This paper concerns a neglected aspect of Lucas's work: his methodological writings, published and unpublished. Particular attention is paid to his views on the relationship between theory and ideology. I start by setting out Lucas's non-standard conception of theory: to him, a theory and a...

This paper is a non-technical and somewhat philosophical essay, that seeks to investigate the relationship between economics and reality. More precisely, it asks how reality in the form of empirical evidence does or does not influence economic thinking and theory. In particular, which role do...

This paper documents Richard Kahn’s role as an unofficial advisor to the Israeli Government, using archival and published sources. In 1957, Kahn predicted that the European Economic Community (EEC) customs union would harm Israel’s trade and that the EEC would reject Israel’s application...

Colonial Americans complained that gold and silver coins (specie) were chronically scarce. These coins could be acquired only through importation. Given unrestricted trade in specie, market arbitrage should have eliminated chronic scarcity. A model of efficient barter and local inside money is...

The paper deals with the discussion on the alternative ideas on money, created by Silvio Gesell, Frederic Soddy and Karl Ballod. Particularly, the ideas of full-reserve banking, privilege of seigniorage and the principle of demurrage are discussed in the context of possible implementation of...

This paper explores the links between the re-opening of the Italian and other European economies, their balance of payments, and the choice of a strategy for economic reconstruction at the end of World War II, through an analysis of the work and activities of the Italian economist Bresciani...

This paper discusses monetarist objections to the IS-LM model. We explore the views of two principal spokesmen for monetarism: Milton Friedman and the team of Karl Brunner and Allan Meltzer. Friedman did not explicitly state the reasons he generally chose not to use the IS-LM model in rejecting...

Recent historiography on the interest of Italian economists in American economic thought is becoming rich and valuable. Thanks to these sources, we know that this interest arose because several Italian economists were attracted by the realism featured in North American economic investigation, by...

Half a century ago, <em>Economica</em> published what its webpage claims is "the most heavily cited macroeconomics title of the 20th century"—the paper by A. W. H. "Bill" Phillips (1958) that introduced the Phillips curve. Based on admittedly circumstantial evidence, I will argue that Bill Phillips was...

Henri de Man is the author of the dissenting “Au-delà du Marxisme†(1926) and of the Belgian Plan du Travail (Labor Plan) of 1933. Later he became a Belgian social-democratic leader. He published between 1931 and 1935 18 economic articles in the Bulletin d’Information et de...