Niall Ferguson’s Wishful Thinking
The Harvard historian Niall Ferguson is right that Keynesians should learn from experience. But until Ferguson explains why he thinks that austerity was a good thing for the UK economy, his critics will be forgiven for seeing his economic pronouncements as nothing more than political propaganda.
LONDON – Niall Ferguson begins his rejoinder to my rejoinder to his interpretation of the results of the United Kingdom’s recent general election by citing an apocryphal Keynes quote: “If the facts change, I change my opinion. What do you do, sir?” But should the fact that the British economy grew last year by 2.6% have caused Keynesians to change their minds? Would it have caused Keynes to rewrite his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money?