Mattheus von Gutenberg, student and TA of Robert Murphy’s Keynes, Krugman, and the Crisis course has this to say:
As an Austrian economist, Murphy naturally has his reservations on major Keynesian contentions, but no one could say that his views are uncharitable or distorting. If anything, I think Bob argues for Keynes a little too well! My favorite topic covered (hopefully not too dry for this audience) was his discussion of Keynes’ ubiquitous use of the concept the “marginal efficiency of capital.” My default position was normally pretty Hazlitt-esque, but I’ve since learned to give more credit to Keynes for his views – not totally unhelpful – on an important topic.
One of the more interesting parts of the class is watching Bob Murphy attempt to do justice to Keynes (and still be critical of him) with both Austrians and Keynesians in the class. His juggling of both responsibilities is amusing given his flirtations with Keynes’ “liquidity preference” on the one hand, and his marriage to Austrian capital and monetary theory on the other. Bob Murphy lives up to the charge Mises sets for economists: to be value-free scientists; he is an educator instead of an propagandist. I encourage all students who want to hear both sides of such topics as “Keynes and Say’s Law,” “Hayek vs. Keynes,” and the (soon-to-be-covered) “Neo and New Keynesians” to sign up for this course. It certainly is a treat – both for those who have studied Keynes and for those that have not.
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Good for Bob! It’s sometimes hard for us to recognize that there is a lot of truth in Keynes. He wasn’t a total loser!
I have come to regard all competing theories of business cycles as being correct at some point in the business cycle. They make for bad theory as a comprehensive theory of business cycles. Only the ABCT is a good comprehensive theory, but the other theories help flesh out the details of what is happening inside the skeleton of the ABCT.
“given his flirtations with Keynes’ “liquidity preference” on the one hand”
What view of Bob’s does this refer to?
Start here:
http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/2011/07/is-keynes-from-heaven-or-hell.html
http://consultingbyrpm.com/blog/2011/07/my-heretical-and-pathbreaking-work-on-austrian-interest-theory.html
And then there’s this:
http://socialdemocracy21stcentury.blogspot.com/2011/07/robert-p-murphy-on-pure-time-preference.html
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