It might seem campy, but Keynes has a lot to say about the significance economic policy (or long term lack thereof)
"In the long run we are all dead anyway." -- John Maynard Keynes, Tract on Monetary Reform, vol. 4, p. 65
Keynes is widely venerated though most students never actually read his work. Nobody had a greater impact on the study of
economics in the 20th century, though in both
quantitative and
qualitative terms the subject still leaves a surprising amount to be desired (see caveats in previous writeups for sample weaknesses). Keynes played an interesting and influential role during and after the
Second World War for
Great Britain, whose economic
greatness was only a fond memory in the immediate postwar period.
Economics remains best studied with hindsight-- observe the parade of failed economic predictions on CNN for the present state of economic prediction.