Governments Verses Economies

As I have been studying John Maynard Keynes I have found some really cool sources and a battle that has been on going in the background all around us; a battle between Governments and Market Economies.

First of all in my studies of John Maynard Keynes I found a good background of him here in the concise encyclopedia of economics.  It covers his core ideas of government spending and his clashing theories with the prevailing classical ideas of Adam Smith.  However it was interesting to note the following excerpt...



Contrary to some of his critics’ assertions, Keynes was a relatively strong advocate of free markets. It was Keynes, not adam smith, who said, “There is no objection to be raised against the classical analysis of the manner in which private self-interest will determine what in particular is produced, in what proportions the factors of production will be combined to produce it, and how the value of the final product will be distributed between them.” (General Theory, pp. 378–397.)

So although they had their difference, Keynes was still a strong supporter of the free market economy.
Next I sampled through an interesting book written by Keynes between the two World Wars titled "

The Economic Consequences of the Peace."  It was interesting to see the Economic viewpoints of the postwar victorious countries.

And last in my searches I came upon a little goldmine, a full PBS documentary and interactive website.  I highly recommend this site!

I spent the next hour watching clips of the PBS documentary on the battle between Political ideals and Economic Markets.  The documentaries covered a little bit of each of the major economic theories along with different political frameworks that have emerged, developed, and been eliminated in our world of globalization.

The main idea that really caught my interest was the ever present battle of balance of power between Governments and Economies.  There are different types of Governments that in the beginning were strictly tied to specific types of economic systems.  However, over the years and as the worlds economies have become more and more interconnected there has been a lot more cross hybrids of economic structures (such as Communist China with a partially free market economy.)  And with this greater degree of flexibility of economies, their influence has continued to grow.  And although there are still many constraints individual governments have on the companies that lie within their grasp (mainly by way of tariffs and taxes) with the expansion of the internet it has began to cause a separation of ties to Governments.  

And thus there seems to be an ever growing power and influence of the Markets and Economies apart from the countries which have classical had an over arching control.