Keyenes e Hayek: o otimismo de Cambridge confronta o fatalismo de Viena

Abstract

This article aims to identify how economic science uses the concept of homo economicus. It seeks to understand how the rationality of individuals is interpreted in the approaches of two major economists of the Twentieth Century: John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek. Although they start from the same understanding of individual rationality, these authors arrive at quite different conclusions about the governmental performance. While Keynes emphasizes the need for state action to resolve crises caused by agents' irrational behavior, Hayek points out that it is state interference that amplifies crises and that these would be more quickly overcome if the market were to act freely.