Reading @zachdcarter’s excellent biography of Keynes there’s a fantastic parallel to be drawn between him and Polanyi

Both men witnessed the unraveling of laissez-faire in 1929 and deduced that capitalism was an inherently unstable economic construct. From there, Keynes sought to save it through state intervention and socialisation of investment while Polanyi looked for a system to replace it

Also funny to learn that both men were fascinated by ancient Babylonian economy. Keynes wrote to his wife that he had spent nights studying the issue which was also one of Polanyi’s main research interests

Keynes and Polanyi both realised the tremendous influence of economists over public opinion and politicians. Polanyi was mainly critical of it while Keynes saw it as an opportunity to make the case for his policies.

They also shared the idea that the modern state was a neutral instrument of power that could be used both for and against capitalism. This argument has often been criticised by Marxists as a naive account of how the modern state works (especially in the case of Polanyi).

Finally and perhaps most importantly they are both heirs of the Enlightenment tradition. However, they both understood the increasing tension between liberal political philosophy and economic liberalism.

Their ultimate ambition was to save political liberalism by getting rid of economic liberalism.