Would Keynes be a ‘New’ Keynesian?

Abstract

The principle of a ‘truth in labelling’ law that protects consumers1 from false and misleading claims is often violated by economics textbooks. Under the truth in labelling law, a minimum quantity of beef is required in a patty before society permits anyone to sell it as a hamburger. Similarly, some minimum quantity of Keynes’s logical analysis should be an essential ingredient in any theory being sold as Keynesian, especially in textbooks to yet uneducated consumers. Paraphrasing a famous slogan of the 1988 Democratic presidential primary, ‘Where’s the Keynesian beef in New Keynesian economics?’.