Money Method And Contemporary Post Keynesian Economics

This volume concentrates on contemporary Post-Keynesian contributions in money, method and economic policy. Post-Keynesian economics shares with Keynes the ambition of understanding the economy as a whole and as an integrated part of society. The book begins by analysing money, banks and finance as dynamic phenomena, followed by chapters focusing on methodological themes such as uncertainty, longer-term issues, sustainability and other non-monetary economic activities.

Rochon (economics and banking, Kalamazoo College) uses a horizontalist perspective to offer a historical overview of the post-Keynesian and circuit approaches to endogenous money, and provides an informed critique of the development of post-Keynesian economics. He argues that rather than emphasizing the early writings of Minsky, Kaldor, and Tobin in the 1950s and of Davidson and Rousseas later, post Keynesians ought to have followed the writings of Joan Robinson and Richard Kahn who offered better theories of credit-money.

During the past five years, crises in the US savings and loan industry, commercial banks, and other financial institutions have borne out the ideas that Rousseas expressed in the first edition. His main theme stresses the role of innovation in the financial sector of the economy and its implications for control of the money supply and credit, as well as the larger issue of macroeconomic policy. He holds a Post-Keynesian view of an elastic and endogenous money supply that is largely founded on the "general liquidity thesis" of the Radcliffe Committee. Indeed, the elasticity of the credit structure is even greater than the Radcliffe Committee originally claimed. Tables and charts are revised through 1990, and the text has been revised accordingly. An expanded preface to the revised edition makes this book very relevant to contemporary problems and policy.

In analyzing money, contemporary economics has focused its attention on money's function as a store of value, neglecting its role as medium of circulation. When circulation is put center stage, it becomes apparent that the supply of money does indeed adapt to the needs of trade - and does so in many different ways, often ways that are difficult for a central bank to control, because they reflect the responses of banks and other financial institutions to market incentives. But money's role in circulation must be coordinated with its store of value function, and both with finance. Failure here can lead to instability. The essays in this volume by internationally renowned economists cover these issues in original and contrasting analyses, presenting the American post-Keynesian perspective, on the one hand, and the point of view of the French Circulation School, on the other.

Alfred Eichner's pioneering contributions to post-Keynesian econmics offered significant insights on the way modern economies and institutions actually work. Published in 1987, his "Macrodynamics of Advanced Market Economies" contains rich chapters on dynamics and growth, investment, finance and income distribution, a timely chapter on the State and fiscal policy, and two analytical chapters on endogenous money that are years ahead of their time. Featuring chapters by many of Eichner's disciples, this book celebrates his rich contributions to post-Keynesian economics, and demonstrates that his work is in many ways as valid today as it was over two decades ago.

This Modern Guide advances Post-Keynesian Institutional economics, an integrative tradition—inspired by keen economic observers such as John Kenneth Galbraith, Joan Robinson, and Hyman Minsky—that bridges Institutional and Post Keynesian economics. The tradition proved its worth by addressing the global financial crisis of 2007–2009, as well as by analyzing long-term trends accompanying the evolution of investor-driven (“money manager”) capitalism, including financialization, spreading worker insecurity, and rising inequality. The book begins with the history and contours of Post-Keynesian Institutionalism, and then breaks new ground, extending recent analyses of contemporary economic problems, sharpening concepts and methods, sketching new theories, and synthesizing ideas across research traditions.

In these twelve essays, spanning fifteen years, Victoria Chick develops a distinctive view of macroeconomics (especially the economics of Keynes) and monetary theory. By careful and rigorous analysis in which nothing is taken for granted, she uncovers the implicit assumptions of economic theory and argues, in a variety of contexts, that differences of economic method and the influence of the stylised facts are decisive forces, both in the construction of theories and in appraising their contemporary relevance.

Original articles by leading scholars of post Keynesian economics make up this authoritative collection. Current topics of the greatest interest are covered, such as: perspectives on current economic policy; post Keynesian approaches to monetary theory and policy; economic development, growth and inflation; Kaleckian perspectives on distribution; economic methodology; and history of heterodox economic theory. The contributors explore a variety of prevailing issues including: wage bargaining and monetary policy in the EMU; the meaning of money in the internet age; stability conditions for small open economies; and economic policies of sustainable development in countries transitioning to a market economy. Other enduring matters are examined through the lens of economic theorists - Kaleckian dynamics and evolutionary life cycles; a comparison between Keynes's and Hayek's economic theories; and an analysis of the power of the firm based on the work of Joan Robinson, to name a few. Students and scholars of post Keynesian economics and those with an interest in other heterodox schools of thought will find this enlightening volume a valuable addition to their reading.