Tag Archives: John Maynard Keynes

Economics as a Moral Science. American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 2011

The annual Papers & Proceedings issue of the American Economic Review is always a good read. It is literally full of papers from leading scholars on the newest “hot” topics in the profession as well as updates on the status of more enduring topics. The format of the issue is ideal for those who want a fairly quick introduction or refresher on a subject, since each is covered by three to four short papers that made up the corresponding session at the recent winter meetings of the American Economic Association. For those who think that economics is a narrow-minded science, it is recommended to pick up the latest issue to … Continue reading

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The Importance of Capital Theory? Supply-side Economics With a Vengeance

From Brad DeLong’s weblog (where it came from Mark Toma), I was directed back to Paul Krugman’s NYT blog, where he comments on a 2008 blog post by Robert P. Murphy on the Austrian capital theory. I am not an expert on Austrian economics, so it is interesting to read a piece by one I guess is a prominent figure within that school. My guess is based on visiting the web-site mises.org, where one sees that Murphy is/or has been teaching at the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and I reckon they wouldn’t let him do that, if he wasn’t somewhat representative of the Austrian school. Also, on his own blog, … Continue reading

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The Fiscal Multiplier Wrestling Marathon

Welcome to the academic wrestling match of the recent years. In the left corner, Paul Krugman (with assistance from Bradford DeLong)! In the right corner, John Cochrane (with assistance from Eugene Fama)! They will fight over the size of the Fiscal Multiplier in a match where any trick may, can, and will be used. Both are heavyweights in the economics profession with one of them even with a Nobel Prize to his credit! This is a match not to miss. Well, this is actually not funny at all. But one of the most important questions in macroeconomics, how effective is expansionary fiscal policy in a recession, have recently been subject … Continue reading

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Dead economists can’t analyze the present

Of course they can’t. Yet, many pick up some dead economist and speculate what he or she would have thought about some current economic incident or policy. For example, even though a whole industry is still devoted to try figuring out what Keynes actually meant when he wrote The General Theory three quarters of a century ago, many discuss Keynes’ “advice” for policy in the present times of economic slump. While interesting from the perspective of the History of Economic Thought, it sometimes seem as a lot of wasted intellectual resources. Never mind about what Keynes would or would not have thought. Read him and learn, but don’t bestow him … Continue reading

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