started lecturing at the University of Cambridge 3 times a week in 1909. Later on he worked in the Civil Services for the India Office and and later the statistics and commerce department from 1906 to 1908. He also became the editor of the Economics Journal in 1911.
Why is he famous and what is his expertise?
He is best known for developing Keynesian Economics which is his proposal that when national economies suffer a downturn, governments should borrow and spend money to boost economic activity. Part of the proceeds of the resulting economic growth should then be used to repay the debt. One of his major contributions to investment methodology was his championing of concentrated investment portfolios. His seminal work, General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, published in 1936 articulated what would later become known as the foundation for modern economics. He built on and greatly refined earlier work on the causes of business cycles. He was considered the founder of modern macroeconomics because of his theories and practices.