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William Collins
An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers,
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by William Collins in 2015
Copyright © Richard Davenport-Hines 2015
Richard Davenport-Hines asserts the moral right
to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library
Cover photograph © Private Collection/Roger-Viollet, Paris/Bridgeman Images
Designed by Kate Gaughran
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Source ISBN: 9780007519804
Ebook Edition © March 2015 ISBN: 9780007519811
Version: 2015-09-15
For Selina Hastings and Jonno Keates and again to the gentle memory of Cosmo Davenport-Hines
Good work is not done by ‘humble’ men. It is one of the first duties of a professor, for example, in any subject, to exaggerate a little both the importance of his subject and his own importance in it. A man who is always asking ‘Is what I do worthwhile?’ and ‘Am I the right person to do it?’ will always be ineffective himself and a discouragement to others. He must shut his eyes a little, and think a little more of his subject and himself than they deserve.
G. H. Hardy
It is, I think, of the essential nature of economic exposition that it gives, not a complete statement, which, even if it were possible, would be prolix and complicated to the point of obscurity but a sample statement, so to speak, out of all the things which could be said, intended to suggest to the reader the whole bundle of associated ideas, so that, if he catches the bundle, he will not in the least be confused by the technical incompleteness of the mere words which the author has written down … This means, on the one hand, that an economic writer requires from his reader much goodwill and intelligence and a large measure of co-operation; and, on the other hand, that there are a thousand futile, yet verbally legitimate, objections which an objector can raise. In economics you cannot convict your opponent of error – you can only convince him of it.
Maynard Keynes
What do we do? What is the remedy? It would be most inappropriate for me to stand up here and tell you what Keynes would have thought. Goodness knows he would have thought of something much cleverer than I can think of.
Roy Harrod
Contents
Also by Richard Davenport-Hines
1: Maynard Keynes as a figure of intellectual authority and cultural benevolence, surrounded by rare books in his Bloomsbury house. (Tim Gidal/Picture
