Simkhovitch, "Rome's Fall Reconsidered", p220-221:
The owners of the rundown farms are impoverished, and when a farmer is economically sinking he is not in a position to improve his land. Only one with sufficient resources can improve his land...
The exceptional man might pull himself up under adverse conditions, but on the other hand a man of such exceptional resourcefulness and ability will not permit such deterioration of his farm. But whatever the exceptional man may or may not do, here we are dealing with the average men, the habitual victims of circumstance.
Keynes, the General Theory, chapter 24:
Hitherto the increment of the world’s wealth has fallen short of the aggregate of positive individual savings; and the difference has been made up by the losses of those whose courage and initiative have not been supplemented by exceptional skill or unusual good fortune. But if effective demand is adequate, average skill and average good fortune will be enough.
Simkhovitch identifies a problem. Keynes offers a solution.
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