The Development of Swedish and Keynesian Macroeconomic Theory and Its Impact on Economic Policy

by Erik Filip Lundberg

• ISBN13: 9780521570763
• ISBN10: 052157076X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1996-05-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

These lectures are concerned with the origins of the distinctive policies of the Stockholm School of Economics, of which Lundberg was a leading member. He explores the historical development of the School and considers its place in the wider Keynesian tradition which dominated macroeconomic thinking in the West from the 1930s till the 1970s. The author examines the failure of Keynesian policies both in Sweden and internationally, and offers some tantalising and provocative remedies for future policy-makers to ponder.

Table of Contents

Editorial foreword

First Lecture: The Theories of the Older Generation Economist - Policy Applications in the 1920s: 1. Introduction

2. The first post-war crisis

3. The analysis of Swedish economists: Knut Wicksell

4. Gustav Cassel

5. The debate on economic policies

6. The suggested instruments of economic policy

Second Lecture: The Stockholm School and Keynes: The Experience of the 1930s: 7. The birth of the Stockholm school

8. The Swedish economy in the 1930s

9. General features of the Stockholm school approach to economic policy

10. The theories of the Stockholm school and their policy implications

11. The disequilibrium approach of the Stockholm school

12. Further differences between the approaches of Keynes and the Stockholm school

Third Lecture: Post-War Policy Issues and Policy Theories before the 1970s: 13. Evolution of the policy environment

14. Old traditions and innovations in policy analysis

15. Gunnar Myrdal's contribution and his opponents

16. Inflationary gap theories

17. The Rehn-Meidner model and the selective fiscal policy

Fourth Lecture: The Disequilibria of the 1970s and the Need for New Policy Theories 18. The imbalance of the Swedish economy: 1974-1981

19. The deficiency of policy models

20. New policy condition

21. The failure of Keynesian policies

22. Structural problems and supply-side economics

23. The debate about the size of the public sector

24. The need for demand and supply policies

25. Supply-side policies, efficiency and equity considerations

26. Concluding remarks on the role of economists

Discussion.