John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes ,
CB,
FBA ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an
English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of modern
macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. He built on and greatly refined earlier work on the causes of
business cycles, and is widely considered to be one of the most influential economists of the 20th century and the founder of modern macroeconomics. His ideas are the basis for the
school of thought known as
Keynesian economics and its various offshoots.