This note reconsiders a recent proposal by A. Shaikh to tame Harrodian instability (Metroeconomica 2009), where besides the utilization gap investment depends on the expected growth of demand. His stability result has, however, been criticized as not credible. The crucial point is that Shaikh's...

This note considers Tobin's average Q in a framework where firms finance investment by equities and debt. The determination of its long-run equilibrium value Q° is based on positing equality of the loan rate and, adjusted for a risk premium, the return on equities. Q° can thus be characterized...

The Keynesian stability condition is a necessary assumption for the IS equilibrium concept to make economic sense. With reasonable values for the saving parameter(s), however, it typically implies excessively strong multiplier effects. This is more than a cosmetic issue, not least because any...

This paper derives firms' desired rate of utilization from an explicit maximization of a conjectured rate of profit at the micro level. Invoking a strategic complementarity, desired utilization is thus an increasing function of not only the profit share but also the actual utilization. Drawing...