Keynes Vs Hayek

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As much as I have learned so far, economists have yet to discover exactly how to get an economy into equilibrium and create full employment, either in the short-run or the long-run. Much like our last discussion, I feel if you can conclude that either Keynes or Hayek had “won” the great economic debate, you would still be looking at it in the case of short-run vs. long-run. Many indicators have shown that Keynes was correct in certain ways to repair an ailing economy just the same as history has shown that Hayek was correct in certain ways to prevent an economy from getting to dire situations. Somehow I feel that we are still comparing apples and oranges. The government seems to be at fault solely because it seems to always do the wrong thing. Keynes argued that the government needed to be more involved to fix the economy and Hayek argued that the government was doing too much to fix the economy. I firmly believe that the government should offer a guiding hand to steer the economy in the right direction without trying to control it, so based on this theory both Keynes and Hayek appear to be winners. …show more content…
Keynes was ever the optimist and changed his opinions making me value his ideas that the economy is a complex entity and people have a strong desire to make it prosper and that as conditions change, so should your theories and conclusions. Hayek was ever the pessimist arguing that the free market need not be interfered with as it will run through the ups and downs of a regular business cycle making me value his ideas that the people who are the actors in the marketplace understand the complexities of the economy and understand how to make it work