What Would Keynes Think of Trump's Infrastructure Plan?

If President Donald Trump sticks to his campaign promises, politicians will soon be debating the merits of a $1 trillion infrastructure program. Before the election, he trumpeted an initiative that would create “jobs, jobs, jobs” in part by rebuilding the U.S.’s bridges and highways. After the failure of his efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, he will likely be moving on to infrastructure soon. In fact, this week the president suggested that perhaps he will accelerate the introduction of infrastructure-related legislation since it has the potential to attract votes from Democratic members of Congress. Herein may lie Trump’s chance for a grand compromise and some real deal-making.

And if the government is going to have a debate about infrastructure, then the public will almost certainly be hearing a lot more about John Maynard Keynes. After all, Keynes is widely considered the father of the idea thatwhich supported a £250 million public-works program mooted by the U.K.’s Liberal Party, and he wrote an open letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 supporting an expansive public-works program financed by government borrowing.