Money and credit are key themes of Allan H. Meltzer's ground-breaking work which is celebrated in this outstanding collection of his essays and papers. Money, Credit and Policy covers the demand for money, the relation of money to output, the role of credit and debt, regulation of financial institutions, the influence of uncertainty and macroeconomic policy. Focusing on the relations between money and credit, and in turn their relationship to output, prices and inflation, this volume includes Meltzer's early work on the demand for money - in which he suggested that the much-discussed instability of the demand for money arises from the use of Keynesian demand equations - as well as his recent contributions on trade, credit and intermediation. Among the many important papers featured in this volume, there is an analysis of why the Federal Reserve of the 1930s persisted in its deflationary policy stance for years, despite its effects, and a discussion of the limits of stabilization policy. The concluding section considers the effects of uncertainty and the reasons for the rise and fall of the dollar during the 1980s, reflecting Meltzer's continuing interest in practical policy issues.

The problems associated with chronically high inflation and hyper inflation continue to preoccupy policy makers and economists. In Great Inflations of the 20th Century, Pierre Siklos has gathered together major papers by a distinguished group of scholars who use historical episodes to understand and explain a key issue.Beginning with general surveys of historical experiences of hyperinflation and cases of chronic inflation, this volume continues with papers on the conditions which are conducive to generating high inflation. The link between monetary policy and inflation is examined through empirical studies of inflationary episodes in Germany, Hungary and Bolivia. The final part looks at how policy makers can seek to end high inflation with the smallest possible economic cost. Bringing together in one accessible volume a series of acclaimed contributions to the field, Great Inflations of the 20th Century will be a key reference resource for interested scholars and policy makers concerned with the myriad of issues surrounding the beginning and end of high or chronic inflation.

Central bank intervention in foreign currency markets is widely regarded as ineffective by economists, policy makers and financiers, yet many central banks continue to enter the market in periods of turbulence. In Foreign Exchange Intervention, Geert Almekinders explains why central banks continue to carry out foreign exchange interventions despite their poor track record.Using confidential daily intervention data from the Bundesbank and the Federal Reserve for the period 1985 to 1990, the author shows how both banks were unable, despite repeated attempts, to reverse unwanted currency movements successfully. Dr Almekinders develops a positive theory of intervention - drawing on game theory - to show how central banks which lack political independence are sometimes forced to engage in surprise interventions which are rendered ineffective by rational speculators who anticipate their moves. The author also makes extensive use of modern statistical models of exchange rates to examine the decision making process of central banks. The book includes comprehensive surveys of existing theoretical and empirical investigations of foreign exchange intervention. Foreign Exchange Intervention will be welcomed by academic researchers and students, as well as economists and analysts in the financial sector, for its comprehensive surveys of previous scholarship, the use of hitherto unavailable data from the Bundesbank and the Federal Reserve, and the policy conclusions which derive from the book's theoretical and empirical insights.

Monetarism and the Methodology of Economics is a collection of 14 original essays in honour of Thomas Mayer focusing on the themes of monetarism, the transmission mechanism for monetary policy, the political economy of monetary policy and the methodology of empirical economics.This volume addresses the many areas where Thomas Mayer has made a major contribution and brings together a distinguished group of contributors including King Banaian, Mark Blaug, Martin Bronfenbrenner, Richard C.K. Burdekin, Thomas F. Cargill, Milton Friedman, C.A.E. Goodhart, D. Wade Hands, Abraham Hirsch, Kevin D. Hoover, David Laidler, Thomas Mayer, James L. Pierce, Steven M. Sheffrin, Richard J. Sweeney, Thomas D. Willett, Wing Thye Woo. An autobiographical essay by Thomas Mayer and a short appreciation by Kevin Hoover and Steven Sheffrin are included in this volume, together with a bibliography of Mayer's economic writings.

Covering Robert Clower's writings over four decades, this collection brings together important papers that have not been reprinted in any other similar volume and recent material on economic method and theoretical foundations. Issues discussed include the doctrine and methodology of economics, price determination, oligopoly theory and Keynesian economics, as well as some of Professor Clower's substantial reviews of the work of other scholars. Above all, they offer an instructive 'history' of one scholar's attempt to enhance scientific understanding of observed economic phenomena during the last half century. The volume concludes with a complete listing of Professor Clower's publications.

Debt, Deficits and Exchange Rates presents recent work by Helmut Reisen on current international monetary problems in East Asia and Latin America. Written over the last four years, these papers are readily accessible and of immediate policy relevance. The first part is concerned with the debt problems of developing countries, including the growth of domestic public debt, means of hedging a country's debt portfolio against key currency fluctuations, evidence on the debt overhang hypothesis, an evaluation of the Brady Plan, and how to attract foreign direct investment. This is followed by essays on financial opening which discuss the impact of alternative exchange rate regimes during financial integration, the degree of financial openness in Korea and Taiwan, an appropriate strategy for the liberalization of capital flows, and the relationship between financial opening and capital flows. The final part underlines the need for exchange rate management. Issues considered include New Zealand's experience with a pure float, the use of the theory of optimal currency areas to assess whether Asian countries should peg to the Yen, institutional features of macroeconomic management in Asia, and how Latin America should respond to heavy capital flows. Bringing together under one cover a wealth of analysis, comment and argument by a leading international scholar, this volume will be welcomed by students, teachers and policymakers as an important contribution to understanding international monetary problems in the developing world.

The theory of inflation seeks to explain why inflation occurs and why its rate varies, to explain the co-movements betwen the inflation rate and other variables and to permit the design of mechanisms capable of delivering an optimal inflation path.The Theory of Inflation presents in one volume a comprehensive description of the historical inflation record, surveys the current state of knowledge on the fundamental forces that cause inflation and the mechanisms that propagate it, and examines the costs of inflation and the problems of achieving price stability. Professor Parkin's selection draws both upon the contribution of mainstream economists - whose work has been based on market demand and supply - and a new generation whose work has emphasized the importance of technology and preferences. This volume, as the introduction states, indicates that there is much of value to be learnt from both approaches.

This important new volume addresses the many aspects of banking in European market economies in the twentieth century, making innovative and authoritative research available to historians, economists, financiers and business analysts. The distinguished group of authors examines the historic role of banks in utilizing domestic and foreign financial resources. Their contributions show that from the 1880s onwards banks became an integral part of the capital market in continental Europe. In the course of this development the banks played a crucial part in financing industry in North and Central Europe. This symbiotic relationship between banks and industry is analysed and is shown to have had a decisive impact on the inflation and crisis-prone interwar period. The comparative and quantitative methods applied in these papers reveal differences between the countries of North and Central Europe, especially with regard to the degree of state intervention in individual economies. Other topics discussed include the networks of interlocking directorships, the effectiveness of banking legislation and the impact of the national question on banking in central and Southeast Europe. Universal Banking in the Twentieth Century illustrates both striking similarities and marked differences in the role of universal banking across Europe in terms of the level of industrialization and the pace of economic growth.

Oskar Lange was one of the few economists able to observe first hand the three major economic systems that have been the hallmark of the 20th century. He learned about the economic backwardness of peripheral capitalism in pre-war Poland. Later he spent more than twelve years in the bastion of modern capitalism, the United States. After returning to Poland in 1948 he linked his fate to the creation and then reform of the Communist system.This important collection of Professor Lange's work, prepared by his disciple and close friend Tadeusz Kowalik, presents his most important work on the economic theory of socialism, economic planning, Marxism and 'bourgeois' economics. The volume makes an important contribution by improving access to the papers of an economist whose work was at the very heart of the intellectual conflict between socialism and capitalism in the late twentieth century.

There is no better guide than Paul Krugman to basic economics, the ideas that animate much of our public policy. Likewise, there is no better foe of zombie economics, the misunderstandings that just won't die. Arguing with Zombies is Krugman "the most hated and most admired columnist in the US" (Martin Wolf, Financial Times) at his best, turning readers into intelligent consumers of the daily news with quick, vivid sketches of the key concepts behind taxes, health care, international trade and more. In this new book, in which he builds on and expands his The New York Times columns and other writings, "the most celebrated economist of his generation" (The Economist), offers short, accessible chapters on topics including the European Union and Brexit, the fight for national health care in the United States, the financial meltdown of 2007-2008, the attack on Social Security and the fraudulent argument-the ultimate zombie-that tax cuts for the rich will benefit all.

The industrialized economies of the world have experienced a considerable diversity of economic experience since the shocks of the 1970s. The authors of this major study assess the institutional determinants of economic performance in a comparative analysis of OECD economies. They focus in particular on the role played by corporatist arrangements in such countries as Austria and the Scandinavian states. Corporatism and Economic Performance argues that economists often have a narrow view of the scope and function of corporatism, focusing on the extent to which collective bargaining is centralized, and ignoring the important role of durable, consensual policy making arrangements. The record of the corporatist economies is assessed and considerable evidence is found to show that they have borne the burden of economic adjustment over the last twenty years in a less inegalitarian way than other OECD economies, with lower rates of unemployment and greater economic stability. In an increasingly integrated world economy, the future prospects for corporatism look uncertain, although there is still a strong economic case for corporatist institutions. This book sheds new light on corporatism as a complex and multidimensional entity, examining the rationale, scope, performance and future prospects of corporatist institutions.

This unique book focuses on the central issues in macroeconomics - examining some of the lively theoretical controversies troubling contemporary economists - in order to establish a genuine basis for communication between the alternative theoretical traditions.The past two decades have witnessed the emergence of several competing approaches to macroeconomic analysis: post Keynesian economics, Kaleckian analysis, neo-Ricardian theory, the neo-Austrian school, the Rational Expectations School etc. This book presents new work by 14 respected economists from nine different countries who address a series of unresolved yet well-defined issues in monetary theory and policy, market structure and accumulation, and problems of effective demand and the theory of distribution. The main purpose of Macroeconomic Theory is to identify areas of common ground among the various theoretical approaches. The excitement of that dialogue and the intellectual vitality generated are captured for the reader in a volume that will be essential for an understanding of modern macroeconomic theory.

How far can efficiency be pursued without sacrificing equity? Do fiscal changes designed to improve incentives necessarily lead to greater inequality of incomes? Does the profitability of 'big business' really reflect economies of scale and scope or is it also a reflection of market power? In addressing these and other key questions, a group of internationally acclaimed economists demonstrates why issues of concentration and inequality in economic life are moving to the top of the political agenda in the 1990s. Drawing upon the pioneering work of Peter Hart, this volume reflects the range of his influence from theoretical examinations of measures of industrial concentration and income inequality, to detailed empirical explorations of changes in concentration over time. The volume includes essays on, among other issues, the Hart measure of income mobility, income distribution in Eastern Europe, the UK state pension scheme, trends in the concentration of UK manufacturing in the 1980s, the EC Merger Control Regulation, corporate research and development strategies and corporate technological specialization in international industries. Industrial Concentration and Economic Inequality will be particularly relevant for government policy makers, social analysts and economists concerned with income distribution and industrial policy.

In this reassessment of the 19th century monetary theorist and banking reformer, Thomas Joplin, Professor O'Brien sets out to place his subject in a new perspective. He discusses Joplin's role as a reformer and his relationships with fellow economists and explores such issues as the problems of paper currency, the principle of metallic fluctuation, agricultural prices and the monetary system and the structure of banking. The book should be of interest to anyone interested in the development of monetary economics as well as to economic historians.

Income Distribution in a Corporate Economy offers a skilful examination of the influences of financial markets and imperfect competition on the distributive process. Unlike much of the earlier literature, it concentrates upon the short-run, making it suitable for empirical appraisal.After a thorough review of the theoretical and empirical literature of the past 30 years, Russell Rimmer uses a series of models to synthesize results from post Keynesian macroeconomics, investment theory and industrial economics. The final chapters contain an analysis of the short-run effects of changes in pricing strategies and increases in industrial concentration on income shares accruing to households and corporations. By presenting in one place the neo-classical and post Keynesian approaches, the book will serve both as a text and a foundation for future work on distribution. Students new to income distribution will be able to read the text as an introduction to the neoclassical and post Keynesian approaches. A novel contribution is the gathering together of early extensions of post Keynesian theory to the short run, including accounts of attempts to synthesise the major theoretical strands.

This research review departs from Solow's 1957 seminal paper on the measurement of technical change. It studies the idea into the comprehensive development of total factor productivity and the index number innovations. It also analyses the measurement of productivity growth and the usefulness of GDP measurement as well as perennial problems in measurement of output of certain sectors and of certain processes in an economy.

This engaging and intelligent book provides an accessible, down to earth assessment of the role of formalism and rigour in economics.Professor Mayer argues that there is room in economics for both highly formalised theory and for the less formal theory that predominates in the natural sciences. But economists generally fail to distinguish between these two types of theory. As a result, they often act as if the strength of an argument depends on the strength of its strongest link. They misallocate effort, polishing those parts of the argument that tend to be formalised, while paying insufficient attention to the others. Drawing on public choice theory, Mayer shows how this emphasis on the strongest link has distorted research particularly in new classical theory. He advocates stricter econometric testing, showing that many procedures currently used are only soft tests.

The theory of monopoly capital is central to any satisfactory analysis of accumulation and stagnation in advanced capitalist economies. This major new book presents in one volume recent discussions of monopoly capitalism to emphasize the centrality and vitality of this tradition in modern political economy.Following the work of Kalecki, Steindl and Baran and Sweezy, a number of leading economists address key issues such as the calculation of the economic surplus, the division of income between labour and capital, oligopoly collusion over output and pricing, the growth of unproductive activity, the degree of monopoly, surplus absorption and stagnation and the history of the present crisis.

Wicksteed's classic work, The Co-ordination of the Laws of Distribution, has a central place within the development of marginal productivity theory. It claimed to explain all 'factor returns' on a unified basis and to show how 'marginal productivity factor pricing' just exhausted the total product. It is presented here with a long introduction by the editor, Ian Steedman, who provides both a careful analysis of the text and an assessment of Wicksteed's place within the development of modern economics. This important new edition will make The Co-ordination of the Laws of Distribution accessible to a fresh generation of economists.

This book provides a concise yet rigorous discussion of the main issues in modern macroeconomics. In particular, it examines the controversy over the role and conduct of macroeconomic stabilization policy.While the book is written in such a way as to allow students to read individual chapters in isolation, according to their interests and needs, the book follows a structured direction. After providing a review of mainstream macro-models and the chief areas of controversy between Keynesian, Monetarist and New Classical approaches to stabilization policy, subsequent chapters focus on selected key controversies: the balance of payments and exchange rates; inflation and unemployment; money and economic activity; fiscal policy and aggregate demand; and business cycles. The approach adopted by the authors make this book highly responsive to teaching and student needs. This authoritative state-of-the-art survey of modern macroeconomics will be essential reading for intermediate level courses in macroeconomics.

This book argues that the coordination problem lies at the heart of Keynes's economics. It shows how Keynes's message got lost in the post-War period and develops a more fruitful extension of Keynes's ideas within a general equilibrium framework and alternative frameworks such as post Keynesian and Austrian economics. It is demonstrated that in the absence of a coordinating device like the Walrasian auctioneer or in the presence of uncertainty, coordination can no longer be superimposed. This ultimately implies that apart from some notable exceptions, the Keynesian revolution was in fact stifled at birth because the validity of the central concepts of microeconomics have never been challenged.This lively and fascinating book is likely to provoke debate amongst economists and policymakers. Its conclusions place a question mark over the development of economic theory since the Second World War.

The Economics of Restructuring and Intervention carries forward the work of Marx, Kalecki, Keynes and Kaldor in analysing questions of growth, distribution and government intervention. It will be essential reading for all those wishing to understand the massive economic and political shifts as we enter the 1990s - the globalization of markets and production, continued growth of the Third World and East European debt, the emerging digital economy. Political debates thrown up by these economic, industrial and technological developments are subject to rigorous scrutiny and critique - from the employment effects of wage cuts to the calls for 'supply side socialism'.

This major book presents, for the first time, an authoritative history of developments in macroeconometric modelling since the 1930s. It focuses in particular on the construction of mathematico-statistical models of entire economies, estimated from national accounts and other macroeconomic data. International and comparative in scope, the book contains chapters prepared by specialists from the different countries concerned. This landmark book is indispensable to an understanding of the history and development of large scale econometric models of modern economies.

Patrick Minford has been a close adviser to Mrs Thatcher during the last decade. He has made an important contribution to the ideas of Thatcherism and Britain's monetarist/supply side programme in the 1980s.This book brings together, for the first time, essays written as a contribution to the supply side revolution in Britain. Some focus on monetary and fiscal policy, while others deal with the principles and mechanisms for supply side reform. Taken together, they represent an invaluable source book and reference point on the political philosophy and economic strategy of the Thatcher era. The essays were all written for a wide audience and will be essential reading for both economists and non-economists alike.

Herbert Giersch's contribution to economics has ranged widely over international economics, European integration and the economics of entrepreneurship. This book presents in one volume a selection of some of his most important essays and papers. It encompasses the gradual evolution of his work from its beginnings to his most recent contributions to the debate on the future of the European Economic Community. It contains some of his most significant work during the last 30 years and includes material that is not widely available. It will be an essential reference point for all economists concerned with entrepreneurship, the world economy and Europe.