What Keynes and Keynesianism Can Teach Us About Less Developed Countries

It would be possible to make out a convincing case arguing that Keynes’ teaching is highly relevant and important for less developed countries (LDCs), both for their domestic policies and for their international relations in the kind of world system which Keynes was so influential in helping to create at Bretton Woods. But it has also been argued that Keynes is not relevant — or is even misleading — in the circumstances of LDCs, or that the international system he helped to create is irrelevant or harmful to them. This apparent conflict of views is pardy a tribute to the wide range of Keynes’ contribution, with those declaring Keynes relevant and their opponents selecting different elements of his contribution. To another extent it represents conflicts of views among those concerned with LDCs. Some development economists are ‘Keynesian’, others are anti-Keynesians. The split between the Keynesians and anti-Keynesians applies to development economists as well as those concerned with other aspects of economics.