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

This book explores the historical development of the Stockholm School of Economics in the wider Keynesian tradition.

Erik Filip Lundberg (Author)

9780521142632, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 10 June 2010

224 pages
24.4 x 17 x 1.2 cm, 0.37 kg

After applying rigorous statistical and analytical methods, Vreeland arrives at some significant, and for the IMF, sobering conclusions … Vreeland raises new questions that have important policy implications. He lays out new avenues of research and concludes with some suggestions for IMF reform.' Development Policy Review

These lectures are concerned with the origins of the distinctive policies of the Stockholm School of Economics, of which Erik Lundberg was a leading member. Lundberg explores the historical development of the Stockholm 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.

Editorial foreword
First Lecture: The Theories of the Older Generation Economist. Policy Applications in the 1920s: 1. Introduction
2. The first Postwar crisis (1918–24)
3. The analysis of Swedish economists
4. The debate on economic policies
5. The suggested instruments of economic policy
Second Lecture: The Stockholm School and Keynes. The Experience of the 1930s: 6. The birth of the Stockholm school
7. The Swedish economy in the 1930s
8. General features of the Stockholm school approach to economic policy
9. The theories of the Stockholm school and their policy implications
10. The disequilibrium approach of the Stockholm school
11. Further differences between the approaches of Keynes and the Stockholm school
Third Lecture: Postwar Policy Issues and Policy Theories before the 1970s: 12. Evolution of the policy environment
13. Old traditions and innovations in policy analysis
14. Gunnar Myrdal's contribution and his opponents
15. Inflationary gap theories
16. The Rehn–Meidner model and the selective fiscal policy
Fourth Lecture: The Disequilibria of the 1970s and the Need for New Policy Theories: 17. The imbalance of the Swedish economy: 1974–81
18. The deficiency of policy models
19. New policy condition
20. The failure of Keynesian policies
21. Structural problems and supply-side economics
22. The debate about the size of the public sector
23. The need for demand and supply policies
24. Supply-side policies, efficiency and equity considerations
25. Concluding remarks on the role of economists
Discussion
Comments
Biography
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Macroeconomics [KCB], Economic theory & philosophy [KCA]