Involuntary Unemployment Reconsidered

Abstract

A recent paper by Reuven Brenner [4] reveals a continuing tendency to discuss Keynes's notion of involuntary primarily as an ethical matter-a matter of social justice.' Less attention has been devoted to the analytical content of the concept, despite the fact that the issue was joined at least as early as Viner's [36] classic review of The General Theory. Keynes apparently still was dissatisfied with his own development of the concept at that time. Replying to Viner, Keynes [19, 210] acknowledged the need for improvement of the definition and of involuntary unemployment in The General Theory. Despite his dissatisfaction with his own definition and treatment Keynes seemed to have felt the idea was elementary and fundamental to his theory. Once economists had cast off their Classical skins they could intuit the concept with ease. But casting off the old skins was the hard task. Nevertheless, once that was accomplished Keynes tended to embrace a wide variety of ways of expressing the notion of involuntary unemployment.

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