Keynesian economics: can it return if it never died?

Abstract

Appreciation of the Keynesian synthesis was enhanced by the events of the last decade. The global financial crisis highlighted the fragility of financial markets and the capriciousness of animal spirits. The depth of the downturn pointed to the value of not just automatic stabilizers but also discretionary fiscal policy as tools of macroeconomic management. Keynesian models and not their New Classical challengers provided the practical analytical framework for policy design. Models of the anti-Keynesian effects of fiscal consolidation received little support from actual consolidation experience. The secular-stagnation debate that followed the crisis lent legitimacy to the view that policy-makers with fiscal space were wise to use it.