Keynes’s Missing Axioms

33 Pages Posted: 15 May 2011 Last revised: 11 Jun 2014

See all articles by Egmont Kakarot-Handtke

Egmont Kakarot-Handtke

University of Stuttgart - Institute of Economics and Law

Date Written: May 14, 2011

Abstract

Between Keynes’s verbalized theory and its formal basis persists a lacuna. The conceptual groundwork is too small and not general. The quest for a comprehensive formal basis is guided by the question: what is the minimum set of foundational propositions for a consistent reconstruction of the monetary economy? We start with three structural axioms. The claim of generality entails that it should be possible to prove that Keynes’s formalism is a subset of the structural axiom set. The axioms are applied to a central part of the General Theory in order to achieve consistency and generality.

Keywords: new framework of concepts, structure-centric, axiom set, full employment, emergent money, singularity, system immanent risk, profit, distributed profit, saving, investment, Allais-Identity

JEL Classification: B41, E12, E24, E25, E31, E40, H60, P10

Suggested Citation

Kakarot-Handtke, Egmont, Keynes’s Missing Axioms (May 14, 2011). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1841408 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1841408

Egmont Kakarot-Handtke (Contact Author)

University of Stuttgart - Institute of Economics and Law ( email )

Keplerstrasse 17
Stuttgart
Germany