Review of Keynesian Economics 

About: Review of Keynesian Economics is an academic journal published by Edward Elgar Publishing. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Post-Keynesian economics & Monetary policy. It has an ISSN identifier of 2049-5323. Over the lifetime, 289 publications have been published receiving 3082 citations.

Workers without employers: shadow corporations and the rise of the gig economy

Abstract: A growing number of American workers are no longer employed in 'jobs' with a long-term connection with a company but are hired for 'gigs' under 'flexible' arrangements as 'independent contractors' or 'consultants,' working only to complete a particular task or for defined time and with no more connection with their employer than there might be between a consumer and a particular brand of soap or potato chips. While the rise of this 'gig' economy is praised by some as a response to the wishes of a more entrepreneurial generation, it is more likely that it is driven by the concerns of businesses to lower wages and benefit costs during business down-turns while also reducing their vulnerability to unfair dismissal lawsuits. The rise of gig labor calls for new initiatives in social policy because it shifts more of the burden of economic risk onto workers even while removing gig workers from many of the employment-bound New-Deal-era social insurance programs.

Wage-led versus profit-led demand regimes: The long and the short of it

Abstract: Empirical studies have found mixed results regarding whether various countries have wage-led or profit-led demand regimes based on a variety of econometric methodologies. However, most of the previous literature has paid too little attention to the time dimension of this distinction. This paper argues that demand is more likely to be profit led (or, at least, more weakly wage led) in the short run and more likely to be wage led (or more strongly wage led) in the long run, because the positive effects of higher profits (lower labor costs) on investment and net exports are likely to be strongest in the short run, while the positive effects of a higher wage share on consumption are if anything likely to be stronger in the long run. In fact, most of the studies that have found profit-led results (especially for the US) have used methodologies that (either intentionally or unintentionally) emphasize short-run cyclical relationships. An examination of correlations in the raw data for the US economy over different time horizons illustrates the plausibility of output and growth being profit led in the short run and wage led in the long run.

Wage-led growth: theory, evidence, policy

Abstract: The paper provides an overview of the concept of wage-led growth, both as an analytical concept and as an economic policy strategy. At the core of our analysis is the distinction between wage-led and profit-led demand regimes. The Kaleckian tradition in macroeconomics asserts that a higher wage share will have expansionary effects. Bhaduri and Marglin (1990) generalize the model by allowing for classical mechanisms. The paper presents a two-country short run model to clarify the key concepts surrounding a wage-led vs a profit-led demand regime. It distinguishes carefully between partial and total effects and it analyses demand regimes with respect to national as well as international changes in the wage share. We also review the empirical literature. Our reading is that the available evidence indicates that demand in most economies is domestically wage-led. Changes in functional income distribution also have supply-side effects. Available evidence suggests that higher wage growth induces higher productivity growth. Neoliberalism resulted in an increase in inequality and a decline in the wage share, but growth has nowhere been based on the profit-led growth process. Rather neoliberalism has given rise to either debt-led or export-led growth regimes. The paper concludes by outlining a wage-led growth strategy and by discussing its limitations.

The impact of fiscal austerity in the Eurozone

Abstract: This paper presents a framework to assess the likely impact of fiscal austerity in the Euro area, as a response to the turmoil in the financial markets We provide some evidence on the sequence of events which generated public deficits and debts, and show that rising debts and deficits were the outcome of the external shock which hit the European economies from 2007 onwards, given the institutional setting, rather than the cause After reviewing the theory supporting austerity as a solution to the crisis, we discuss the macroeconomics of austerity with the help of a stock-flow-consistent accounting structure in the context of a Keynesian–Kaleckian approach

Fiscal policy: a strong macroeconomic role

Abstract: Current macroeconomics, the ‘New Consensus Macroeconomics’, downgrades significantly the role of fiscal policy as a stabilisation instrument of macroeconomic policy. This paper argues that fiscal policy deserves to be properly upgraded. More recent theoretical and empirical developments on the fiscal policy front are closely examined. This examination reveals that these developments lead to the conclusion that fiscal policy is not as ineffective as argued by the ‘New Consensus Macroeconomics’ proponents. On the contrary, it has a strong macroeconomic role. It is also the case that, in view of the ‘Great Recession’ ,f inancial stability has been shown to be very important in economic policy but had been ignored prior to it. The paper argues strongly that fiscal policy is actually a strong macroeconomic stabilisation instrument, especially so when it is coordinated not only with monetary policy but also and closely with financial stability policies – with such coordination-embracing income distribution. Fiscal policy should thereby be restored to its proper upgraded role in terms of economic policy. It is, therefore, high time economists and economic policymakers turned their attention more closely and seriously to this aspect and restored fiscal policy to its strong macroeconomic role.