Lars P. Syll

 [embedded content] If your German isn’t to rusty, this lecture by Hagen Krämer might give you some interesting reflections on the rather sad state of ‘modern’ macroeconomics.

Friedman on the limited value of econometrics Tinbergen’s results cannot be judged by ordinary tests of statistical significance. The reason is that the variables with which he winds up, the particular series measuring these variables, the leads and lags, and various other aspects of the equations besides the particular values of the parameters (which alone can be tested by the usual statistical technique) have been selected after an extensive process of trial and error because they yield...

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Macroeconomics after the financial crisis A new volume of Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy series is out, featuring accessible, informative and provocative contributions by leading Post-Keynesian scholars on the shortcomings of mainstream microfoundeds DSGE modeling and the need for new — relevant and realist — views on economic — both fiscal and monetary — policies. Oh, and yes, yours truly is one of the contributors — as are e. g. James Galbraith, Engelbert Stockhammer and Jesper...

Keynes’ deadheads — still alive I am not confident, however, that on this occasion the cheap-money phase will be sufficient by itself to bring about an adequate recovery of new investment. It may still be the case that the lender, with his confidence shattered by his experiences, will continue to ask for new enterprise rates of interest which the borrower cannot expect to earn … If this proves to be so, there will be no means of escape from prolonged and perhaps interminable depression...

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Vienna and me (personal) An absolutely fabulous week in Vienna with visits to Café Central, Hofburg, Vienna State Opera, Belvedere, Pratern, etc., etc., but also, of course, giving a couple of lectures. Many thanks to University of Vienna, Rote Börsenkrach, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, Society for Pluralism in Economics, and The Austrian Chamber of Labour.

Krugman and ‘what Keynes really meant’ Paul Krugman has often been criticized by people like yours truly for getting things pretty wrong on  the economics of  John Maynard Keynes. When Krugman has responded to the critique, by himself rather gratuitously portrayed as about ‘what Keynes really meant,’ the overall conclusion is — ‘Krugman doesn’t care.’ Responding to a post up here on the blog, Krugman writes: Surely we don’t want to do economics via textual analysis of the masters. The...

So much for pluralism … It comes as no surprise to me—but it probably does to everyone outside of economics—that a senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow, Alberto Paloni, an expert in post-Keynesian theory, has been stopped from teaching a core degree module on macroeconomics. This, after an essay in the Royal Economic Society newsletter specifically cited Paloni’s course as introducing a necessary pluralism into the teaching of economics … All Paloni did was teach students some Post...