Kaldor after Ricardo, Keynes and Kalecki: Perspectives on Theory and Policies

Nicholas Kaldor was a progressive force in economics who made several major contributions, which are well covered by other contributors to this issue in his memory. Yet, like most first generation Keynesians, he stayed within the paradigm of The Concluding Notes to the General Theory, in which Keynes claimed that provided the State intervened to manage the level of demand, the supply side of an economy could be left to the processes of perfect or imperfect competition, whereas Kalecki realised that oligopoly could influence both macroeconomic aggregates and policies. Like Keynes, he also assumed, with Ricardo, that trade was between different firms in different countries rather than recognising that capital already was multinational and that this could qualify both exchange rate changes such as that of the sterling in 1967 and his regional employment premium and selective employment tax.