John Maynard Keynes's Theories Had Their Critics

Though his ideas were not always well-liked, John Maynard Keynes is now regarded as one of the greatest economists of all time.

Keynes, a centrist who has been credited by some with having the biggest influence of any economist of the 20th century, received harsh criticism from both political extremes. As an anti-establishment figure in the 1920s, Keynes was mostly attacked by the right. Even in Cambridge, many young economists supported Marxist ideologies during the “red 1930s.” While Keynes was primarily speaking with the right to try to convince them of the benefits of more progressive policy, his most strident detractors came from the left, who saw him as a proponent of capitalism. The majority of Keynes's critics have once again come from the right since the 1950s.

One of his strongest detractors was the Austrian-British economist Friedrich Hayek, who claimed that his theories gave the state too much power and could lead to an extreme form of socialism. The views of Keynes were also criticized openly by President Harry Truman.