john maynard keynes was an early 20th century british economist best known as the founder of keynesian economics and the father of modern macroeconomics one of the hallmarks of keynesian economics is the idea that governments should actively try to influence the course of economies especially by increasing spending to stimulate demand in the face of recession 
in his seminal work the general theory of employment interest and money considered one of the most influential economics books in history keynes advocated for government intervention as a solution to high unemployment investopedia julie bangeducation and early careerkeynes early interest in economics was due in large part to his father john neville keynes an economics lecturer at cambridge university his mother one of cambridge s first female graduates was active in charitable work for the underprivileged born into a middle class family he received scholarships to two of the most elite schools in england eton college and cambridge university where he earned an undergraduate degree in mathematics in 1904 he excelled at mathematics throughout his academic career and notably he had almost no formal training in economics early in his career keynes worked on probability theory and lectured in economics as fellow of king s college at cambridge university his government roles ranged from official positions in the british civil service and the british treasury to appointments to royal commissions on currency and finance including his 1919 appointment as the treasury s financial representative at the versailles peace conference that ended world war i 1advocacy of government intervention in the economykeynes father was an advocate of laissez faire economics an economic philosophy of free market capitalism that opposes government intervention keynes himself was a conventional believer in the principles of the free market and an active investor in the stock market during his time at cambridge however after the 1929 stock market crash triggered the great depression keynes came to believe that unrestricted free market capitalism was essentially flawed and needed to be reformulated not only to function better in its own right but also to outperform competitive systems like communism 2as a result he began advocating for government intervention to curb unemployment and correct economic recession in addition to government jobs programs he argued that increased government spending was necessary to decrease unemployment even if it meant a budget deficit 