WIFO Working Papers

Discussion papers by WIFO staff, consultants and guests – As of 2006 available online only – Free download

WIFO Working Papers are not peer reviewed and are not necessarily based on a coordinated position of WIFO. The authors were informed about the Guidelines for Good Scientific Practice of the Austrian Agency for Research Integrity (ÖAWI), in particular with regard to the documentation of all elements necessary for the replicability of the results.

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Stephan Schulmeister
Keynes und die Finanzmärkte. Auf halbem Weg vom "homo oeconomicus" zum "homo humanus" (Keynes and the Financial Markets. Halfway from "homo economicus" to "homo humanus")
WIFO Working Papers, 2019, (588), 25 pages
Online since: 24.10.2019 0:00
John Maynard Keynes war ein Ökonom, der stets zwischen der Welt der Theorien und der Realität pendelte, er prüfte und verwarf theoretische Annahmen aufgrund seiner Beobachtungen, die er wiederum als Ausgangspunkte für die Entwicklung neuer Theorien nutzte. Gleichzeitig betrieb er als Praktiker keine andere Art von Aktivitäten mit solcher Intensität und Kontinuität wie Finanzgeschäfte aller Art. Diese Erfahrungen machten für Keynes klar, dass ökonomisches Verhalten essentiell durch Unsicherheit, Emotionen und soziale Interaktion geprägt wird. In seiner Darstellung der Handels- und Preisdynamik auf Finanzmärkten (sie nimmt die wichtigsten Entwicklungen seit den 1970er-Jahren vorweg) entwirft er ein zum "homo oeconomicus" in radikalem Gegensatz stehendes Menschenbild. Allerdings hat er diese realitätsnahe Mikro-Fundierung seiner Makroökonomie nicht theoretisch ausformuliert, denn dann hätte er das gesamte Theoriegebäude der Neoklassik explizit verwerfen müssen. Dies aber hätte dem Hauptziel seiner "General Theory" widersprochen, seine "fellow economists" mit seiner Beschäftigungs-, Zins- und Geldtheorie dort abzuholen, wo sie sich befanden.
JEL-Codes:B20, B26, D53, D91, G12
Research group:Macroeconomics and Public Finance
Language:German

Keynes and the Financial Markets. Halfway from "homo economicus" to "homo humanus"
John Maynard Keynes was an economist who constantly oscillated between the world of theories and reality, he tested and rejected theoretical assumptions based on his observations, which he in turn used as starting points for the development of new theories. At the same time, as a practitioner, he did not engage in any other type of activity with such intensity and continuity as financial transactions of any kind. These experiences made it clear to Keynes that economic behaviour is essentially shaped by uncertainty, emotions and social interaction. In his analysis of trading behaviour and price dynamics on financial markets (which anticipates the most important developments since the 1970s), he sketches an image of man that is radically opposed to that of "homo oeconomicus". However, he did not elaborate theoretically this realistic micro-foundation of his macroeconomics. If he had, he would have had to explicitly reject the entire neoclassical theory. But this would have contradicted the main goal of his "General Theory", which was to reach his "fellow economists" with his theory of employment, interest rates and money where they were.