John Maynard Keynes s 1936 General Theory of Employment Interest and Money is a perfect example of the global power of critical thinking A radical reconsideration of some of the founding principles and accepted axioms of classical economics at the time it provoked a revolution in economic thought and government economic policies across the world Unsurprisingly Keynes s closely argued refutation of the then accepted grounds of economics employs all the key critical thinking analysing and evaluating the old theories and their weaknesses interpreting and clarifying his own fundamental terms and ideas problem solving and using creative thinking to go beyond the old economic theories Perhaps above all however the General Theory is a masterclass in problem solving. Good problem solvers identify their problem offer a methodology for solving it and suggest solutions For Keynes the problem was both real and unemployment A major issue for governments during the Great Depression unemployment was also a problem for classical economics In classical economics theoretically unemployment would always disappear Keynes offered both an explanation of why this was not the case in practice and a range of solutions that could be implemented through government monetary policy An Analysis of John Maynard Keyne s The General Theory of Employment Interest and Money The Macat Library