The Cambridge School of Keynesian economics

There have been strong ties between the Cambridge Journal of Economics (CJE) and the Cambridge School of Keynesian Economics, from the very beginning. In this paper, the author investigates the environment that saw the birth of the CJE at Cambridge (UK), in 1977, and the relationship that linked it to the direct pupils of Keynes. A critical question is explicitly examined: why didn't the 'Keynesian revolution' succeed in becoming a permanent winning paradigm? Some behavioural mistakes of the members of the Keynesian School may explain this lack of success, but only to a certain extent. In any case, there were and there still are remedies too. But what we are inheriting is a unique set of analytical building blocks (the paper lists eight of them) that makes this School of economics a viable (and in some directions definitely superior) alternative to mainstream economics. Admittedly, there is some important work still to be done. The paper highlights the need for a two-stage approach, addressing pure theory and extensive institutional analysis. It is argued that a combination of the two would strengthen the coherence of the theoretical foundations, and at the same time would provide a fruitful extension of economic analysis to empirical, institutional and economic dynamics investigations.