Copyright (C) 2005 by Thomas H.A.M. Cool Definition & Reality in the General Theory of Political Economy Thomas Colignatus Dutch University Press & Samuel van Houten Genootschap This text is made available by the copyright owner as an etext for the Project Gutenberg (see http://www.gutenberg.org). The Project Gutenberg header specifies under what general conditions the book may be distributed while associated with the Project Gutenberg trademark. Additional conditions are: (a) No commercial use or resale of the etext is allowed, (b) Hardcopy prints are to be acquired at the publisher Dutch University Press (see http://www.rozenbergps.com and ISBN 90-3619-172-6) or their designated partners. Please note that the etext uses HTML so that the etext layout will differ significantly from the official layout. 2nd edition, January 2005 (The first edition was in March & June 2000) Copyright © Thomas H.A.M. Cool http://www.dataweb.nl/~cool, cool@dataweb.nl Colignatus is the preferred name of Thomas Cool in science. Lawful exceptions excluded, nothing of this publication may be copied or published by means of print, photocopy, microfilm, electronics or otherwise, unless a written permit has been given by the lawful owners of the copyright, and this also holds for whole or partial reworkings. Behoudens uitzondering door de wet gesteld mag zonder schriftelijke toestemming van de rechthebbende(n) op het auteursrecht niets uit deze uitgave worden verveelvoudigd en/of openbaar gemaakt door middel van druk, fotokopie, microfilm, electronica of anderszins, hetgeen ook van toepassing is op gehele of gedeeltelijke bewerking. Published by Dutch University Press in association with Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.A. & Rozenberg Publishers, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Bloemgracht 82hs, 1015 TM Amsterdam, http://www.rozenbergps.com Tel. +31-(0)20-6255429, fax +31-(0)20-6203395, email info@rozenbergps.com Supported by Samuel van Houten Genootschap Wetenschappelijk bureau van het Sociaal Liberaal Forum Scientific bureau of the Social Liberal Forum P.O. Box 78, 2501 CB The Hague, Holland Tel +31-(0)70-3555404 Fax +31-(0)-842113307 Giro 450623 ISBN 90-3619-172-6 JEL A00 Nederlandse uniforme genre indeling (NUGI) 681, 654 & 691 CIP-GEGEVENS KONINKLIJKE BIBLIOTHEEK ’S-GRAVENHAGE Prologue The basic idea of this book is that Keynes’s _General Theory_ is generalised even further by including endogenous government in the model, so that we arrive at a truly general Political Economy. The world had the Great Depression 1930-1940 and has the Great Stagflation 1970-today and by including ‘stagnation in economic policy making’ in our analysis we find a better explanation. The general theory also advises a democracy to create an Economic Supreme Court as a separate constitutional power, next to the Legislative, Executive and Judicial branches.