This note extends Lucas' (1987) analysis to assess welfare gains of economic growth and welfare costs of consumption inequality, both within and across countries. We find that the welfare costs of inequality are significantly larger than the gains of economic growth. While the gains of economic...

During the decade of the 1970’s the US economy unexpectedly suffered from “stagflation” namely, high unemployment, slowed economic growth and high rates of inflation. During the 1980’s the major macroeconomic problem became high interest rates and massive government deficits....

This paper examines the available evidence on the size the UK’s underground (unobserved) economy and presents preliminary evidence on the size and growth of the unobserved economy for the period 1960-1980 based on Feige’s transaction approach. Reference: Journal of Economic Affairs, Vol.1...

Recent research on the unobserved economy suggests that the phenomenon has important implications for both macroeconomic policy and public finance. Attention is focused on the public finance implications by examining a macro-model model from which it is possible to derive a family of Laffer...

This paper looks at the history of money and its modern form from a scientific and mathematical point of view. The approach here is to emphasize simplicity. A straightforward model and algebraic formula for a large economy analogous to the ideal gas law of thermodynamics is proposed. It may be...

One of the more intractable problems in the area of monetary economics is the measurement of cash payments. Whereas the stock of currency in circulation [C] is well defined and readily measured, the transactions velocity of currency [Vc] (the average number of times currency turns over in any...

Lucas (2004) asserts that 'Of the tendencies that are harmful to sound economics, the most seductive, and in my opinion, the most poisonous, is to focus on questions of distribution...The potential for improving the lives of poor people by finding different ways of distributing current...

A Post-Keynesian Stock-Flow Consistent Macroeconomic Growth Model: Preliminary Results Claudio H. Dos Santos (The Levy Economics Institute) Gennaro Zezza (University of Cassino, Italy, and The Levy Economics Institute) Abstract Stock-flow consistent models may be considered the rallying point...

We address the finance motive and the determination of profits in the Monetary Theory of Production associated with the Circuitist School. We show that the “profit paradox” puzzle addressed by many authors who adopt this approach can be solved by integrating a simple Circuit model with a...

This paper reviews the general tenets of 'stock-flow consistent' and the 'formal Minskyan' literatures and argues that the advantages and weaknesses of the latter become clearer when analyzed with the tools of the former. It also analyzes a small but representative and influential sample of...