"THE NEXT STEP FORWARD MUST COME, NOT FROM POLITICAL AGITATION OR PREMATURE EXPERIMENTS BUT FROM THOUGHT": KEYNES' THE END OF LAISSEZ-FAIRE, PUBLISHED BY THE WOOLFS AT THE HOGARTH PRESS

KEYNES, John Maynard. The End of Laissez-Faire. London: Leonard & Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press, 1926. Small octavo, original half gray cloth, paper spine label, original dust jacket. $2600.

First edition of this timely economic and philosophical discussion by the most important economist of the 20th century, in scarce original dust jacket.

Stemming largely from Keynes' arguments in the Tract on Monetary Reform (1923), The End of Laissez-Faire is an examination of the role and responsibility of governments in ameliorating the economic hardships of their citizens, namely the problem of unemployment. Keynes draws on writings of Locke, Rousseau, Paley, Bentham, Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo and others to call for a re-appraisal of government policy in favor of a broader, more active role in providing economic assistance. The question of the harmful effects of laissez-faire policies became central to Keynes in his later work, when he helped to establish the economic framework within which public policy was to be considered.

Book with toning to board extremities, dust jacket with only light rubbing and toning to extremities. Quite rare in dust jacket.