Seven Schools of Macroeconomic Thought
Edmund S. Phelps
Abstract
This volume represents the publication of seven lectures––the first annual Arne Ryde Memorial lectures administered by the University of Lund––on what the author deems to be the seven leading schools of thought in contemporary macroeconomics. The result is a wide‐ranging appreciation of the richness of macro theory and a commentary on some of its more doubtful tenets by a scholar who has himself made contributions to all seven schools. The recurring motif is that actual economies are complicated and each school has its own important insights into them. The first four schools have in common tha ... More
This volume represents the publication of seven lectures––the first annual Arne Ryde Memorial lectures administered by the University of Lund––on what the author deems to be the seven leading schools of thought in contemporary macroeconomics. The result is a wide‐ranging appreciation of the richness of macro theory and a commentary on some of its more doubtful tenets by a scholar who has himself made contributions to all seven schools. The recurring motif is that actual economies are complicated and each school has its own important insights into them. The first four schools have in common that they regard monetary mechanisms as a key part of the engine determining the level of economic activity while the last three schools all adopt essentially non‐monetary perspectives. The first chapter considers at length the basis for Keynes's break from classical economics. The next chapter addresses the sister school called ‘monetarism’. Chapters on the New Classical school and the New Keynesian school follow. The supply side is the first stop in the non‐monetary realm and the related school, called ‘Real Business Cycle theory’, is the next. The last chapter looks at the early work of the structuralist school, which was at an early stage of development when these lectures were given.
Keywords:
disequilibrium,
economic depression,
expectations,
natural unemployment rate,
non‐monetary employment theory,
structuralism
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 1990 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198283331 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: November 2003 |
DOI:10.1093/0198283334.001.0001 |
