Green Cheese - Keynes' Green Cheese Metaphor

Keynes' Green Cheese Metaphor

John Maynard Keynes made a mysterious reference to green cheese in his General Theory:

"Unemployment develops, that is to say, because people want the moon; -- men cannot be employed when the object of desire (i.e. money) is something which cannot be produced and the demand for which cannot be readily choked off. There is no remedy but to persuade the public that green cheese is practically the same thing and to have a green cheese factory (i.e. a central bank) under public control." —John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Ch. 17

Exactly what Keynes meant is still a topic for discussion in economics.

Read more about this topic:  Green Cheese

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