A Critical Essay on Modern Macroeconomic Theory

Macroeconomics began as the study of large-scale economic pathologies such as prolonged depression, mass unemployment and persistent inflation. In the early 1980s rational expectations and new classical economics dominated macroeconomic theory, with the result that such pathologies can hardly be discussed within the vocabulary of the theory. This book evolved from the authors' profound disagreement with that trend. It demonstrates not only how the new classical view got macroeconomics wrong, but how to go about doing macroeconomics the right way.

Following an explanation of microeconomic foundations, chapters introduce the basic elements for a better macro-model. The model is simple, but combined with the appropriate model of the labor market it can say useful things about the fluctuation of employment, the correlation between wages and employment, and the role for corrective monetary policy.

Preface.

1. Introduction.

2. Perfectly Flexible Wages.

3. Imperfect Wage Flexibility.

4. Imperfect Competition.

5. The Labor Market.

6. Macroeconomics.

7. Conclusions.

Notes.

References.

Index.

Frank Hahn is Professor Ordinario, University of Siena, Professor Emeritus of Cambridge University, and Fellow of Churchill College.

Robert Solow is Institute Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received the Nobel Prize in economics in 1987 for his macroeconomic research linking technology and growth.

In the early 1980s, rational expectations and new classical economics dominated macroeconomic theory. This essay evolved from the authors' profound disagreement with that trend. It demonstrates not only how the new classical view got macroeconomics wrong, but also how to go about doing macroeconomics the right way.

Hahn and Solow argue that what was originally offered as a normative model based on perfect foresight and universal perfect competition has been almost casually transformed into a model for interpreting real macroeconomic behavior. After explaining microeconomic foundations, the authors introduce a better macro model, one that can say useful things about the fluctuation of employment, the correlation between wages and employment, and the role for corrective monetary policy.