Alvin Hansen’s Guide to Keynes (1953) was the text which introduced Keynes to a generation of students. Seymour Harris wrote in his introduction:

As the most prominent Keynesian in the United States, Hansen has interpreted Keynesian economics for American students and laymen; and he has greatly enriched it as well.

Page by page, line by line, he has culled the fruits of the General Theory. He has not only weeded and raked the rich field but has also fertilized the soil and replanted to achieve the landscape envisaged by Keynes.

The resulting product is a rare one which few who wish to understand Keynes and modern economics can afford to neglect. Every page of Professor Hansen’s book reflects his painstaking examination of practically every paragraph of the General Theory, as well as his command of the literature, both European and American. Hansen’s Guide also reflects many of his own contributions to the system about which he modestly remains silent... and reflects finally the fruits of years of application of Keynesian economics to the policy questions of an economy floundering between deflation and unemployment, on the one hand, and full employment and inflation, on the other.

Availability

The Guide to Keynes was printed in large numbers and can easily be bought second-hand.

Contents

BOOK I: INTRODUCTION
1	The Postulates of the Classical Economics and the Principle of Effective Demand	3
	(general theory, chapters 1–3)
BOOK II: DEFINITIONS AND IDEAS
2	General Concepts	39
	(general theory, chapters 4–7)
BOOK III: THE PROPENSITY TO CONSUME
3	The Consumption Function	67
	(general theory, chapters 8, 9)
4	The Marginal Propensity to Consume and the Multiplier	86
	(general theory, chapter 10)
BOOK IV: THE INDUCEMENT TO INVEST
5	The Marginal Efficiency of Capital	117
	(general theory, chapters 11, 12)
6	Liquidity Preference	126
	(general theory, chapters 13, 15)
7	Classical, Loanable-funds and Keynesian Interest Theories	140
	(general theory, chapter 14)
8	Nature and Properties of Capital, Interest, and Money	154
	(general theory, chapters 16, 17)
9	The General Theory of Employment Restated	165
	(general theory, chapter 18)
BOOK V: MONEY WAGES AND PRICES
10	The Role of Money Wages	173
	(general theory, chapter 19)
11	The Keynesian Theory of Money and Prices	183
	(general theory, chapters 20, 21)
BOOK VI: SHORT NOTES SUGGESTED BY THE GENERAL THEORY
12	The Trade Cycle	207
	(general theory, chapter 22)
13	Notes on Early Economic Thinking and on Social Philosophy	231
	(general theory, chapters 23, 24)