Toward a General Theory of Consumerism: Reflections on Keynes’s Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren
Toward a General Theory of Consumerism: Reflections on Keynes’s Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren
This chapter demonstrates how Keynes underestimated the pace of innovation as well as the rate at which capital could be accumulated and invested well. The possibility of solving “the economic problem,” as referred to by Keynes, is already on hand. If the more than $48 trillion dollar global GDP were divided equally among the earth’s some six and a half billion inhabitants, each would have approximately $7,000, more than enough to bring everyone out of poverty. What Keynes constantly failed to acknowledge is the issue of distribution. While most of those in advanced industrial countries have more than enough to meet their economic needs, approximately half of the world still live on less than two dollars a day, with some one billion still living on less than a dollar a day. These individuals confront the economic problem of subsistence day in and day out; our society—and Keynes—has failed to provide an answer for them.
Keywords: pace of innovation, Keynes, capital, the economic problem, global GDP, poverty, distribution, subsistence
MIT Press Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.
