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Part 1. Probability, Uncertainty and Choice Part 2. Continuity Issues Part 3. Social Ontology Part 4. Convention Part 5. Methodology Part 6. Looking Ahead

Although a considerable amount has been written on John Maynard Keynes’s notion of convention, there is some disagreement about what he meant by the term. Among those who have discussed this problem,2 John Davis has probably done most to elaborate the development of Keynes’s thinking on the role of convention. But Davis’s interpretation has been challenged in Runde’s (1994c) commentary on Davis (1994a). It is worth examining this exchange in detail, as this helps to provide greater insight into the meaning of the concept. My purpose, then, is to propose an alternative interpretation of Keynes’s views on convention, one that turns out to be closer to Runde’s than it is to Davis’s.

The revival of interest in Keynesian economics since the late 1980s reinstates the importance of Keynes's contribution to economic theory and policy. This is the second of two volumes in which authoritative contributions are presented by an outstanding group of international experts to celebrate Keynesian economics, and to review and further the developments of post Keynesian economics of recent years.