At its most extreme, orthodox (mainstream) economics is an apologia for capitalism. Greed is good; property is sacrosanct; the consumer is sovereign; competition is healthy; unemployment is voluntary; and free markets are efficient. So long as markets are allowed to function, without impediment, all is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. Orthodox economics is a collection of ideas that (at its core) sets out the extraordinary power of markets to deliver economic well-being.

To take on such a powerful and dominant stream of thought, two major thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are called upon. Karl Marx, originally from Prussia (now Germany), was exiled for a large part of his adult life to live in London, where he established his international reputation as a journalist, political activist, economist and philosopher, before his death in 1883. In that same year, John Maynard Keynes was born in Cambridge, England: going on to become a highly respected academic economist, journalist and adviser to the British establishment. They had different politics. Whereas Marx wanted to overthrow capitalism and replace it with a new socialist form of organization, Keynes wanted reform in order to prevent a collapse of civil society. But each was able to identify serious flaws in the capitalist system, each inspiring schools of thought that feature heavily in the fabric of heterodox economics as we know it today.

This first chapter introduces the ideas of Marx and Keynes, set in their different historical contexts, as a foundational starting point for heterodox economics.