Who is the Father of Macroeconomics?

The title 'Father of Macroeconomics' is universally awarded to the brilliant British economist John Maynard Keynes (pronounced 'Canes').

• Born in 1883, he was a genius mathematician who studied at Cambridge University.

Before Keynes, the world followed 'Classical Economics' (created by Adam Smith). The old rule was: If the economy crashes and people lose jobs, the government should do absolutely nothing. The free market will eventually fix itself.

But in 1929, the global stock market crashed, causing the Great Depression. Millions of people lost their jobs, factories closed, and the economy was completely broken. The old rule failed because the market was NOT fixing itself. People were starving.

In 1936, Keynes published his legendary book, 'The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money'.

• He completely destroyed the old rules. He argued that during an extreme crisis, the free market is paralyzed because people are too scared to spend money.
• His Radical Solution: He said the Government must step in and spend massive amounts of money.
• He advised governments to borrow money and start building giant roads, dams, and hospitals. This would create millions of government jobs. The newly hired workers would get salaries, they would spend that money in shops, the shops would order more products, factories would reopen, and the economy would revive.