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Aggregate demand, instability, and growth

Author

Listed:
  • Steven M. Fazzari

    (Washington University)

  • Pietro E. Ferri

    (University of Bergamo)

  • Edward G. Greenberg

    (Washington University)

  • Anna Maria Variato

    (University of Bergamo)

Abstract

This paper considers a puzzle in growth theory from a Keynesian perspective. If neither wage and price adjustment nor monetary policy are effective at stimulating demand, no endogenous dynamic process exists to assure that demand grows fast enough to employ a growing labor force. Yet output grows persistently over long periods, occasionally reaching approximate full employment. We resolve this puzzle by invoking Harrod's instability results. Demand grows because it follows an explosive upward path that is ultimately limited by resource constraints. Downward demand instability is contained by introducing an autonomous component to aggregate demand.

Suggested Citation

  • Steven M. Fazzari & Pietro E. Ferri & Edward G. Greenberg & Anna Maria Variato, 2013. "Aggregate demand, instability, and growth," Review of Keynesian Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:elg:rokejn:v:1:y:2013:i:1:p1-21
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Soon Ryoo, 2016. "Household debt and housing bubbles: a Minskian approach to boom-bust cycles," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(5), pages 971-1006, December.
    2. Eckhard Hein & Ryan Woodgate, 2021. "Stability issues in Kaleckian models driven by autonomous demand growth—Harrodian instability and debt dynamics," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(2), pages 388-404, May.
    3. Trezzini, Attilio, 2017. "Harrodian Instability: a Misleading Concept," Centro Sraffa Working Papers CSWP24, Centro di Ricerche e Documentazione "Piero Sraffa".
    4. Stephen Thompson, 2018. "Employment and fiscal policy in a Marxian model," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(4), pages 820-846, November.
    5. Soon Ryoo & Peter Skott, 2017. "Fiscal and Monetary Policy Rules in an Unstable Economy," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 500-548, July.
    6. Marc Lavoie, 2016. "Convergence Towards the Normal Rate of Capacity Utilization in Neo-Kaleckian Models: The Role of Non-Capacity Creating Autonomous Expenditures," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(1), pages 172-201, February.
    7. Lídia Brochier & Antonio Carlos, 2019. "A supermultiplier Stock-Flow Consistent model: the “return” of the paradoxes of thrift and costs in the long run?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 43(2), pages 413-442.
    8. Eric Kemp‐Benedict, 2020. "Convergence of actual, warranted, and natural growth rates in a Kaleckian–Harrodian‐classical model," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 71(4), pages 851-881, November.
    9. Bitros, George C., 2020. "Demand adjusted capital input and potential output in the context of U.S. economic growth," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    10. Jimenez, Valeria, 2023. "Labour market stability in a zero-growth economy," IPE Working Papers 211/2023, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    11. Skott, Peter, 2023. "Endogenous business cycles and economic policy," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 61-82.
    12. Peter Skott, 2019. "Autonomous demand, Harrodian instability and the supply side," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 70(2), pages 233-246, May.
    13. Mark Setterfield, 2019. "Tolerable ranges of variation in the rate of capacity utilization and corridor instability: a reply to Florian Botte," Working Papers 1905, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    14. Steven M Fazzari & Piero Ferri & Anna Maria Variato, 2020. "Demand-led growth and accommodating supply," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 44(3), pages 583-605.
    15. Peter Skott, 2018. "Challenges for post-Keynesian macroeconomics," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2018-03, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    16. Eckhard Hein & Valeria Jimenez, 2022. "The macroeconomic implications of zero growth: a post-Keynesian approach," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 19(1), pages 41-60, April.
    17. Olivier Allain, 2021. "A supermultiplier model of the natural rate of growth," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(3), pages 612-634, July.
    18. Stephen Thompson, 2022. "“The total movement of this disorder is its order”: Investment and utilization dynamics in long‐run disequilibrium," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(2), pages 638-682, May.
    19. Dvoskin, Ariel & Torchinsky Landau, Matías, 2023. "Income distribution and economic cycles in an open-economy supermultiplier model," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 273-291.
    20. Takashi Ohno, 2022. "Capital-labor conflict in the Harrodian model," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 301-317, April.
    21. Florian Botte, 2017. "Estimating normal capacity utilization rates and their tolerable ranges of values: A comment on Setterfield," Post-Print hal-01543643, HAL.
    22. Mark Setterfield, 2021. "Harrodians and Kaleckians: a suggested reconciliation and synthesis," Working Papers 2111, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2022.
    23. Peter Skott & Júlio Fernando Costa Santos & José Luís da Costa Oreiro, 2022. "Supermultipliers, ‘endogenous autonomous demand’ and functional finance," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 220-244, February.
    24. Michalis Nikiforos, 2018. "Some Comments on the Sraffian Supermultiplier Approach to Growth and Distribution," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_907, Levy Economics Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    economic growth; instability; aggregate demand; floors and ceilings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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