Keynes in Dublin

My essay for the Dublin Review of Books

Yesterday, I had an essay published in The Dublin Review of Books. It’s called ‘Keynes in Dublin’, and it’s about a lecture that John Maynard Keynes gave in Ireland in 1933. At a deeper level, it’s about why certain intellectuals turned away from the idea of free trade, the political chaos of Britain in the 1930s, and the role of industrial policy for newly independent countries. Here is an excerpt:

Keynes’s lecture was widely reported in the Irish press and has remained a subject of debate and interest ever since. It’s a glimpse into how intellectuals at the time thought about the predicament of how newly independent nations should develop. This is the context in which I first became interested in the lecture; to learn what the world’s most famous economist thought about Ireland, without the benefit of hindsight, is fascinating. What is particularly notable about the Finlay Lecture is that, at least on a first reading, it is surprisingly positive about the state that Ireland was in. Particularly widely reported was one comment: ‘If I were an Irishman, I should find much to attract me in the economic outlook of your present government towards greater self-sufficiency.’ This was astonishing. At the time, Keynes was one of the most influential intellectuals in the world, and probably the most famous economist to ever live. And Ireland was a backwater, pursuing a disastrous trade war with Britain. As far as economic orthodoxy is concerned, it was as if Paul Krugman went to Tajikistan, to praise the wisdom of their leaders in implementing price controls.

And another:

Keynes was infamous for reversing his positions. There’s an old joke that says that, in a room of twelve eminent economists, you’ll find thirteen opinions – and two of them will be Keynes. When Keynes started to publicly doubt free trade, it was a social scandal. Virginia Woolf and his close friends were horrified. ‘Maynard has become a Protectionist,’ she wrote to a friend in September 1930, ‘which horrified me so that I promptly fainted.’

You can read the whole piece on their website.

Sam Enright is executive editor of the Fitzwilliam. You can follow him on Twitter here.