The aim of this paper is to assess how three seminal coordination failure models (Diamond ((1982)1991), Howitt (1985) and Roberts (1987) have fared against ÔKeynesÕs programmeÕ. The first part of the paper characterises KeyneÕs programme as consisting of the following four objectives : (a) demonstrating the existence of involuntary unemployment, (b) demonstrating that wage rigidity can be exonerated as its cause, (c) giving a general equilibrium interdependency explanation of the phenomenon within a perfect competition framework, ad (d) demonstrating that demand stimulation is the proper remedy to suppress involuntary unemployment. In a second part, I claim that no correct assessment of KeynesÕs programme can be made without drawing a distinction between involuntary unemployment and underemployment. These prerequisites being settled, in part three I undertake the study of the three models to conclude that none of them succeed in achieving Keynes Ô programme in its entirety. In the last part of the paper, I raise the issue as to whether Keynesian economists should continue to fight for the involuntary unemployment concept.
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Find related papers by JEL classification: B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian E20 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:
References listed on IDEAS Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
Did you know? Each page is provided with a technical contact, in case something is not right with the supplied information. See under "publisher info".