The Economic Consequences of the Peace

About this book

In 1919, John Maynard Keynes, a young economist at the British Treasury, attended the Paris peace conference after the First World War and resigned in protest at the treaty it produced. In this book he describes the conference and its leaders, the vengeful Clemenceau, the idealistic but outmanoeuvred President Wilson and the agile Lloyd George, and argues that the huge reparations demanded from Germany could never be paid and would ruin the economy of Europe, breeding poverty, resentment and new disorder instead of peace.

Context and significance

The book was an international best seller and made Keynes famous; many historians believe its warnings were borne out by the crisis and dictatorship that followed in Germany. Keynes (1883–1946) went on to transform economics in the 1930s. For the classical economics he later challenged, read Ricardo's Principles of Political Economy and Taxation.

About the author