IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hec/heccee/2014-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

James Tobin and Modern Monetary Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Robert W. Dimand

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship of the monetary economics of James Tobin to modern monetary theory, which has diverged in many ways from the directions taken by Tobin and his associates (for example, moving away from multi-asset models of financial market equilibrium and from monetary models of long-run economic growth) but which has also built upon aspects of his work (e.g., the use of simulation and calibration in his work on inter-termporal consumption decisions). Particular attention will be paid to Tobin's unpublished series of three Gaston Eyskens Lectures at Leuven on Neo-Keynesian Monetary Theory: A Restatement and Defense, and the paper draws on my forthcoming volume of Tobin for Palgrave Macmillan's series on Great Thinkers in Economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert W. Dimand, 2014. "James Tobin and Modern Monetary Theory," Center for the History of Political Economy Working Paper Series 2014-5, Center for the History of Political Economy.
  • Handle: RePEc:hec:heccee:2014-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hope.econ.duke.edu/node/959
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James Tobin, 1941. "A Note on the Money Wage Problem," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 55(3), pages 508-516.
    2. Tobin, James, 1975. "Keynesian Models of Recession and Depression," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 65(2), pages 195-202, May.
    3. Willem H. Buiter, 2003. "James Tobin: An Appreciation of his Contribution to Economics," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(491), pages 585-631, November.
    4. Charpe,Matthieu & Chiarella,Carl & Flaschel,Peter & Semmler,Willi, 2015. "Financial Assets, Debt and Liquidity Crises," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107546660, January.
    5. Robert W. Dimand & Steven N. Durlauf, 2009. "James Tobin and Growth Theory: Financial Factors and Long-Run Growth," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 41(5), pages 182-199, Supplemen.
    6. Taylor, John B, 1980. "Aggregate Dynamics and Staggered Contracts," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(1), pages 1-23, February.
    7. Colander, Conducted by David, 1999. "Conversations With James Tobin And Robert Shiller On The “Yale Tradition” In Macroeconomics," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(1), pages 116-143, March.
    8. Chiarella,Carl & Flaschel,Peter, 2011. "The Dynamics of Keynesian Monetary Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521180184.
    9. Michel, DE VROEY, 2005. "Involuntary Unemployment : the Elusive Quest for a Theory," Discussion Papers (ECON - Département des Sciences Economiques) 2005004, Université catholique de Louvain, Département des Sciences Economiques.
    10. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    11. David Colander & Peter Howitt & Alan Kirman & Axel Leijonhufvud & Perry Mehrling, 2018. "Beyond DSGE Models: Toward an Empirically Based Macroeconomics," Chapters, in: How Economics Should Be Done, chapter 14, pages 212-216, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Robert E. Lucas, Jr., 2004. "Keynote Address to the 2003 HOPE Conference: My Keynesian Education," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 36(5), pages 12-24, Supplemen.
    13. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1996. "Nobel Lecture: Monetary Neutrality," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(4), pages 661-682, August.
    14. Frederic S. Mishkin, 1983. "A Rational Expectations Approach to Macroeconometrics: Testing Policy Ineffectiveness and Efficient-Markets Models," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number mish83-1, March.
    15. Backhouse,Roger E. & Boianovsky,Mauro, 2014. "Transforming Modern Macroeconomics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107435384.
    16. Paul A. Samuelson, 1958. "An Exact Consumption-Loan Model of Interest with or without the Social Contrivance of Money," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66, pages 467-467.
    17. Carl E. Walsh, 2003. "Monetary Theory and Policy, 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232316, December.
    18. Kydland, Finn E & Prescott, Edward C, 1982. "Time to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1345-1370, November.
    19. Stiglitz,Joseph & Greenwald,Bruce, 2003. "Towards a New Paradigm in Monetary Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521810340, January.
    20. Drazen, Allan, 1981. "Inflation and capital accumulation under a finite horizon," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 247-260.
    21. Tobin, James, 1969. "A General Equilibrium Approach to Monetary Theory," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 1(1), pages 15-29, February.
    22. William J. Baumol, 1952. "The Transactions Demand for Cash: An Inventory Theoretic Approach," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 66(4), pages 545-556.
    23. J. Tobin, 1958. "Liquidity Preference as Behavior Towards Risk," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 25(2), pages 65-86.
    24. Walter Dolde & James Tobin, 1971. "Wealth, Liquidity, and Consumption," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 311, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    25. Gertler, Mark & Kiyotaki, Nobuhiro, 2010. "Financial Intermediation and Credit Policy in Business Cycle Analysis," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: Benjamin M. Friedman & Michael Woodford (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 11, pages 547-599, Elsevier.
    26. Robert W. Dimand, 2007. "Keynes, IS-LM, and the Marshallian Tradition," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 39(1), pages 81-95, Spring.
    27. Meltzer, Allan H., 1989. "Tobin on macroeconomic policy : A review essay," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 159-173, January.
    28. James Tobin, 2003. "World Finance and Economic Stability," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 2644.
    29. Robert W. Dimand, 2005. "Fisher, Keynes, and the Corridor of Stability," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(1), pages 185-199, January.
    30. Robert W. Dimand, 2004. "James Tobin and the Transformation of the IS-LM Model," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 36(5), pages 165-189, Supplemen.
    31. Purvis, Douglas D, 1982. " James Tobin's Contributions to Economics," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(1), pages 61-88.
    32. Dimand, Robert W, 1991. "Keynes, Kalecki, Ricardian Equivalence, and the Real Balance Effect," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 289-292, July.
    33. Posner, Richard A., 2010. "The Crisis of Capitalist Democracy," Economics Books, Harvard University Press, number 9780674062191, Spring.
    34. Brunner, Karl & Meltzer, Allan H., 1976. "The Phillips curve," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 1-18, January.
    35. Toichiro Asada & Carl Chiarella & Peter Flaschel & Tarik Mouakil & Christian Proaño & Willi Semmler, 2011. "Stock‐Flow Interactions, Disequilibrium Macroeconomics And The Role Of Economic Policy," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 569-599, July.
    36. Friedman, Milton, 1977. "Nobel Lecture: Inflation and Unemployment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 85(3), pages 451-472, June.
    37. Tobin, James, 1972. "Inflation and Unemployment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 62(1), pages 1-18, March.
    38. Walter Dolde & James Tobin, 1983. "Mandatory Retirement Saving and Capital Formation," International Economic Association Series, in: Franco Modigliani & Richard Hemming (ed.), The Determinants of National Saving and Wealth, chapter 3, pages 56-88, Palgrave Macmillan.
    39. William C. Brainard & William D. Nordhaus & Harold W. Watts, 1991. "Money, Macroeconomics, and Economic Policy: Essays in Honor of James Tobin," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262023253, December.
    40. Orphanides, Athanasios & Solow, Robert M., 1990. "Money, inflation and growth," Handbook of Monetary Economics, in: B. M. Friedman & F. H. Hahn (ed.), Handbook of Monetary Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 6, pages 223-261, Elsevier.
    41. Shiller, Robert J., 1999. "The Et Interview: Professor James Tobin," Econometric Theory, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(6), pages 867-900, December.
    42. Backus, David, et al, 1980. "A Model of U.S. Financial and Nonfinancial Economic Behavior," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 12(2), pages 259-293, Special I.
    43. Frederic S. Mishkin, 1983. "Introduction to "A Rational Expectations Approach to Macroeconometrics: Testing Policy Ineffectiveness and Efficient-Markets Models"," NBER Chapters, in: A Rational Expectations Approach to Macroeconometrics: Testing Policy Ineffectiveness and Efficient-Markets Models, pages 1-6, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    44. Tobin, James, 1982. " The Commercial Banking Firm: A Simple Model," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(4), pages 495-530.
    45. Robert Dimand, 1988. "The Origins of the Keynesian Revolution," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 139.
    46. Harry Markowitz, 1952. "Portfolio Selection," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 7(1), pages 77-91, March.
    47. William C. Brainard & James Tobin, 1968. "Pitfalls in Financial Model-Building," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 244, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    48. Smith, Gary N & Brainard, William C, 1976. "The Value of A Priori Information in Estimating a Financial Model," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 31(5), pages 1299-1322, December.
    49. Alan P. Kirman, 1992. "Whom or What Does the Representative Individual Represent?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 117-136, Spring.
    50. Olivier Blanchard, 2009. "The State of Macro," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 1(1), pages 209-228, May.
    51. Dighe, Ranjit S. & Schmitt, Elizabeth Dunne, 2010. "Did U.S. wages become stickier between the world wars?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 165-181, August.
    52. Douglas D. Purvis, 1981. "James Tobin's Contributions to Economic Science," Working Paper 457, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    53. Guillermo Calvo, 2013. "Puzzling over the Anatomy of Crises: Liquidity and the Veil of Finance," IMES Discussion Paper Series 13-E-09, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan.
    54. Geweke, John, 1985. "Macroeconometric Modeling and the Theory of the Representative Agent," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(2), pages 206-210, May.
    55. Laidler, David, 2010. "Lucas, Keynes, And The Crisis," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(1), pages 39-62, March.
    56. Marcel Boumans & Ariane Dupont-Kieffer, 2011. "A History of the Histories of Econometrics," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 43(5), pages 5-31, Supplemen.
    57. James Tobin, 1993. "Price Flexibility and Output Stability: An Old Keynesian View," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 45-65, Winter.
    58. Chiarella, Carl & Di Guilmi, Corrado, 2011. "The financial instability hypothesis: A stochastic microfoundation framework," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 1151-1171, August.
    59. Franco Modigliani, 2003. "The Keynesian Gospel According to Modigliani," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 47(1), pages 3-24, March.
    60. Robert J. Gordon, 2011. "The History of the Phillips Curve: Consensus and Bifurcation," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 78(309), pages 10-50, January.
    61. Marcello Messori, 1997. "The Trials and Misadventures of Schumpeter's Treatise on Money," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 29(4), pages 639-673, Winter.
    62. Gary Smith & William C. Brainard, 1974. "The Value of a priori Information in Estimating a Financial Model," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 382, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    63. Lucas, Robert Jr, 1976. "Econometric policy evaluation: A critique," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 19-46, January.
    64. Baumol, William J & Tobin, James, 1989. "The Optimal Cash Balance Proposition: Maurice Allais' Priority," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 27(3), pages 1160-1162, September.
    65. Colander,David (ed.), 2006. "Post Walrasian Macroeconomics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521865487.
    66. Robert W. Dimand, 2011. "Tobin as an Econometrician," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 43(5), pages 166-187, Supplemen.
    67. John B. Taylor, 2009. "Getting Off Track - How Government Actions and Interventions Caused, Prolonged, and Worsened the Financial Crisis," Books, Hoover Institution, Stanford University, number 3, December.
    68. Harold L. Cole & Lee E. Ohanian, 2004. "New Deal Policies and the Persistence of the Great Depression: A General Equilibrium Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(4), pages 779-816, August.
    69. Colander,David (ed.), 2006. "Post Walrasian Macroeconomics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521684200.
    70. Lucas, Robert E, Jr, 1981. "Tobin and Monetarism: A Review Article," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 19(2), pages 558-567, June.
    71. Ross M. Starr, 2012. "Why is there Money?," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 13763.
    72. Guillermo A. Calvo, 2013. "The Mayekawa Lecture: Puzzling over the Anatomy of Crises- Liquidity and the Veil of Finance," Monetary and Economic Studies, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan, vol. 31, pages 39-64, November.
    73. Palley, Thomas I., 2008. "Keynesian models of deflation and depression revisited," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 167-177, October.
    74. Brunner, Karl, 1971. ""Yale" and Money," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 26(1), pages 165-174, March.
    75. Dudley Dillard, 1988. "The Barter Illusion in Classical and Neoclassical Economics," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 299-318, Oct-Dec.
    76. Laidler, David, 2010. "Lucas, Keynes, And The Crisis - Erratum," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(3), pages 443-443, September.
    77. Robert Mundell, 1963. "Inflation and Real Interest," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71, pages 280-280.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. BRILLANT, Lucy, 2024. "The origins of yield curve theory: Irving Fisher and John Maynard Keynes," SocArXiv 9hf8z, Center for Open Science.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Willem H. Buiter, 2003. "James Tobin: An Appreciation of his Contribution to Economics," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(491), pages 585-631, November.
    2. Akhand Akhtar Hossain, 2009. "Central Banking and Monetary Policy in the Asia-Pacific," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12777.
    3. Homburg, Stefan, 2017. "A Study in Monetary Macroeconomics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198807537.
    4. Ichiro Takahashi, 2021. "An Artificial Wicksell—Keynes Macroeconomy," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-981-16-6839-5, September.
    5. Pedro Garcia Duarte, 2012. "Not Going Away? Microfoundations in the Making of a New Consensus in Macroeconomics," Chapters, in: Microfoundations Reconsidered, chapter 6, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Stijn Claessens & M Ayhan Kose, 2018. "Frontiers of macrofinancial linkages," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 95.
    7. Przemysław Włodarczyk, 2016. "Modele reprezentatywnych podmiotów gospodarczych jako narzędzie analizy w nowej syntezie neoklasycznej," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 47(6), pages 553-584.
    8. Pedro Garcia Duarte & Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2012. "Microfoundations Reconsidered," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14869.
    9. Ichiro Takahashi & Isamu Okada, 2020. "An artificial Wicksell–Keynes economy integrating short-run business cycle and long-term cumulative trend," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 15(4), pages 953-998, October.
    10. Spahn Peter, 2009. "The New Keynesian Microfoundation of Macroeconomics," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 60(3), pages 181-203, December.
    11. Athreya, Kartik B., 2014. "Big Ideas in Macroeconomics: A Nontechnical View," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262019736, December.
    12. Erhard Glötzl & Florentin Glötzl & Oliver Richters, 2019. "From constrained optimization to constrained dynamics: extending analogies between economics and mechanics," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 14(3), pages 623-642, September.
    13. Philip Arestis & Alexander Mihailov, 2011. "Classifying Monetary Economics: Fields And Methods From Past To Future," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 769-800, September.
    14. Benjamin M. Friedman, 1978. "Price Inflation, Portfolio Choice, and Nominal Interest Rates," NBER Working Papers 0235, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Jun, Bogang & Kim, Tai-Yoo, 2015. "A neo-Schumpeterian perspective on the analytical macroeconomic framework: The expanded reproduction system," Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences 11-2015, University of Hohenheim, Faculty of Business, Economics and Social Sciences.
    16. Lucas Papademos, 2005. "Macroeconomic theory and monetary policy: the contributions of Franco Modigliani and the ongoing debate," BNL Quarterly Review, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, vol. 58(233-234), pages 187-214.
    17. Stephan Schulmeister, 2018. "From Prosperity into the Crisis and Back. On the Role of Economic Theories in the Long Cycle," WIFO Working Papers 571, WIFO.
    18. Thomas J. Sargent, 1981. "\"Dollarization,\" seignorage, and the demand for money," Working Papers 170, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    19. Senbeta, Sisay, 2011. "How applicable are the new keynesian DSGE models to a typical low-income economy?," MPRA Paper 30931, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Barbara Dluhosch, 2011. "European Economics at a Crossroads, by J. Barkley Rosser, Jr., Richard P. F. Holt, and David Colander," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(3), pages 629-631, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    James Tobin; modern monetary theory; microeconomic foundations; Keynesian economics; corridor of stability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals
    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hec:heccee:2014-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Center for the History of Political Economy Webmaster (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://hope.econ.duke.edu .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.