John Maynard Keynes, UK (1883-1946)
Economist whose theories have influenced governments on both sides of the Atlantic, born in Cambridge, UK. He was responsible for that part of economics now known as macroeconomics. When he predicted in The Economic Consequences of the Peace (1919), the consequences of imposing obligations the defeated Germany would not be able to meet, Keynes became the centre of controversy. However he met fame when his worst fears were realised. Also critical of Britain's return to the gold standard in 1925, he accurately predicted the rapid increase in unemployment.
In both World Wars he was an adviser to the Treasury. His views on a planned economy influenced Roosevelt's "New Deal" administration. The unemployment crises inspired his two great works, A Treatise on Money (1930) and the revolutionary General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936). He was the chief British delegate at the Bretton Woods Conference in 1944, playing a leading part in its formulation. In addition, it was his plan, welded with similar American proposals, that led to the establishment of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.