The monetarist counterrevolution and the stagflation period of the 1970s were among the theoretical and practical developments that led to the rejection of fiscal policy as a useful tool for macroeconomic stabilization and full employment determination. Recent mainstream contributions, however,...

This paper covers the history of secular stagnation from Alvin's Hansen's AEA Presidential address in 1938 to the recent re-discovery of the idea by Lawrence Summers. It is argued that the story of secular stagnation is more complicated than the simple version usually told: the theory changed in...

The principal purpose of the given work is to summarize certain observations on the evolution of thought in macroeconomic theory with the original (rather than conventional) notation where appropriate. The observations are organized by topic and supplied with respective references

Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850) was an economist and journalist. A member of the French Liberal School, he is best known for his free trade ideas and his philosophy of law. Mark Blaug ranks him as one of the 100 greatest economists before Keynes. Schumpeter called him a brilliant economic...

Keynes is back. President Obama's economic stimulus package is based on the premise that we can spend our way out of recession. It is an application of the Keynesian multiplier theory, which was expounded in Keynes' 1936 economic treatise, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money....

To clarify Say's arguments on gluts and effective demand, this paper offers a formal mathematical restatement of his arguments on the relationships between markets. In the process, the paper demonstrates that what we now refer to as 'Say's Law' is a ludicrous caricature of Say's actual...

With inflation lodged below the Federal Reserve target rate and as unemployment rates continued to fall, central banks and economists took the view that the Phillips theory had failed. By reviewing the writings of William Phillips and his predecessors (Classical Phillips), this study...

There has been on-going controversy about the evolution of John Maynard Keynes’ thought on economic theory among economists of different schools of thought. Even though Keynes have always been considered a revolutionary in economic thought in relation with his ideas in the General Theory,...

Adam Smith’s economic system followed his philosophical convictions. The policy conclusions came before the analysis. To support his policy of Free Trade, or rather, the ‘system of liberty’, Adam Smith gradually built up his economic system , from the Lectures on Jurisprudence to the...