Macroeconomic Theory And Its Failings

This innovative book focuses on the current global financial crisis and the inadequacies of the economic theories being used to guide policy. In so doing, it tackles the economic theories that have been used firstly to understand its causes and thereafter to contain the damage it has brought.

The Great Depression of the 1930s gave birth to a branch of economics christened macroeconomics. This highly readable book presents an unconventional and timely perspective on macroeconomics – the interplay of theory and policy in a historical context.

This book is basically concerned with the problems of unemployment, economic instability, inflation, and economic growth.

The tasks of macroeconomics are to interpret observations on economic aggregates in terms of the motivations and constraints of economic agents and to predict the consequences of alternative hypothetical ways of administering government economic policy. General equilibrium models form a convenient context for analyzing such alternative government policies. In the past ten years, the strengths of general equilibrium models and the corresponding deficiencies of Keynesian and monetarist models of the 1960s have induced macroeconomists to begin applying general equilibrium models. This book describes some general equilibrium models that are dynamic, that have been built to help interpret time-series of observations of economic aggregates and to predict the consequences of alternative government interventions. The first part of the book describes dynamic programming, search theory, and real dynamic capital pricing models. Among the applications are stochastic optimal growth models, matching models, arbitrage pricing theories, and theories of interest rates, stock prices, and options. The remaining parts of the book are devoted to issues in monetary theory; currency-in-utility-function models, cash-in-advance models, Townsend turnpike models, and overlapping generations models are all used to study a set of common issues. By putting these models to work on concrete problems in exercises offered throughout the text, Sargent provides insights into the strengths and weaknesses of these models of money. An appendix on functional analysis shows the unity that underlies the mathematics used in disparate areas of rational expectations economics. This book on dynamic equilibrium macroeconomics is suitable for graduate-level courses; a companion book, Exercises in Dynamic Macroeconomic Theory, provides answers to the exercises and is also available from Harvard University Press.

Trying to summarize the essentials of macroeconomic theory in the wake of the financial crisis that has shaken not only Western economies but also the macroeconomic profession is no easy task. In particular, the notion that markets are self-correcting and always in equilibrium appears to have taken a heavy blow. However, the jury is still out on which areas should be considered as failures and what which constitute the future of research. The overall aim of this text is to provide a compact overview of the contributions that are currently regarded as the most important for macroeconomic analysis and to equip the reader with the essential theoretical knowledge that all advanced students in macroeconomics should be acquainted with. The result is a compact text that should act as the perfect complement to further study of macroeconomics: an introduction to the key concepts discussed in the journal literature and suitable for students from upper undergraduate level through to PhD courses.

lE. King Michael Kalecki (1899-1970) was one of the most important, and also one of the most underrated, economists of the twentieth century. In the 1930s he made a series of fundamental contributions to macroeconomic theory which anticipated, complemented and in some ways surpassed those of Keynes. Almost entirely self-educated in economics, and influenced rul much by Marxism as by mainstream theory, Kalecki very largely escaped the fatal embrace of pre-Keynesian orthodoxy, which blunted the thrust of the General Theory. Many Post Keynesians, in particular, have found in his work the elements of a convincing alternative to what Joan Robinson -Kalecki's greatest advocate in the English-speaking world - was scathingly to describe as 'bastard Keynesianism' . But Kalecki was never interested in theory for its own sake. He approached economics from a practical perspective, wrote extensively on applied and policy questions, and in the [mal decades of his life turned his attention increasingly to problems of economic development and the management of state socialist economies.

Since the publication of Keynes's General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in 1936, macroeconomic theory has altered considerably. Each author in this volume focuses on an issue which either preceded, accompanied or followed the 'Keynesian Revolution' and helped to shape economics in subsequent years. Contributors reconsider some of the major concepts of the "General Theory": unemployment and the identity of income and output. They also highlight some of the controversies in macroeconomic theory and review the macroeconomic policy implications and consequences.

Macroeconomic Principles and Problems: A Pluralist Introduction offers a comprehensive overview of the major topics in modern macroeconomics, from mainstream and heterodox perspectives. This textbook examines the key macroeconomic problems and policy debates facing contemporary society, including economic crises, sustainability, fiscal and monetary policy, government debt, state-led vs. market-led approaches for growth, and unregulated trade vs. protectionism. Written in an engaging style and focused on real-world examples, this textbook brings macroeconomics to life. Multiple examples of how each economic model works, coupled with critical analysis of the assumptions behind them, enable students to develop a sophisticated understanding of the material. Digital supplements are also available for students and instructors. Macroeconomic Principles and Problems offers the most contemporary and complete package for any pluralist macroeconomics principles class.