The invisible hand metaphor dates to the 18th century but only gained prominence after neoclassical analysis came to dominate economic thinking late 19th century. Neoclassical economists rigorously established the assumptions necessary for an economy to operate in accordance with the metaphor,...

The ideas and concepts of Pierre Bourdieu provide insight into why the culture of economics led to the failure of economists to foresee financial instability and the Great Recession. The culture of the field of economics consists of a subjective habitus that includes smooth neoclassical...

In one of the most original papers published in <i>Challenge,</i> Hendrik Van den Berg and Matthew Van den Berg try to determine whether markets are really complete enough to make the invisible hand a relevant concept. They attempt to calculate what proportion of our transactions does qualify. Some...

This historically-based textbook on international finance and open-economy macroeconomics provides a complete course on the theory and policies that shaped our international financial system. Utilizing the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference as a unifying theme, the book covers all the standard topics...

Economic thought evolved over the past two centuries to focus on individual behavior as the basis for all economic activity. Some heterodox economists have pointed to the importance of group behavior and the influence of organizations on economic activity, but the neoclassical paradigm, with the...

After Harrod and Domar independently developed a dynamic Keynesian circular flow model to illustrate the instability of a growing economy, mainstream economists quickly reduced their model to a supply side-only growth model, which they subsequently rejected as too simplistic and replaced with...

This paper offers a sociological explanation for why the field of economics has so severely restricted the scope of its analysis to the point where it failed to foresee the financial crises, economic recessions, and other large shifts in economic activity that have characterized the global...

Part I of this essay explained the sequence of events that enabled the neoclassical paradigm to regain its dominant position in mainstream economics following serious challenges by ‘Keynesian’ economists. This second essay seeks to answer the question of why the economics profession was so...

The estimated static welfare gains from international trade are very small, on the order of one percent of GDP. The case for free trade is therefore increasingly linked to trade's apparent positive effects on economic growth. But how large are these growth effects&quest; The vast empirical literature...

This paper explores how the U.S. budget deficit affects U.S. economic growth. Time-series data for the 1973-2004 period is applied to a simultaneous equation model to estimate the various direct and indirect effects of budget deficits on growth. The results indicate that, ceteris paribus, an...