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I don't know about Plumptre's paper, but Robertson made the same  
criticism of Keynes in characteristically witty terms when he said the  
Keynesian theory of interest rates was "a grin without a cat" --referring  
to the Chesire cat in his beloved Alice. I find this dispute between  
Keynes and Robertson extremely interesting, because I think that Keynes'  
real legacy to economics was his willingness to take seriously  
"bootstrapping" explanations of economic realities. Here it was his  
theory of interest rate determination. His chapter on the stock market is  
even more obviously a bootstrap theory of stock prices. And   
Robertson's incredulity at the idea that there may be no "fundamentals"  
ruling the roost is echoed in the practice of many modern classical  
economists who almost instinctively rule out "non-fundamental" or  
"bubble" solutions as, at best, curiosities (that kill the cat?). 
 
Kevin Quinn 
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