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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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