William Blake on the Effects of Government Fiscal Policy on Activity and Prices
考察了威廉·布莱克1823年小册子中关于英国战争支出与税收对经济活动和通胀的影响，以及战后财政紧缩导致经济停滞的论点，指出布莱克是萨伊定律的批评者，其思想具有凯恩斯主义色彩。
In 1823, William Blake (1774-1852) published the pamphlet Observations of the Effects Produced by the Expenditure of Government during the Restriction of Cash Payments, which made a significant contribution to debate about the economic effects of government fiscal policy during the French wars (1793-1815) and the postwar period of economic stagnation in Britain. This article is concerned with critically examining Blake’s arguments on the effect of British government war expenditure and taxes on economic activity and price inflation during the wars and then on the role of the subsequent retrenchment of government expenditure in explaining postwar economic stagnation. The essay shows that Blake was an ardent critic of Say’s law and argued that the postwar British economic depression characterized by a persistent general glut of commodities was the result of a lack of demand, which was mainly brought about by a policy of fiscal austerity. In this connection it is shown that Blake believed capital accumulation to be demand constrained, with many of his insights into the accumulation process essentially “Keynesian” (or “Kaleckian”) in spirit.