The End of Laissez Faire and the Economic Consequences of the Peace John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) was the most influential economist of the first half of the twentieth century. During both world wars he was an adviser to the British treasury, and his theory of government stimulation of the economy through deficit spending influenced Franklin D. Roosevelt"s "New Deal" administration. The mass unemployment caused by the Great Depression inspired his most famous wo... Full description