nep-pke New Economics Papers
on Post Keynesian Economics
Issue of 2009‒04‒18
six papers chosen by
Karl Petrick
University of the West Indies

  1. "Recent Rise in Federal Government and Federal Reserve Liabilities--Antidote to a Speculative Hangover" By Dimitri B. Papadimitriou; Greg Hannsgen
  2. "A Crisis in Coordination and Competence" By Martin Shubik
  3. "A Proposal for a Federal Employment Reserve Authority" By Martin Shubik
  4. Evolutionary Growth Theory By J. Stan Metcalfe; John Foster
  5. The Importance of History for Economic Development By Nathan Nunn
  6. Du pluralisme dans la science By Nicolas Bouleau

  1. By: Dimitri B. Papadimitriou; Greg Hannsgen
    Abstract: Federal government and Federal Reserve (Fed) liabilities rose sharply in 2008. Who holds these new liabilities, and what effects will they have on the economy? Some economists and politicians warn of impending inflation. In this new Strategic Analysis, the Levy Institute's Macro-Modeling Team focuses on one positive effect--a badly needed improvement of private sector balance sheets--and suggest some of the reasons why it is unlikely that the surge in Fed and federal government liabilities will cause excessive inflation.
    Date: 2009–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levysa:sa_apr_09_2&r=pke
  2. By: Martin Shubik
    Abstract: The ad hoc emergency approach to the current economic crisis has a great chance of wasting billions of dollars by mismatching skills and needs. According to Martin Shubik of Yale University, the current deepening recession needs a "quick fix" solution now, but a longer-fix solution must be put into place along with it. There is already considerable talk about the possible need for a large public works program to follow the massive infusion of funds into the financial and automobile sectors. But who is going to manage it? For us to weather this great economic storm we need to line up and coordinate (at least) four sets of highly different talents--political, bureaucratic, financial, and industrial. Without their coordination, economic recommendations, no matter how good they may appear to be in theory, will fail in execution.
    Date: 2009–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levypn:09-4&r=pke
  3. By: Martin Shubik
    Abstract: There is already considerable talk about the possible need for a massive public works program in response to the deepening recession and rising unemployment; however, an ad hoc emergency approach is going to waste billions of dollars by mismatching skills and needs. In this new Policy Note, Martin Shubik of Yale University outlines a proposal aimed directly at providing good planning consistent with maintaining market freedom and minimizing pork-barrel legislation. Rather than an emergency relief program on the order of the New Deal Works Progress Administration, Shubik proposes a permanent agency modeled on the Federal Reserve that would monitor unemployment in each state and maintain a list of potential public works projects. Financing for any project could then be set in place as soon as the unemployment level in any state exceeded the trigger value, eliminating the need for relief legislation during a crisis.
    Date: 2009–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:levypn:09-5&r=pke
  4. By: J. Stan Metcalfe; John Foster (School of Economics, The University of Queensland)
    Abstract: We begin by outlining competing stylised facts about economic growth and then set out the relations between structural change and aggregate productivity growth contingent on the evolution of the pattern of demand. We then introduce the concept of an industry level technical progress function and show how rates of technical progress are mutually determined as a consequence of increasing returns and the changing distribution of demand. We next sketch a macroeconomic closure of the evolutionary process, expressed in terms of the mutual determination of rates of capital accumulation and rates of productivity growth. In the final section we elaborate upon the restless nature of innovation-based economic growth and the conditions under which Nicholas Kaldor’s stylised facts are compatible with the Clark-Kuznets stylised facts. We may summarise our perspective quite sharply. What distinguishes modern capitalism is not only its order imposing properties that lead to the self organisation of the economy, but also the self transforming properties that create wealth from knowledge and, in so doing, induce the further development of useful knowledge. The manner in which self-organisation and self-transformation interact in terms of adjustments to the composition of demand, as well as the structure of technology and production, is at the core of this essay
    Date: 2009
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:388&r=pke
  5. By: Nathan Nunn
    Abstract: This article provides a survey of a growing body of empirical evidence that points towards the important long-term effects that historic events can have on current economic development. The most recent studies, using micro-level data and more sophisticated identification techniques, have moved beyond testing whether history matters, and attempt to identify exactly why history matters. The most commonly examined channels include: institutions, culture, knowledge and technology, and movements between multiple equilibria. The article concludes with a discussion of the questions that remain and the direct of current research in the literature.
    JEL: N0 O0
    Date: 2009–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:14899&r=pke
  6. By: Nicolas Bouleau (CIRED - Centre international de recherche sur l'environnement et le développement - CIRAD : UMR56 - CNRS : UMR8568 - Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales - Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées - Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural des Eaux et des Forêts)
    Abstract: Dans le cadre d'un colloque de Cerisy sur le thème de "L'économie de la connaissance et ses territoires" nous étudions le caractère pluraliste de la connaissance et de la connaissance scientifique en particulier. Partant du cas des mathématiques d'abord par les exemples de l'analyse non-standard et des mathématiques japonaise de la période de l'Edo (Sangaku) nous analysons la modélisation comme représentation et interprétation du contexte de l'action d'un agent économique, nous tentons d'approfondir les forces et faiblesses du monisme. Nous dégageons ce que nous appelons le préjugé de supériorité analytique comme principale source de la confusion entre pluralisme et relativisme. Nous analysons finalement l'important phénomène de la bosse de Jules Dupuit lié à tout processus d'économisation, particulièrement en matière de connaissance.
    Keywords: pluralisme; monisme; analyse non-standard; sangaku; relativisme; économie de la connaissance
    Date: 2008–11–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00374576_v1&r=pke

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