Description
Book SynopsisWritten by distinguished Keynesian and Post-Keynesian economists from diverse national backgrounds, this book examines the economic growth and employment experiences of both large areas of the world and specific economies. Dealing with critical issues in macroeconomic theory and policy, this book puts current issues in a historical perspective.
Emphasising developments during and after the Great Recession, and paying due attention to the impacts of austerity policies, chapters explain that high growth of aggregate demand is as essential as ever to achieving full employment and rising living standards. Organised into three distinct thematic parts, the book moves from discussing theoretical considerations, to aggregate demand and employment in the EU, Latin America and the developing world, to individual country studies including Canada, India and Japan.
Economics students, particularly those interested in heterodox economics and macroeconomics, will find the accessible language and perspectives on a range of major regions helpful. This will also be a useful read for macroeconomic policy-makers looking for a more in-depth understanding of the importance of boosting aggregate demand.
Contributors include: H. Bougrine, J.K. Galbraith, B.K. MacLean, J.W. Mason, L. Osberg, L.-P. Rochon, M. Sawyer, M. Seccareccia, S. Sen, J. Toporowski, M. Vernengo
Trade Review'This volume features an all-star cast of some of the world's leading heterodox economists, evaluating the state of economics a decade after the global financial crisis, and identifying promising directions for a more realistic and humane approach to both theory and policy. The key lessons of this troubled time are still denied by orthodoxy: namely, that aggregate demand is predominant, and knee-jerk austerity only exacerbates the failures of deregulated, financialized capitalism. Combining careful empirical evidence with thoughtful criticism, these essays locate important chinks in the armour of conventional doctrine, and lead us toward better approaches. It's a powerful, and ultimately hopeful, collection.' --Jim Stanford, Centre for Future Work, Australia
'A challenging set of essays indeed. ''High ... aggregate demand is ... essential ... to full employment and rising living standards.'' There is a negative relationship between unemployment and growth, and a positive one between growth and real wages. But, how to square this with fashionable views about the limits to growth?'
--John Smithin, York University, Canada
'. . . this book assembles essays by distinguished economists in the Keynesian and Post Keynesian traditions, offering a unified analytical framework for the recent economic experiences of large parts of the world. . . These essays therefore pose important questions, beginning with the most central: given that the crisis did occur, would a more progressive, more expansionary, more Keynesian policy have produced a faster recovery and a better long-term condition? This question can, in effect, be taken as a template for the entire book, which explores the potential consequences of better policies in a range of settings, some related directly to the Great Financial Crisis and others bound to it not so much directly, as by the pervasive application of mainstream policies to analogous situations.'
--from the Foreword by James K. Galbraith
Table of ContentsContents: Preface xiv Introduction: the importance of aggregate demand for full employment and rising living standards 1 Brian K. MacLean, Hassan Bougrine and Louis-Philippe Rochon PART I THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS 1 Macroeconomic lessons from the past decade 11 J.W. Mason 2 Dualism and economic stagnation: can a policy of guaranteed basic income return mature market economies to les Trente glorieuses ? 34 Mario Seccareccia 3 Kaleckian reflections on the wage share in recent Post-Keynesian controversies 52 Jan Toporowski PART II MULTI-COUNTRY PERSPECTIVES 4 The fiscal constraints of the Economic and Monetary Union 62 Malcolm Sawyer 5 The failure of development in Latin America 75 Mat.as Vernengo 6 Austerity, unemployment and poverty in developing countries 97 Hassan Bougrine and Louis-Philippe Rochon PART III COUNTRY STUDIES 7 Full employment in Canada in the early 21st century 116 Lars Osberg 8 Employment in India: aggregate demand and structural transformations 142 Sunanda Sen 9 Abenomics and the Japanese labour market 156 Brian K. MacLean Index 179
