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The spread of Keynesian economics : a comparison of the Belgian and Italian experiences

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  • Ivo Maes

    () (National Bank of Belgium, Research Department)

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    Abstract

    Keynesian economics dominated economic thought and macroeconomic policy-making in the 1950s and 1960s. However, the diffusion of Keynesian economics has been uneven. In this paper, we compare the spread of Keynesian economics in two continental European countries: Belgium and Italy. We focus on the post-World War II period, taking as the main message of Keynesian economics that the market is inherently unstable and that the government has a key role in economic life in steering effective demand. We further follow Coddington's distinction between "hydraulic", "disequilibrium" and "fundamentalist" Keynesianism. The study shows that Belgium and Italy were two countries were Keynesian economics gained ground only relatively late. The breakthrough of (hydraulic) Keynesianism came in areas which were close to the policy-making process: setting up national income accounts, the construction of macroeconomic models and correcting regional imbalances. The main difference between the two countries was the strong position of fundamentalist Keynesianism in the academic world in Italy, while in Belgium, disequilibrium Keynesianism was more influential.

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    File URL: http://www.nbb.be/doc/oc/repec/reswpp/wp113En.pdf
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    Bibliographic Info

    Paper provided by National Bank of Belgium in its series Working Paper Research with number 113.

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    Length: 24 pages
    Date of creation: May 2007
    Date of revision:
    Handle: RePEc:nbb:reswpp:200705-02

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    Keywords: Keynesian economics; Belgium; Italy; macroeconomic policy-making;

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    Cited by:
    1. Van Beveren, Ilke & Bernard, Andrew B & Blanchard, Emily J & Vandenbussche, Hylke, 2011. "Carry-along trade," Open Access publications from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven urn:hdl:123456789/387875, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
    2. Joachim Keller, 2008. "Agency problems in structured finance – a case study of European CLOs," Working Paper Document 137, National Bank of Belgium.
    3. Lepore, Amedeo, 2012. "L’andamento della spesa per l’intervento straordinario nel Mezzogiorno d’Italia, dalla golden age alla fine del XX secolo. (The trends in the expenditures of the extraordinary intervention in so," De Computis "Revista Española de Historia de la Contabilidad". De Computis "Spanish Journal of Accounting History"., Asociación Española de Contabilidad y Administración de Empresas (AECA). Spanish Accounting and Business Administration Association., issue 16, pages 76-119, June.

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