Keynes, John Maynard

A prominent economist who believed that governments should spend money or cut taxes in order to stimulate a slowing economy. In 1936, he wrote The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, a revolutionary pronouncement. It came at the right time because the economic theory of the time fell drastically short of being able to explain why unemployment reached such high levels in the U.S. and Europe during the Great Depression and remained high until World War II broke out and stimulated demand.