Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T01:17:25.023Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

OUTSIDE THE MAINSTREAM: AN INTERVIEW WITH AXEL LEIJONHUFVUD

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2004

BRIAN SNOWDON
BRIAN SNOWDON
Affiliation:
Northumbria University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Axel Leijonhufvud made an enormous impact on macroeconomics in the late 1960s with the publication of his book On Keynesian Economics and the Economics of Keynes: A Study of Monetary Economics (1968). In this famous book, Leijonhufvud argued that the standard neoclassical synthesis (Hicks–Hansen IS-LM) interpretation of the General Theory totally misunderstood and misinterpreted Keynes. However, during the 1970's, interest in Keynes and Keynesian models waned as new classical equilibrium models became all the rage. Nevertheless, Leijonhufvud, from a position outside the mainstream, continued his research into problems of unemployment, business cycles, and inflation—issues that from his perspective are problems of coordination failure in complex dynamical systems. Axel Leijonhufvud is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, and, since 1995, Professor of Monetary Economics at the University of Trento, Italy. In this interview the author discusses with Leijonhufvud a wide range of issues relating to his own work as well as his views on the development of macroeconomics after Keynes.

Keywords

KeynesModiglianiMarshallCoordination FailureCosts of InflationCorridor HypothesisTransitionBounded RationalityAdaptive Behavior
Type
MD INTERVIEW
Information
Macroeconomic Dynamics , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , February 2004 , pp. 117 - 145
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Akerlof GA. 2002 Behavioural macroeconomics and macroeconomic behavior. American Economic Review 92 411– 433.Google Scholar
Backhouse R. 1995 Interpreting Macroeconomics: Explorations in the History of Macroeconomic Thought. London: Routledge.
Barens I. 1999 From Keynes to Hicks—An aberration? IS-LM and the analytical nucleus of the General Theory. In E. De Antoni, P. Howitt & A. Leijonhufvud (eds.), Money, Markets and Method: Essays in Honour of Robert W. Clower. Cheltenham: Edgar Elgar.
Blanchard O.J. 2000 What do we know about macroeconomics that Fisher and Wicksell did not? Quarterly Journal of Economics 115, 571– 601.Google Scholar
Coddington A. 1983 Keynesian Economics: The Search for First Principles. London: George Allen and Unwin.
Clower R.W. 1965 The Keynesian counter-revolution: A theoretical appraisal. In F.H. Hahn & F.P.R. Brechling (eds.), The Theory of Interest Rates. London: Macmillan.
Evans G. & Honkapohja S. 2001 Learning and Expectations Macroeconomics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Fisher I. 1932 Booms and Depressions: Some First Principles. New York: Adelphi.
Fisher I. 1933 The debt-deflation theory of the Great Depression. Econometrica 1, 337– 357.Google Scholar
Friedman M. 1970 A theoretical framework for monetary analysis. Journal of Political Economy 78, 193– 238.Google Scholar
Goodfriend M. King R.G, 1997 The new neoclassical synthesis and the role of monetary policy. National Bureau of Economic Research Macroeconomics Annual 12, 231– 283.Google Scholar
Heymann D. & Leijonhufvud A. 1995 High Inflation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jones Eric L. 1988 Growth Recurring: Economic Change in World History. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Kehoe T.J. & Prescott E.C. (eds.) 2002 Great depressions of the twentieth century. Review of Economic Dynamics 5, 1– 18.Google Scholar
Keynes J.M. 1919/1972 The economic consequences of the peace. In E. Johnson, D. Moggridge, & A. Robinson (eds.), The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, >vol. 2. London: Macmillan.
Keynes J.M. 1930/1972 The economic possibilities of our grandchildren. In E. Johnson, D. Moggridge & A. Robinson (eds.). The Collected Writings of John Maynard Keynes, vol. 9. London: Macmillan.
Krugman P. 1999 The Return of Depression Economics. New York: W.W. Norton.
Landes D.S. 1998 The Wealth and Poverty of Nations: Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor. New York: W.W. Norton.
Leijonhufvud A. 1992 Keynesian economics: Past confusions and future prospects. In A. Vercelli & N. Dimitri (eds.), Macroeconomics: A Survey of Research Strategies, pp. 16–37. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Leijonhufvud A. 1993 Toward a not-too rational macroeconomics. Southern Economic Journal 60, 1– 13.Google Scholar
Leijonhufvud A. 1998 Three items for the macroeconomics agenda. Kyklos 51, 197– 218.Google Scholar
Modigliani F. 1944 Liquidity preference and the theory of interest and money. Econometrica 12, pp. 45– 88.Google Scholar
Modigliani F. 1980 The Collected Papers of Franco Modigliani, vols. 1, 2, and 3. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Modigliani F. 1989 The Collected Papers of Franco Modigliani, vol. 4. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Phelps E.S. 1972 Inflation Policy and Unemployment Theory: The Cost-Benefit Approach to Monetary Planning. New York: W.W. Norton.
Rosenberg N. & Birdzell L.E. Jr. 1994 How the West Grew Rich: The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World. New York: Basic Books.
Snowdon B. 2002 Conversations on Growth, Stability and Trade: An Historical Perspective. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Snowdon B. & Vane H.R. 1999 Conversations with Leading Economists: Interpreting Modern Macroeconomics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
Snowdon B. Vane H.R. Wynarczyk P. 1994 A Modern Guide to Macroeconomics: An Introduction to Competing Schools of Thought. Aldershot: Edward Elgar.
Thirlwall A.P. et al. 1983 Symposium on Kaldor's growth laws. Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics 5, 341– 429.Google Scholar