Comparison Essay About Economic Theory

There have been many economists and many theories and ideas of how a country should function and what motivates a successful economy and or country. Two of the most important and influential economists are John Maynard Keynes and  Karl Marx: although both economists their ideas and theories have some similarities and differences.

Keynes and Marx were both economists that during their time they didn't have as much support as they wanted. A similarity between both is how they thought that capitalism wasn't right and how capitalism led to a crisis. Keynes once said, “Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work together for the benefit of all.” The quote explains how Keynes believed and spoke out against the system of capitalism, and how he believed that the fundamentals of capitalism were wrong for the greater good. He believed that those who were capitalist were not good people as they only wanted to use others for their benefit. For an economy and country to be successful for everyone, a system like Capitalism shouldn't be in place. Similar to Keynes, Marx also spoke out against capitalism as he said “The will of the capitalist is certainly to take as much as possible. What we have to do is not to talk about his will, but to enquire about his power, the limits of that power, and the character of those limits.” Marx makes it very clear that he also believes that only a few benefits of capitalism. Like Keynes, they believe that Capitalism is not for everyone's greater good, only for those that have the opportunity to benefit from them. Marx also makes it clear that capitalism is a system where you don't know what the intentions and the morals of the person with that political power and or position have. 

Although Keynes and Marx had some similarities they also have differences. The Periods in which they studied and spread their theories were different. Keynes's theory was developed during the Great Depression of America. This led to his theory and beliefs being different from Marx's. Keynes did not believe in capitalism, but he also did not think that communism was better than capitalism, Keynes was in between both Capitalism and Communism: Keynes primarily believed that demand creates supply and says the government's supply creates demand. Keynes also assured that he was for a free market but when there is no market because of a crisis, that's when the government should step in. The biggest difference between Keynes and Marx was that Keynes did not think Communism was the better option between Capitalism and Communism. This was different because Marx believed in and created the idea of communism, when he was creating idea of communism, capitalism was something very new that is important to note as capitalism was not fully developed. Communism also wasn't popular when he first created the system, popularity was after he died. Marx did not believe in the free market, he believed that the government should be in control fully. Marx believed that Capitalism was what doomed people and countries: he believed the fundamentals of Capitalism were to make the rich richer and a system that used the poor to benefit the rich. Keynes and Marx had different ideas, as Keynes did not believe that communism was a system that would lead a country to succeed, and opposite to that was Marx: Marx believed that communism was the system that would make a country's economy stable and would keep the economy running.

Both Keynes and Marx were economists that are spoken of to this day. Although they had different ideas they also had similarities. Both economics left an impact on society and the world as a whole and will continue to impact the world.