The Cambridge Circus or Keynes's Circus was a group of young

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

economists closely associated with

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

. The group consisted of Richard Kahn,

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Joan Robinson Joan Violet Robinson (''née'' Maurice; 31 October 1903 – 5 August 1983) was a British economist well known for her wide-ranging contributions to economic theory. She was a central figure in what became known as post-Keynesian economics. B ...

Austin Robinson Sir Edward Austin Gossage Robinson, (20 November 1897 – 1 June 1993, Cambridge, England) was a University of Cambridge economist. He was an undergraduate at Christ's College, Cambridge, and a fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. A clo ...

, and

Piero Sraffa Piero Sraffa (5 August 1898 – 3 September 1983) was an influential Italian economist who served as lecturer of economics at the University of Cambridge. His book ''Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities'' is taken as founding the neo- ...

. The Circus formed immediately following the 31 October 1930 publication of Keynes's ''

A Treatise on Money ''A Treatise on Money'' is a two-volume book by English economist John Maynard Keynes published in 1930. Summary of the Work In the ''Treatise'' Keynes drew a distinction between savings and investment, arguing that where saving exceeded invest ...

''. The group met to read and discuss the ''Treatise'' and to provide feedback on Keynes's continuing theoretical work that would lead to his ''

General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money ''The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money'' is a book by English economist John Maynard Keynes published in February 1936. It caused a profound shift in economic thought, giving macroeconomics a central place in economic theory and ...

''. Sraffa initiated the group, which met in Kahn's rooms of the Gibb's Building at King's College. The Circus met among themselves and in a seminar, which included some undergraduates, during the 1930–1931 academic year. The seminar convened in the Old Combination Room of

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

. Kahn acted as the group's spokesperson and met with Keynes weekly to discuss the Circus's thoughts. Kahn identifies the "widow's cruse" and " Danaid jar" fallacy as the most substantive issue in the group's discussions. The issue referred to Keynes's statement in the ''Treatise'' that an entrepreneur who spent his profits on consumption goods would increase profits for another entrepreneur by the same amount and that these profits would percolate through the economy endlessly like the oil from the widow's cruse in I Kings 17:16. (The reverse case, where entrepreneurs save, is analogous to the Danaid's jar that never fills). The Circus challenged Keynes's implicit assumption that there was a fixed supply of consumption goods. The influence of the group on the ''General Theory'' has been debated.

Joseph Schumpeter Joseph Alois Schumpeter (; February 8, 1883 – January 8, 1950) was an Austrian-born political economist. He served briefly as Finance Minister of German-Austria in 1919. In 1932, he emigrated to the United States to become a professor at Ha ...

stated that Kahn's contribution was almost that of a co-author, but Kahn himself denied this. On the other hand,

Don Patinkin Don Patinkin (Hebrew: דן פטינקין) (January 8, 1922 – August 7, 1995) was an American-born Israeli monetary economist, and the President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.Nissan Liviatan, 2008. "Patinkin, Don (1922–1995)," ''The N ...

argued that most of Keynes's major breakthroughs came after the group disbanded in Spring 1931."Cambridge Circus." The group kept no records but several first hand accounts of the group's meetings have been published.

Notes

References

* {{cite book , last = Kahn , first = Richard , title = The making of Keynes' general theory , publisher = Cambridge University Press , location = Cambridge , year = 2011 , isbn = 978-0-521-18975-0 * "Cambridge Circus." ''An Encyclopedia of Keynesian Economics''. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1999. Credo Reference. Web. 4 November 2011. Keynesian economics Clubs and societies of the University of Cambridge