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Kevin Quinn's reference to Keynes's "willingness to bootstrap" theory in 
conjunction with Robertson's dismissal of liquidity preference theory 
brought to mind an exchange between Keynes and Joan Robinson.  Keynes 
begged Robinson not to include a chapter on the relationship between 
British and foreign interest rates in her _Essays in the Theory of 
Employment_ because 
 
        You do not seem to realize that if you are right the whole theory 
of liquidity preference has to be thrown overboard.  The rate of interest 
on English money no longer depends on the quantity of English money and the 
liquidity preference of the holders of it.  (_Collected Writings_, Vol 14, 
p. 146) 
 
Walter Eltis cites this example in a discussion of why Keynes had so little 
influence on British unemployment policy in the 1930s (_Unemployment and 
the Economists_, Bernard Corry, ed).  Academic bootstrapping that ignores 
reality is hardly superior to formal models that do the same.  Was Keynes 
really so dedicated to reality as to his model?  (I can't answer that, but 
Quinn's ruminations prompt me to ask.) 
 
--Neil Skaggs 
 
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