John Maynard Keynes · Economics

Animal Spirits

Keynes’s insight that economic life is ruled not by cool calculation but by psychology, confidence, and herd instinct in the face of an unknowable future.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Keynes saw the future as fundamentally uncertain and investment as driven by ‘animal spirits.’ Explain why he thought rational calculation cannot fully guide investment, in your own words.

Leads to Robert Shiller.

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