Tag Archives: Keynes

Una introduzione, spero accessibile, a Garegnani (in inglese però). Buona lettura.Garegnani, Ackley and the years of high theory at Svimez Sergio Cesaratto Centro Sraffa WP 26 (December 2017)In the late 1950s, Svimez was an influential research centre on Italian economic and regional policies. It was advised and visited by top international development experts and by leading Italian economists. Pierangelo Garegnani, fresh from his seminal Ph.D. thesis on capital theory at Cambridge,...

Appena pubblicato sui Working papers di Siena Bofinger and Ries versus Borio and Disyatat: macroeconomics after endogenous money. A brief note. Sergio Cesaratto Abstract A paper by Peter Bofinger and Mathias Ries (2017a/b) strays from the recent rethinking in monetary analysis to criticise Summers’ “saving glut” explanation of the prevalence of low real interest rates. A similar critical perspective is held by Borio and Disyatat (e.g. 2011a/b, 2015), who are criticised, however, by...

The Economist new series on 'big ideas' tackled in a recent issue the concept of the natural rate unemployment (subscription required; other ideas included Say's Law and Human Capital, just to give you the broad picture of what they think it's big). I will only comment very briefly on two issues, one related to the history of ideas and the other to the concept itself.The Economist suggests that the natural rate of unemployment can somehow be connected to the ideas of Keynes. In their...

Echoing some of the arguments discussed here in the blog (for a list of posts on free trade go here, and for the effect of free trade on the Trump election here, here and here) Robert Wade suggests that the economics profession defense of "Free Trade" might have something to do with the election of Trump. Wade's phrase is perfect (apparently Adrian Wood came up with it): "Like Gresham’s Law, 'alternative facts' drive out facts." The alternative fact here is the theory of comparative...

By Lance TaylorCan America recover ideal rates of growth through interest-rate policies? This important analysis suggests that most economists misunderstand the issue. Updating Keynes, the analysis suggests that fiscal stimulus, labor union bargaining power, and more progressive income taxes are needed to support growth. (The article includes some algebra, which some readers may choose to skip.)The main points of this paper are that loanable-funds macroeconomic models with their “natural”...

From Rod O'DonnellDECEMBER 8, 2016. THE CLOSING DATE FOR THE CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN FOR THE JMK WRITINGS PROJECT. I thank, from the bottom of my heart, all those who have backed the campaign, with donations ranging from USD5 to USD1,000. Almost everyone has said complimentary things about the proposed edition (‘great idea’, ‘wonderful project’, ‘best of luck’ etc), but far fewer have followed up with contributions. The bottom line is this. Funds are essential if the edition is to be...

New paper on INET. Here is from Lance's conclusion: ... writing in the General Theory after leaving his Wicksellian phase, Keynes said that “... I had not then understood that, in certain conditions, the system could be in equilibrium with less than full employment….I am now no longer of the opinion that the concept of a ‘natural’ rate of interest, which previously seemed to me a most promising idea, has anything very useful or significant to contribute to our analysis (pp. 242-43).”...

OVERALL AIM: To complete the publication of ALL of Keynes’s remaining unpublished writings of academic significance. Only about ONE THIRD were published in the Royal Economic Society edition. A huge quantity of VALUABLE unpublished material remains, scattered across 60 archives in 6 countries. AIM OF THIS CAMPAIGN: Preparation of the Eton and early Cambridge volumes. CAMPAIGN START: 11 October 2016. TO LOCATE PROJECT: Google ‘JMK Writings Project Indiegogo’. It is also planned, with...

My favorite is still Essays in the Theory of Economic Growth Back from a summer road trip. Should start to blog more consistently soon. Here a new paper from John King in the last issue of ROKE. From the abstract: Joan Robinson's magnum opus, The Accumulation of Capital, was published 60 years ago, in 1956. I begin this diamond jubilee assessment by explaining the intellectual background to the book, placing Robinson's attempt to ‘generalise the General Theory’ in the context of the...