Reintroducing Macroeconomics

Steve Cohn

M.E. Sharpe

About this eBook

This lively introduction to heterdox economics provides a critique of the standard introductory macroeconomics curriculum from the perspective of another theoretical lens. It enables students and instructors to escape the confines that most standard textbooks impose on economic analysis, and allows them to pusue and support a broader range of ideas about the causes and appropriate policy responses to a wide range of economic concerns.

Ratings and reviews

I like the heterodoxy approach to thinking about economics. Economics produces a welter of theorizing, from numerous possible starting points leading to infinite possible conclusions. What you are interested in discovering often seems to determine what it is you discover. Cohn does a good job of critiquing basic modeling. The big issue I am interested in is inequality. I believe Keynes pretty much has the dynamics of an economic system right. If we focus on the factual differences between the capitalist-investor class and how their opportunities to collect wealth are naturally greater than the working class, we can develop an understanding of how their wealth grows and how, with the power that goes with it, they can expand their wealth-collecting ability. Cohn's chapter on distribution issues comes closer to the real issue, but let's relate inequality to the basic model. We may see, as I believe, that Krugman's suggestion that inequality is just "political" is wrong; the Keynesian model shows "the arbitrary and unequal distribution of wealth" to be in inevitable consequence of unfettered capitalism. Keynes is thought of in terms of controlling the business cycle (monetary and fiscal policy) but no thought has since been given to how inequality affects the business cycle, for example. What are we aiming for, growth? full employment? fair distributions? Let's explore how these objectives are interrelated in the way the economy works. Cohn's book came out in 2007, so the 1% income distribution database was not studied yet. Now we can make some progress here, esp. in figuring out an optimum top tax rate for stable income inequality. I like the book. Less doctrinaire approaches are not only exciting, they are more likely to contribute to our understanding of how things work.