Michal Kalecki: An “Isolated” Economist—Review of the Two-Volume Biography of Michal Kalecki by Jan Toporowski

Michal Kalecki is an “isolated” economist. On the one hand, isolation makes Kalecki's economic thought has its unique value, on the other hand, isolation makes Kalecki's economic thought not easy to be accepted by modern economics. Based on Jan Toporowski's two-volume biography of Michal Kalecki, this paper hopes to present a more complete Michal Kalecki. This paper focuses on Kalecki's 1933 pamphlet and 1939 collection, reflecting on Kalecki's argumentative methods while pointing out his contributions, and further examining Kalecki's argumentative methods through Keynes' criticism. This paper gives a general review of Kalecki and briefly discusses how to view Kalecki today. Kalecki's economic thought has its unique value, but it needs to be viewed objectively and comparatively. Kalecki needs to strengthen his links with modern mainstream economics and other schools of economics, to enrich the missing elements of his research, and to relax the relatively strict assumptions.