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The central argument of The General Theory is that the level of employment is determined not by the price of labour, as in classical economics, but by the level of aggregate demand. If the total demand for goods at full employment is less than the total output, then the economy has to contract until equality is achieved.
Thus, full employment of labor corresponds to potential output. Whilst full employment is often an aim for an economy, most economists see it as more beneficial to have some level of unemployment, especially of the frictional sort. In theory, this keeps the labor market flexible, allowing room for new innovations and investment.
The above does not exhaust the possibilities. John Maynard Keynes thought of classical economics as starting with Ricardo and being ended by the publication of his own General Theory of Employment Interest and Money. The defining criterion of classical economics, on this view, is Say's law which is disputed by Keynesian economics. Keynes was ...
To me, the most extraordinary thing regarded historically, is the complete disappearance of the theory of the demand and supply for output as a whole, i.e. the theory of employment, after it had been for a quarter of a century the most discussed thing in economics.
The General Theory challenged the earlier neoclassical economic paradigm, which had held that provided it was unfettered by government interference, the market would naturally establish full employment equilibrium. In doing so Keynes was partly setting himself against his former teachers Marshall and Pigou.
In the Shapiro-Stiglitz model workers are paid at a level where they do not shirk, preventing wages from dropping to full employment levels. The curve for the no-shirking condition (labeled NSC) goes to infinity at full employment. In efficiency wage models, workers are paid at levels that maximize productivity instead of clearing the market. [165]
An economic depression for instance, would not necessarily set off a chain of events leading back to full employment and higher wages. Keynes believed that government action was necessary for the economy to recover. In Book V of Keynes's theory, Chapter 19 discusses whether wage rates contribute to unemployment and introduces the Keynes effect.
For both Marx and Keynes, analyzing and combating the dangers of unemployment were key to understanding the capitalist system. The majority of the classical and neoclassical orthodoxy agree that Say's law allows for an economy to maintain full employment as the mechanisms of equilibrium within capitalism allow for equality of aggregate supply ...