Kalecki’s analysis of military Keynesianism highlights the difficulties of managing aggregate demand in one country, without coordination with trading partners. Military Keynesianism is effective as a means of reflation because, unlike civilian public works, it induces similar expenditure by political rivals. In this way it overcomes some of the trade difficulties that arise if aggregate demand expands in only one country. Jan Toporowski is a British Economist and is currently Professor of Economics and Finance at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. He is also Visiting Professor of Economics at the University of Bergamo, Italy. He received his PhD in Social Sciences from Birmingham University, and before becoming an academic he worked in fund management and international banking. He has since been widely published on financial and monetary economics and is completing an intellectual biography of Michal Kalecki.
Image courtesy of interviewee. February 6, 2018