The ending of Keynes’ General Theory

The ending of Keynes’ General Theory 

Keynes’ General Theory is probably the most influential book in economic theory in the last century. The book ended with the widely quoted statement.

the ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist. Madmen in authority, who hear voices in the air, are distilling their frenzy from some academic scribbler of a few years back. I am sure that the power of vested interests is vastly exaggerated compared with the gradual encroachment of ideas. Not, indeed, immediately, but after a certain interval; for in the field of economic and political philosophy there are not many who are influenced by new theories after they are twenty-five or thirty years of age, so that the ideas which civil servants and politicians and even agitators apply to current events are not likely to be the newest. But, soon or late, it is ideas, not vested interests, which are dangerous for good or evil.

Is it ideas or vested interests that drives human actions? The whole economic theory is based on self-interest. But somehow, economists, and people who had attended economic courses, at that time constituted the ruling elites, are immune from the economic principles. They are driven by ideas, not vested interests.

Of course, this kind of self-portrait is not restricted to economists. Government employees call themselves public servants, serving the vested interests of the public, but not themselves. Military fight wars and kill people. But they fight for peace. Lawyers are there to uphold justice. But they wouldn’t adjust fees for the working people, who are easily crushed by the hefty fees from the lawyers. All elite professions claim they are there for divine ideas, not vested interests. That is how they can justify their extraction of public resources for themselves.