First published in 1985, this title includes contributions from leading economists and addresses many seminal aspects of Keynes' work and methods. This revival will be of particular interest to lecturers and advanced students of economics.

Geoffrey Pilling’s treatment of this complex issue in political economy, first published in 1986, concentrates on a review of Keynes’ writings rather than the vast literature that has developed surrounding his work since the Second World War. It does, however, consider the work of the ‘Left Keynesians’, in particular that of Joan Robinson. The Crisis of Keynesian Economics has the potential to throw fresh light on some of the issues facing political leaders today, particularly so given that much of the Neo-Capitalist economic orthodoxy established during the 1980s has come under fresh criticism in recent years.

First published in 1990, this is an analysis of the history of western economics from Petty to Supply-Side, through the prism of the controversies over productive labour and its product. It treats the early economists’ "productive-unproductive" dichotomies as shorthands for many other sets of distinctions relevant for boundaries, value and welfare. Central to the debates is the question of whether the economy is said to generate a ‘surplus’. Economists and politicians with views on these matters include the Physiocrats, Smith and Ricardo, Marx and his Soviet and western admirers, the marginalists, Keynes, Polanyi, Becker, and Reagan. The book maps the shifting emphases that economists and social thinkers have placed on markets and ‘mode’ of production generally. This reissue will be useful to students of economic thought, welfare theory and policy, growth economics and economic systems.

The 2008 crisis has revived debates on the relevance of laissez-faire, and thus on the role of the State in a modern economy. This volume offers a new exploration of the writings of Keynes and Friedman on this topic, highlighting not only the clear points of opposition between them, but also the places in which their concerns where shared. This volume argues that the parallel currently made with the 1929 financial crisis and the way the latter turned into the Great Depression sheds new light on the proper economic policy to be conducted in both the short- and the long-run in a monetary economy. In light of the recent revival in appreciation for Keynes’ ideas, Rivot investigates what both Keynes and Friedman had to say on key issues, including their respective interpretations of both the 1929 crisis and the Great Depression, their advocacy of the proper employment policy, and the theoretical underpinnings of the latter. The book asks which lessons should be learnt from the Thirties? And what is the relevance of Keynes’ and Friedman’s respective pleas for today?

In a dramatic and well-argued challenge to the prevailing wisdom, Prosperity and Public Spending, first published in 1988, contends that the failure of Keynesian economics has been due to its timidity. Far from contracting, the government must expand its powers and activities, in order to achieve and maintain economic prosperity. The need for such expansion arises from the fact that the system has developed from a craft-based economy to a mass-production network with sophisticated international finance. This "transformational growth" brings about irreversible and sometimes devastating changes, requiring government action. Professor Nell argues that a lack of government action in the decade prior to the book’s initial publication was responsible for the stagnation of the economy and he asserts that this could only be overcome by a determined policy intervention and the political will to achieve dominance over private capital.