Textbook Problem

How is Keynes’s position different from the classical position with respect to wages, prices, and Say’s law?

To determine

The position of Keynes and classical school about wages, prices, and Say’s law of market.

Explanation of Solution

According to the classical economists, the economy is always self regulating and does not need any intervention of the government to control its activities other than providing military support. Thus, they demanded the Laissez-Faire economy where the economic transactions of the economy are free from the government regulations, tariffs, and interventions. Thus, the wages and prices are freely flexible under the classical ideology and Say's law of market states that the supply always creates its own demand leading to equilibrium between the demand and supply.

However, according to Keynes, the economy should not be allowed to freely fluctuate the prices and wages, as it will take long years to derive a new equilibrium as well as the money market will not allow Say’s law of market to hold true for the economy. The money acts as a medium of exchange as well as a medium of storage and differed payments, which cause the demand to fall and the savings to increase. This might lead to Say’s law of market to become false and there should be a regulatory to regulate and lead the economy toward equilibrium condition as soon as possible.

Thus, the classical economists argued for the Laissez-faire economy with the strong power to Say’s law market, whereas the Keynes does the inverse.

Economics Concept Introduction

GDP: The GDP is the gross domestic product of an economy, which is the summation of money value of all the goods and services produced within the domestic boundary of the economy.