This book retraces the history of macroeconomics from Keynes's General Theory to the present. Central to it is the contrast between a Keynesian era and a Lucasian - or dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) - era, each ruled by distinct methodological standards. In the Keynesian era, the book studies the following theories: Keynesian macroeconomics, monetarism, disequilibrium macro (Patinkin, Leijongufvud, and Clower) non-Walrasian equilibrium models, and first-generation new Keynesian models. Three stages are identified in the DSGE era: new classical macro (Lucas), RBC modelling, and second-generation new Keynesian modeling. The book also examines a few selected works aimed at presenting alternatives to Lucasian macro. While not eschewing analytical content, Michel De Vroey focuses on substantive assessments, and the models studied are presented in a pedagogical and vivid yet critical way.

This book retraces the history of macroeconomics from Keynes's General Theory to the present. Central to it is the contrast between a Keynesian era and a Lucasian - or dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) - era, each ruled by distinct methodological standards. In the Keynesian era, the book studies the following theories: Keynesian macroeconomics, monetarism, disequilibrium macroeconomics (Patinkin, Leijongufvud and Clower), non-Walrasian equilibrium models, and first-generation new Keynesian models. Three stages are identified in the DSGE era: new classical macroeconomics (Lucas), RBC modelling, and second-generation new Keynesian modeling. The book also examines a few selected works aimed at presenting alternatives to Lucasian macroeconomics. While not eschewing analytical content, Michel De Vroey focuses on substantive assessments, and the models studied are presented in a pedagogical and vivid yet critical way.

This book offers an excellent survey of various macroeconomic topics which feature prominently in the research agenda and have inspired both theoretical and policy debate. The book presents an authoritative and comprehensive summary and original critique of modern macroeconomic approaches by a scholar whose own contribution to the field is considerable. In each of his seven chapters, the author reviews one school of economic thought. These are: the Keynesian school of macroeconomics; the monetarist school; the New Classical school; the New-Keynesian school; supply side macroeconomics, and `non-monetary' models of macroeconomics - the real business cycle theory and the `structuralist school' which views changes in unemployment as the outcome of shifts in the structural characteristics of the economy. The book is the text of the first series of Ryde Lectures, established by Lund University in Sweden.

The world financial crisis of 2007–2008 dramatically showed the importance of credit and financial relations for the efficient working of the economy. For a long time mainstream macroeconomics ignored these aspects and concentrated only on the real sector or just took into account the most elementary picture of the financial side of the economy. This book aims at explaining why this happened through an historical excursion of 20th century mainstream macroeconomic theory.

John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) was the most important economist of the twentieth century. He was also a philosopher who wrote on ethics and the theory of probability and was a central figure in the Bloomsbury Group of writers and artists. In this volume contributors from a wide range of disciplines offer new interpretations of Keynes's thought, explain the links between Keynes's philosophy and his economics, and place his work and Keynesianism - the economic theory, the principles of economic policy, and the political philosophy - in their historical context. Chapter topics include Keynes's philosophical engagement with G. E. Moore and Franz Brentano, his correspondence, the role of his General Theory in the creation of modern macroeconomics, and the many meanings of Keynesianism. New readers will find this the most convenient, accessible guide to Keynes currently available. Advanced students and specialists will find a conspectus of recent developments in the interpretation of Keynes.

This work provides up-to-date discussions of recent developments in modern macroeconomics; it also features interviews with leading economists that aim to shed new light on the major intellectual and policy issues of the 1990s.

This book makes Keynes's writing on his General Theory accessible to students by presenting this theory in a careful, consistent manner that is faithful to the original. Keynes's theory continues to be important, because the issues it raised, such as the problems of involuntary unemployment, the volatility of investment, and the complexity of monetary arrangements in modern capitalist economies, are still with us. Keynes's method of analysis, which tries to allow for the complications of dealing with historical time, deserves the careful attention given in this book. Keynes's formal analysis dealt only with a short period of time during which changes in productive capacity as a result of net investment were small relative to initial productive capacity. Roy Harrod and Joan Robinson were the two most prominent followers of Keynes who attempted to extend his analysis to the long period by allowing for the effects of investment on productive capacity as well as on effective demand. The careful examination of their writings on this topic is a natural complement to the presentation of Keynes's General Theory and makes clear the severe limitations on any use of equilibrium concepts in dealing with accumulation in models that try to observe Keynes's warnings about an unknowable future in the type of world we inhabit.