The Rhetoric and Literary Style of J. M. Keynes in The Economic Consequences of the Peace:

When published in 1919 The Economic Consequences of the Peace attracted considerable controversy and its author, Maynard Keynes became a widely known name among other economists and the public. Although there has been considerable debate as to the intentions and nature of the book, Keynes himself intended this to be a serious analysis of the economic consequences of the Versailles Conference and the subsequent Treaty between Germany and the Allies that followed the end of World War One. However, on a first reading it is the politics and rhetoric of the prose that strikes the reader rather than any persuasiveness of economic arguments. Published reactions in the first few years of the books release support this view. However, on closer reading of the text, and a critical analysis of the many references and allusions used by Keynes in Economic Consequences, there is strong support for Keynes ’ own argument that this was a serious economic study. Based on Donald McCloskey’s argument in The Rhetoric of Economics that economists use of mathematical models and statistical tests can be seen as ‘figures of speech – metaphors, analogies, and appeals to authority, ’ a close study of the many statistics provided by Keyne