Definitions by abu yahya
Keynesianism
*noun*; a school of economic thought prevalent after World War 2; around 1980, Keynesianism was supposedly superseded by monetarism, and then by the rational expectations hypothesis. Theory is named for John M. Keynes (1881-1946), who argued against the then-mainstream view that the economy was "self correcting." Keynes' book introducing his economic theory was The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1936).
*Basic Concept*
_______________________________________
The basic concept of Keynesianism is that each economy has a level of aggregate demand, which does not respond to price or income levels in the same way that classical economics says it should. Rising income, for example, *does not* lead to a matching increase in consumption or business investment. Business investment is driven by investment opportunity, not {only by interest rates. Savings is driven by liquidity preference, not only by interest rates.
Keynes suggested that, for any economy, there was a marginal propensity to consume that was less than one. Hence, if the national income rose by 10%, consumption would rise by something less than 10%. This would lead to some production not being consumed, waste, and unemployment.
*What Keynesianism Says We Should Do*
_______________________________________
In 1936, when Keynes wrote *The General Theory*, most of the world was suffering from the Great Depression. Keynes recommended that the national government stimulation aggregate demand through a policy of deficit stimulus. In other words, the country should create adequate levels of aggregate demand by spending more than it took in as taxes (fiscal policy).
Also, Keynesianism held that aggregate demand could be stimulated *up to a point* by lowering interest rates (monetary policy).
*Application*
_______________________________________
In the USA and other large industrial countries, fiscal and monetary policy has been attempted often. After 1980, the Federal Reserve chair (Paul Volcker) was a monetarist, who claimed to reject Keynesianism. Nobel laureates in economics almost unanimously attacked Keynesianism as outmoded and wrong-headed, but governments continue to use fiscal stimulus and interest rate cuts in response to recessions.
*Basic Concept*
_______________________________________
The basic concept of Keynesianism is that each economy has a level of aggregate demand, which does not respond to price or income levels in the same way that classical economics says it should. Rising income, for example, *does not* lead to a matching increase in consumption or business investment. Business investment is driven by investment opportunity, not {only by interest rates. Savings is driven by liquidity preference, not only by interest rates.
Keynes suggested that, for any economy, there was a marginal propensity to consume that was less than one. Hence, if the national income rose by 10%, consumption would rise by something less than 10%. This would lead to some production not being consumed, waste, and unemployment.
*What Keynesianism Says We Should Do*
_______________________________________
In 1936, when Keynes wrote *The General Theory*, most of the world was suffering from the Great Depression. Keynes recommended that the national government stimulation aggregate demand through a policy of deficit stimulus. In other words, the country should create adequate levels of aggregate demand by spending more than it took in as taxes (fiscal policy).
Also, Keynesianism held that aggregate demand could be stimulated *up to a point* by lowering interest rates (monetary policy).
*Application*
_______________________________________
In the USA and other large industrial countries, fiscal and monetary policy has been attempted often. After 1980, the Federal Reserve chair (Paul Volcker) was a monetarist, who claimed to reject Keynesianism. Nobel laureates in economics almost unanimously attacked Keynesianism as outmoded and wrong-headed, but governments continue to use fiscal stimulus and interest rate cuts in response to recessions.
Keynesianism held out the prospect that the state could reconcile the private ownership of the means of production with democratic management of the economy.
Adam Przeworski, *Capitalism and social democracy* (1986)
Adam Przeworski, *Capitalism and social democracy* (1986)
Keynesianism by Abu Yahya March 3, 2009
classical economics
*noun*; generic term for economic thought developed from 1776 to 1930, which assumed the following basic concepts:
1. all types of goods, including factors of production, can be efficiently traded in markets;
2. given free markets, all goods available for purchase will, in fact, be purchased (including labor);
3. free markets include unlimited ability of prices of commodities to move upwards or downward to ensure the quantity supplied matches the quantity demanded.
*Subdivisions*
Adam Smith (1723-1790), auther of *The Wealth of Nations* (1776) is usually credited with compiling the critical ideas into a single theory.
Some historians regard the classical era as really beginning after 1817, with the work of David Ricardo (1772-1823) and Nassau Senior (1790-1864). Ricardo and David developed the concept of diminishing marginal utility to explain the idea of factor cost, and ultimately, market equilibrium.
After 1870, however, classical economics experienced the marginal revolution, in which the field adopted a much more systematic approach to addressing major research questions.
As a result of the Great Depression (1929-1939), classical economics generally faded from view until the late 1970's. At this time, the rational expectations hypothesis and real business cycle theory were refined in order to address problems that had crippled classical economics in the 1920's.
Textbooks addressing classical economic research since 1964 usually call it "New Classical economics." From 1982 to 2006, nearly all Nobel prizes in economics were awarded to New Classical economics such as
George Stigler, Ronald Coase, Robert Lucas Jr., Edward Prescott, and Edmund Phelps.
1. all types of goods, including factors of production, can be efficiently traded in markets;
2. given free markets, all goods available for purchase will, in fact, be purchased (including labor);
3. free markets include unlimited ability of prices of commodities to move upwards or downward to ensure the quantity supplied matches the quantity demanded.
*Subdivisions*
Adam Smith (1723-1790), auther of *The Wealth of Nations* (1776) is usually credited with compiling the critical ideas into a single theory.
Some historians regard the classical era as really beginning after 1817, with the work of David Ricardo (1772-1823) and Nassau Senior (1790-1864). Ricardo and David developed the concept of diminishing marginal utility to explain the idea of factor cost, and ultimately, market equilibrium.
After 1870, however, classical economics experienced the marginal revolution, in which the field adopted a much more systematic approach to addressing major research questions.
As a result of the Great Depression (1929-1939), classical economics generally faded from view until the late 1970's. At this time, the rational expectations hypothesis and real business cycle theory were refined in order to address problems that had crippled classical economics in the 1920's.
Textbooks addressing classical economic research since 1964 usually call it "New Classical economics." From 1982 to 2006, nearly all Nobel prizes in economics were awarded to New Classical economics such as
George Stigler, Ronald Coase, Robert Lucas Jr., Edward Prescott, and Edmund Phelps.
Proponents of classical economics are nearly always extremely conservative in their political views, and usually conclude that the sole legitimate role of the state is to defend property rights.
classical economics by Abu Yahya March 3, 2009
factors of production
*noun*; term coined by Adam Smith (1723-1790) to refer to things used to produce other things. Usually people refer to four factors of production:
1.labor (not the same thing as workers); a worker can work more or less hours per week, and can exchange her labor for payment
2. capital; includes tools, machinery, plants and fixtures, seed corn, etc. Adam Smith distinguished between inventories, which he called circulating capital, and tools, which he called fixed capital;
3. land; understood as a specific area on the earth's surface, but sometimes incorporates the natural productivity or mineral resources as well;
4. entrepreneurship; sometimes lumped with capital. Includes the combination of skills required to start a business.
1.labor (not the same thing as workers); a worker can work more or less hours per week, and can exchange her labor for payment
2. capital; includes tools, machinery, plants and fixtures, seed corn, etc. Adam Smith distinguished between inventories, which he called circulating capital, and tools, which he called fixed capital;
3. land; understood as a specific area on the earth's surface, but sometimes incorporates the natural productivity or mineral resources as well;
4. entrepreneurship; sometimes lumped with capital. Includes the combination of skills required to start a business.
Different economic systems vary in their view of who should own the factors of production. In capitalism, this would be private individuals; in communism, it would be a collective. In the Marxist transition to communism, it would be the state.
factors of production by Abu Yahya March 3, 2009
fixed capital
*noun*; one of the factors of production. Fixed capital refers to physical objects used to produce goods or services. Examples include cash registers, drill presses or car jacks, and civil aircraft.
Pretty much anything can be used as fixed capital, provided it is used by the entrepreneur/firm to provide a service or produce something valuable. If the firm is a hotel, then pillows and vacuum cleaners are fixed capital; if it's a store, then the cash register, the shelves, and the mop are fixed capital.
Another form of business capital is circulating capital. This is called capital because it's a physical object used to produce value, but its purpose is to be sold or used up in production.
Pretty much anything can be used as fixed capital, provided it is used by the entrepreneur/firm to provide a service or produce something valuable. If the firm is a hotel, then pillows and vacuum cleaners are fixed capital; if it's a store, then the cash register, the shelves, and the mop are fixed capital.
Another form of business capital is circulating capital. This is called capital because it's a physical object used to produce value, but its purpose is to be sold or used up in production.
Some part of the capital of every master artificer or manufacturer must be fixed in the instruments of his trade...In other works a much greater fixed capital is required. In a great iron-work, for example, the furnace for melting the ore, the forge, the slitt-mill, are instruments of trade which cannot be erected without a very great expense.
Adam Smith, *The Wealth of Nations* (1776)
Adam Smith, *The Wealth of Nations* (1776)
fixed capital by Abu Yahya March 3, 2009
The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
title of book by John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) outlining the general concept of Keynesian economics. The book was published in 1936.
*Context*
______________________________
Prior to the Great Depression, opinions about how to properly manage the economy were dominated by Neoclassical economics, which advocated little government intervention. In particular, unemployment was regarded as the consequence of workers failing to accept wages sufficiently low to permit full employment.
During the Great Depression, unemployment soared to 25% in the USA and Germany. Economics had no advice to give to leaders anxious to do something, and none of the neoclassical predictions were coming true. The government of the UK commissioned J.M. Keynes to lead a commission of top British economists in a general review of economic theory; their finding were summarized by Keynes in *The General Theory*.
*The Findings*
______________________________
The Cambridge team did not have access to statistics of national income and product accounting (NIPA). They did have some data on unemployment and prices, especially from the USA.
Keynes also identified several inherent logical problems with neoclassical economic theory about saving and investment. The theory said that all economic output of an economy would tend to be consumed; all saving would be invested; and all workers would be employed, *provided wages fell low enough*.
Keynes noted the economic mechanism by which investment occurs has little to do with the existing rate of saving; both are influenced by interest rates, but other forces come into play (e.g., liquidity preference for saving, business opportunities and user cost for investment). Hence, aggregate demand can drift very far out of alignment with output (or potential output).
Another finding was that employment rates actually did not respond in a predictable way to the fall in wages. The US economy suffered periods when a reduction in the wage level lead to increases in employment, despite the assumption that workers would have withdrawn from the labor market.
Finally, Keynes proposed the use of monetary policy and fiscal policy for regulating business cycles.
*Context*
______________________________
Prior to the Great Depression, opinions about how to properly manage the economy were dominated by Neoclassical economics, which advocated little government intervention. In particular, unemployment was regarded as the consequence of workers failing to accept wages sufficiently low to permit full employment.
During the Great Depression, unemployment soared to 25% in the USA and Germany. Economics had no advice to give to leaders anxious to do something, and none of the neoclassical predictions were coming true. The government of the UK commissioned J.M. Keynes to lead a commission of top British economists in a general review of economic theory; their finding were summarized by Keynes in *The General Theory*.
*The Findings*
______________________________
The Cambridge team did not have access to statistics of national income and product accounting (NIPA). They did have some data on unemployment and prices, especially from the USA.
Keynes also identified several inherent logical problems with neoclassical economic theory about saving and investment. The theory said that all economic output of an economy would tend to be consumed; all saving would be invested; and all workers would be employed, *provided wages fell low enough*.
Keynes noted the economic mechanism by which investment occurs has little to do with the existing rate of saving; both are influenced by interest rates, but other forces come into play (e.g., liquidity preference for saving, business opportunities and user cost for investment). Hence, aggregate demand can drift very far out of alignment with output (or potential output).
Another finding was that employment rates actually did not respond in a predictable way to the fall in wages. The US economy suffered periods when a reduction in the wage level lead to increases in employment, despite the assumption that workers would have withdrawn from the labor market.
Finally, Keynes proposed the use of monetary policy and fiscal policy for regulating business cycles.
The *The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money* completely shook up the world of economic policy. Hereafter, governments took responsibility for economic conditions or they lost power.
The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money by Abu Yahya March 3, 2009
marginal propensity to consume
*noun*; in Keynesian economics, the rate at which aggregate consumption rises in response to a rise in national income.
For example, suppose the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is 0.95. If the national income is 100 billion dollars, and it rises 10%, then consumption will rise by 9.5 billion, and saving will rise by 0.5 billion.
If this theory is correct, then an expanding economy will suffer insufficient demand for its own output, and a recession will be inevitable.
This is why national governments respond to recessions with deficit spending: they are trying to counteract the MPC's effect on aggregate demand, and bring it in line with potential output.
For example, suppose the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) is 0.95. If the national income is 100 billion dollars, and it rises 10%, then consumption will rise by 9.5 billion, and saving will rise by 0.5 billion.
If this theory is correct, then an expanding economy will suffer insufficient demand for its own output, and a recession will be inevitable.
This is why national governments respond to recessions with deficit spending: they are trying to counteract the MPC's effect on aggregate demand, and bring it in line with potential output.
Not only is the marginal propensity to consume weaker in a wealthy community, but, owing to its accumulation of capital being already larger, the opportunities for further investment are less attractive...
J.M. Keynes, *The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money* (1936), Ch.3
J.M. Keynes, *The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money* (1936), Ch.3
marginal propensity to consume by Abu Yahya March 3, 2009
aggregate demand
*noun*; a concept central to the idea of Keynesian economics. Under this theory, business cycles (recessions, depressions, booms, recoveries) are caused by a failure of total demand across the entire economy to match total output.
Aggregate demand is not merely influenced by people's ability to buy what they produce; it is also influenced by the marginal propensity to consume (MPC). If the MPC is less than 1, then an increase in national income will be matched by a smaller increase in aggregate demand, causing unemployment to rise and prices to fall.
Aggregate demand is not merely influenced by people's ability to buy what they produce; it is also influenced by the marginal propensity to consume (MPC). If the MPC is less than 1, then an increase in national income will be matched by a smaller increase in aggregate demand, causing unemployment to rise and prices to fall.
...When we say that the expectation of an increased demand, i.e. a raising of the aggregate demand function, will lead to an increase in aggregate output, we really mean that the firms, which own the capital equipment, will be induced to associate with it a greater aggregate employment of labour
J.M. Keynes, *The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money* (1936), Ch.4
J.M. Keynes, *The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money* (1936), Ch.4
aggregate demand by Abu Yahya March 3, 2009