POLITICAL DICTIONARY

Keynesianism

the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946), and his followers. The Englishman Keynes's best known work was the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936 at the height of the Great Depression. Keynes shifted the attention of economists from microeconomics to macroeconomics. Much of his book is on the causes of unemployment. Keynes stated that the economy had no self-balancing equilibrium that resulted in full employment, as classical economics insisted. On the contrary, it could be in equilibrium at less than full employment (the first time this theory had been proposed). Keynes believed it was therefore the job of government to stimulate spending through deficit financing to ensure full employment. Keynes's theory was vastly influential. Since then governments have tended to accept a responsibility to provide full employment-although they have not always been successful in doing so. See also classical economics; neo-classical economics.

keynote

the main point in a lecture or discussion, as in the keynote of the President's address was the importance of moral values.

kitchen cabinet

the closet advisors of a president or prime minister. A kitchen cabinet may well consist of people who are not members of a formal cabinet. They may be close friends or cronies of the president, who trusts and values their advice.