An anatomy of the concept of time in Maynard Keynes

One of the most striking changes in economic thinking which comes primarily with John Maynard Keynes is his explicit focus on time. For example, it appears early in a part of Keynes’ writings that prediction is a very difficult matter. Due to the significant lack of prediction of future uncertainty is thus relatively early a central theme of Keynes’ economic thinking. This fact about prediction also implies that Keynes’ makes a clear distinction between short-term and long-term expectations.
Theory was to be concerned mainly with the present and with short period situations and this explicit attention to the concept of time and subsequent alternative method of analysis has led to a number of innovations in economic thinking. This paper will attack Keynes' handling of the concept of time from three angles: studying his philosophical background, his understanding of society and his development of economic theory.