Macroeconomics Without the Errors of Keynes


Book Description

Modern macroeconomics is in a stalemate, with seven schools of thought attempting to explain the workings of a monetary economy and to derive policies that promote economic growth with price-level stability. This book pinpoints as the source of this confusion errors made by Keynes in his reading of classical macroeconomics, in particular the classical Quantity Theory and the meaning of saving. It argues that if these misunderstandings are resolved, it will lead to economic policies consistent with promoting the employment and economic growth that Keynes was seeking. The book will be crucial reading for all scholars with an interest in the foundations of Keynes's theories, and anyone seeking to understand current debates regarding macroeconomic policy-making.




Macroeconomics without the Errors of Keynes


Book Description

Modern macroeconomics is in a stalemate, with seven schools of thought attempting to explain the workings of a monetary economy and to derive policies that promote economic growth with price-level stability. This book pinpoints as the source of this confusion errors made by Keynes in his reading of classical macroeconomics, in particular the classical Quantity Theory and the meaning of saving. It argues that if these misunderstandings are resolved, it will lead to economic policies consistent with promoting the employment and economic growth that Keynes was seeking. The book will be crucial reading for all scholars with an interest in the foundations of Keynes’s theories, and anyone seeking to understand current debates regarding macroeconomic policy-making.




John Maynard Keynes


Book Description

This book looks at the life of Keynes leading up to the writing of his seminal General Theory , examines the General Theory in detail, and explores how it differs from classical theory. The impact of Keynes's work on the economy postwar and up to the present day is also assessed.




Methodological Foundations of Macroeconomics


Book Description

This book is an investigation of the methodological and epistemological foundations of macroeconomic theory, based on an examination of the theories of Keynes and Lucas. It is divided into two parts. In the first Professor Vercelli discusses the methodological issues which lie behind the conflict among different schools of thought in macroeconomics (equilibrium and disequilibrium, risk and uncertainty, rationality and causality). These issues are central to the current debate not only in many branches of economics, but also in other scientific disciplines. The traditional point of view of science based on equilibrium, stability and determinism has been increasingly challenged by a new point of view in which disequilibrium, instability and uncertainty play a crucial role. This, the author argues, is bound to put macroeconomics in a new, more promising position. In the second part of the book the author compares the two main alternative research programmes in macroeconomics: that outlined by Keynes in his 'General Theory', and that suggested by Lucas, the leader of the new classical economists.




General Theory Of Employment , Interest And Money


Book Description

John Maynard Keynes is the great British economist of the twentieth century whose hugely influential work The General Theory of Employment, Interest and * is undoubtedly the century's most important book on economics--strongly influencing economic theory and practice, particularly with regard to the role of government in stimulating and regulating a nation's economic life. Keynes's work has undergone significant revaluation in recent years, and "Keynesian" views which have been widely defended for so long are now perceived as at odds with Keynes's own thinking. Recent scholarship and research has demonstrated considerable rivalry and controversy concerning the proper interpretation of Keynes's works, such that recourse to the original text is all the more important. Although considered by a few critics that the sentence structures of the book are quite incomprehensible and almost unbearable to read, the book is an essential reading for all those who desire a basic education in economics. The key to understanding Keynes is the notion that at particular times in the business cycle, an economy can become over-productive (or under-consumptive) and thus, a vicious spiral is begun that results in massive layoffs and cuts in production as businesses attempt to equilibrate aggregate supply and demand. Thus, full employment is only one of many or multiple macro equilibria. If an economy reaches an underemployment equilibrium, something is necessary to boost or stimulate demand to produce full employment. This something could be business investment but because of the logic and individualist nature of investment decisions, it is unlikely to rapidly restore full employment. Keynes logically seizes upon the public budget and government expenditures as the quickest way to restore full employment. Borrowing the * to finance the deficit from private households and businesses is a quick, direct way to restore full employment while at the same time, redirecting or siphoning




A History of Macroeconomics from Keynes to Lucas and Beyond


Book Description

This book retraces the history of macroeconomics from Keynes's General Theory to the present. Central to it is the contrast between a Keynesian era and a Lucasian - or dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) - era, each ruled by distinct methodological standards. In the Keynesian era, the book studies the following theories: Keynesian macroeconomics, monetarism, disequilibrium macro (Patinkin, Leijongufvud, and Clower) non-Walrasian equilibrium models, and first-generation new Keynesian models. Three stages are identified in the DSGE era: new classical macro (Lucas), RBC modelling, and second-generation new Keynesian modeling. The book also examines a few selected works aimed at presenting alternatives to Lucasian macro. While not eschewing analytical content, Michel De Vroey focuses on substantive assessments, and the models studied are presented in a pedagogical and vivid yet critical way.




An Encyclopedia of Keynesian Economics, Second edition


Book Description

Acclaim for the first edition: ÔThis easy-to-read collection . . . tells the whole story. Filled with short, well-written pieces, the encyclopedia covers the names and ideas that preceded Keynes, that carried his work to the center of the profession, and that eventually supplanted him there . . . There are excellent and unexpected articles on the Austrian school, the Lausanne school, and the Ricardo effect. There are well-done pieces on all the basic theoretical models at the heart of Keynesianism . . . [the] volume has been well put together. The editors deserve special praise for letting each contributor tell his own story. Those who oppose KeynesÕs ideas are just as well represented as those who carry the torch for him. This evenhandedness helps to ensure a volume that is truly representative and that will allow its users to get a full picture of the life and times of Keynesian economics.Õ Ð Bradley W. Bateman, Grinnell College, US ÔThe book will also be of some interest to serious scholars, partly because it includes biographies of many economists too young to have been included in the New Palgrave, such as Dornbusch, Fisher, Herschel Grossman, Kregel, Lucas, and Robert Townsend. It also includes some very interesting longer essays.Õ Ð Peter Howitt, The Economic Journal ÔThis book provides an excellent summary of the many strands of ÔKeynesianÕ- style thought both before and after 1936. Its well-considered entries take care to make explicit the assumptions and fundamental points of difference between theories too often concealed by the parents and advocates of specific theories in their zeal to promote the universality of the ideas. There is scarcely an entry that suffers from wordiness and repetition; the readerÕs scarce time is not abused.Õ Ð Elizabeth Webster, Economic Record ÔThis reviewer found using this source exhilarating and endowed with additional interest in view of the 1997 discussion on the inclusion or noninclusion of Keynesian economics in introductory economics textbooks. The editors should be applauded for helping to preserve a part of intellectual heritage.Õ Ð Bogdan Mieczkowski, American Reference Books ÔIt is the best single reference source on Keynesian economics and will be welcomed by students and teachers in economics as well as scholars in related social sciences and government policy makers.Õ Ð Educational Book Review This thoroughly revised and updated second edition of a highly acclaimed and authoritative reference work introduces the major concepts in the field of Keynesian economics. The comprehensive Encyclopedia features accessible, informative and provocative contributions by leading international scholars working in the tradition of Keynes. It brings together widely dispersed yet theoretically congruent ideas, presents concise biographies of economists who have contributed to the debate on Keynes and the Keynesian Revolution, and outlines the basic principles, models and tools used to discuss the economic consequences of The General Theory. Longer entries on specific topics associated with Keynes and the Keynesian Revolution analyse the principal factors that contributed to The General Theory, the economics of Keynes and the rise and apparent decline of Keynesian economics in greater detail. The second edition will ensure that An Encyclopedia of Keynesian Economics will remain the best single reference source on Keynesian economics and will continue to be welcomed by academics, students and teachers of economics as well as by scholars in related social sciences and government policymakers.




Macroeconomics After Keynes


Book Description

This reassessment of J. M. Keynes's The General Theory of Employment, Interest andMoney results from the author's experience in using Keynes's book as the core of her macroeconomicscourses for undergraduates. It is intended to encourage others to bring the General Theory back intomainstream teaching, because it "gives a far richer understanding of the structure of macroeconomicinteractions and methods of analysing them than much of what has been written since."Victoria Chickis Lecturer in Economics at University College, London.




Say's Law and the Keynesian Revolution


Book Description

This is an examination of the concept of the Law of Markets, controversial since Keynes' General Theory, and also debated even longer, since James Mill propounded it 200 years ago. Kates suggests that Keynes' General Theory originated in Keynes' discovery of Malthus's writings about Say's Law.




Maynard's Revenge


Book Description

It is now widely agreed that mainstream macroeconomics is irrelevant and that there is need for a more useful and realistic economic analysis that can provide a better understanding of the ongoing global financial and economic crisis. Lance Taylor’s book exposes the unrealistic assumptions of the rational expectations and real business cycle approaches and of mainstream finance theory. It argues that in separating monetary and financial behavior from real behavior, they do not address the ways that consumption, accumulation, and the government play in the workings of the economy. Taylor argues that the ideas of J. M. Keynes and others provide a more useful framework both for understanding the crisis and for dealing with it effectively. Keynes’s basic points were fundamental uncertainty and the absence of Say’s Law. He set up machinery to analyze the macro economy under such circumstances, including the principle of effective demand, liquidity preference, different rules for determining commodity and asset prices, distinct behavioral patterns of different collective actors, and the importance of thinking in terms of complete macro accounting schemes. Economists working in this tradition also worked out growth and cycle models. Employing these ideas throughout Maynard’s Revenge, Taylor provides an analytical narrative about the causes of the crisis, and suggestions for dealing with it.