Economic, financial and social commentators from all directions and of various persuasions are obsessed with the prospect of recovery. The world remains mired in a deep, prolonged crisis, and the key question seems to be how to get out of it. The purpose of our paper is to ask a very different...

The Financial Crisis of 2008, and the Great Recession in its wake, have shaken up macroeconomics. The paradigm of the "New" Neoclassical Synthesis, which seemed to provide a robust framework of analysis for short-run macro not long ago, fails to capture key elements of the recent crisis. This...

Recommended readings (Machine generated): Alesina, A. and S. Ardagna (1998) 'Tales of Fiscal Adjustment', Economic Policy, October: 489-545 -- Alesina, A. and R. Perotti (1995) 'Fiscal Expansion and Adjustments in OECD Countries', Economic Policy, 10 (21): 205-48 -- Alesina, A. and R. Perotti...

Introduction -- From "just a simple farm-boy" to the Ivy League -- Foundations -- Building a Reputation at Minnesota -- Hansen and the New Deal Policies -- In the Service of the State: Unemployment Insurance, the Federal Reserve, & the Employment Act -- Later Trade Cycle Theory: Technical...