Chapter 1. Looking for dynamic economics: Tinbergen’s early breakthrough -- Chapter 2. Relaxation oscillations in the early development of econometrics: a road not taken -- Chapter 3. Frisch’s macro-dynamics: inner stability and external impulses -- Chapter 4. Kalecki’s macro-dynamics:...

This paper documents an early fork in the development of macroeconomics, by examining a debate between the Dutch economists Jan Tinbergen and Johan Koopmans. In a 1932 paper, Tinbergen argued that two firms could be stuck in a “bad” equilibrium in the absence of a coordinated action to...

This book offers a fresh perspective on the early history of macroeconomics, by examining the macro-dynamic models developed from the late 1920s to the late 1940s, and their treatment of economic instability. It first explores the differences and similarities between the early mathematical...