Coddington on Keynesianism in this way will be fruitful only to the is only one agency making deliberate acts tent that there exist stable relationships of choice; that one agency is"the govern between these overall Aows. And it is my ment. And it is the belief that there are contention that the central characteristic indeed stable relations amo, that provides ng the various of"hydraulic Keynesianism"is the belief overall fows in the econo that such stable relationships do exist at a basis for"the government"to pursue its the aggregate level. It is this belief that policy goals regarding the overall level of gives some point to the hydraulic concep- economic activity and hence, relatedly, of tion;without such a belief the conception the level of employment. It is the stability would simply be a matter of national in. of these aggregate relationships that pro come accounting, not of economic theory. vides"the government"with the leverage It should be noted that the aows it needs to influence those Aows that are volved in this conception are Aows of ex- not under its direct control. By making penditure, income or output. That is to deliberate choices for the Aows it does say,neither prices nor quantities per control (via the budget), and bearing in period make a separate appearance: they mind the(allegedly) stable relationships appear inextricably in the contribution between this and the other Aows that are each makes to the overall fows of spend- objects of concern for economic policy, ing and receipts. It should now be appar- "the government"can, in principle, exer- ent why the belief in the existence of, and cise an indirect control on the overall level the attempt to establish, stable relation-(although not the composition) of the ships between the overall Aows is radically that are not the objects of anyone's delib- inconsistent with reductionism. For any erate choice. That is the story. On the face reductionist program must give a crucial of it, it may appear a major triumph in the role in its theorizing to prices as such(not march of human reason: a dramatic and to the contribution they make to overall irreversible extension of the boundaries of spending fows). The grounds for this view political responsibility. Instead of unem- are that it is prices as such that provide the ployment and depression being seen and incentives that individuals face in making accepted passively, like the weather, they the choices on which the whole scheme is are to be seen as matters for human will to rest. This does not mean that hydraulic and design, something that hi pianism can alloy nt of central be played by prices; when we come to government, could actually resist and think of such prices as embracing wage remedy. 8 As an idea it looked both simple rates and interest rates, we can see that and good; accordingly, it was, at the end this cannot be so. Correspondingly, it does of the war, rapidly assimilated to both the not mean that reductionism is incapable policy statements and rhetoric of all major of allowing overall Aows to play any part political parties. 9 in its scheme. Since these are alternative programs for theorizing, rather than alter- 8 This changed attitude did not come easily or quickly, and fundamental attitudes had been under native theories, they revolve around mat. going a process of erosion for some decades by the ters of emphasis. They do not concern time Keynes came on the scene. For a painstaking what can or cannot play a part in a theory, Harris (7, 1972) on of this process in Britain, see Jose but what can or cannot play a central part. The major bridge in Britain between Keynesian In fact, contrary to the standpoint as- doctrines and sociated with reductionism, hydraulic recognition in the White Paper Employment Policy Keynesianism is a scheme in which there [6, 1944)