Most re cent contributions to disequilibrium theory have a high level of abstraction. Empirical studies explicitly based on disequilibrium are still relatively scarce. However, empirical macro economics anticipated the theoretical development, and amalgamated classical and Keynesian elements often without a clear-cut formal base. Now a theoretical integration of neo-classical and neo-Keynesian economics seems under way. There is a renewed interest in the micro-economic foundations of macroeconomics with a special focus on the behaviour of economic agents operating in non-clearing markets. In some instances these theoretical developments offer an ex post justification for empirical macro-economic practices. Generally however, they call for new ways of empirical macro-economic model building. This study operates on the border line between empirical macro economics and theoretical disequilibrium macro-economic theory. Our interest in macro-economic disequilibrium originates from the empirical side. Foreign trade relations for several countries revealed significant pressure of demand effects. Hence, the spillover of excess demand in domestic markets to foreign markets seemed a rather general phenomenon. This fact could be explained by a theory that states that actual demand for products from domestic ftrms will gene rally and systematically differ from the ex ante demand as suggested by equilibrium analysis. This latter demand concept comes close to Clower's 'notional demand' and Patinkin's 'potential demand'.

Since the 1950s, macroeconomics has been transformed. This book is about one of the most important aspects of that transformation: the attempt, through the end of the twenty-first century and beyond, to construct macroeconomic models rigorously derived from models of individual firms and households.

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.

Macroeconomics: An Introduction to the Non-Walrasian Approach provides the approach to macroeconomic theory based on the non-Walrasian method. This book presents the microeconomic concepts that can be applied in a simple and relevant manner to the fundamental topics of macroeconomic theory. Organized into five parts encompassing 14 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the fundamental concepts, describing the functioning of nonclearing markets, the role of expectations, the setting of prices by decentralized agents, and the derivation of optimal demand and supplies. This text then studies various non-Walrasian equilibrium concepts. Other chapters compare the classical and Keynesian theories of unemployment in the framework of a model. This book discusses as well the asymmetric price flexibility into the basic model. The final chapter deals with a dynamic model with explicit expectations, which allows a comparison of the employment effects of various expectations schemes and their realism. This book is a valuable resource for economists.

This important new book from a group of Keynesian, but nonetheless technically-oriented economists explores one of the dominant paradigms in financial economics: the ‘intertemporal general equilibrium approach’.

The international monetary system, and the disparate systems that make it up, are complex and there are many fallacies surrounding the ways in which they work. This book provides a clear and rigorous understanding of these systems and their possible consequences.