"We are all Keynesians now" is a famous phrase attributed toMilton Friedman and later rephrased byU.S. presidentRichard Nixon. It is popularly associated with the reluctant embrace in a time of financial crisis ofKeynesian economics, for example, fiscal stimulus, by individuals such as Nixon who had formerly favored lessinterventionist policies. The phrase "we are all ... now" has become a formula applied to various other concepts since.[1][2]
In his 1969 book, Carl Turner[3] cites a Russian article by I.G. Blyumin from 1947, referring to what was already the 'famous remark'.
The phrase was later attributed toMilton Friedman in the December 31, 1965, edition ofTime magazine.[4] (Although generally attributed to Friedman, economics columnistHenry Hazlitt had prominently used that expression a decade earlier in a Newsweek column.[5]) In the February 4, 1966, edition, Friedman wrote a letter clarifying that his original statement had been "In one sense, we are all Keynesians now; in another, nobody is any longer a Keynesian".[6]
Friedman's expression was purportedly a rejoinder to the 1888 claim of British politicianWilliam Vernon Harcourt that "We are all socialists now";[7] a declaration that was reprinted for aNewsweek magazine cover story in 2009.[8]
In 1971, after taking the United States off theBretton Woods system,[9] Nixon was quoted as saying he was "now a Keynesian in economics",[10] which became popularly associated with Friedman's phrase.
In 2002,Peter Mandelson wrote an article inThe Times declaring "we are allThatcherites now", referring to the acceptance among the other political parties ofMargaret Thatcher'seconomic policies.[11]
The phrase gained new life during the2007–2008 financial crisis, when economists called for massive investment in infrastructure and job creation as a means of economic stimulation.[12][13]
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