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Clower's about-face regarding the 'Keynesian Revolution'

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  • Plassard, Romain

Abstract

Robert W. Clower’s article “The Keynesian Counter-Revolution: A Theoretical Appraisal” (1965) deeply influenced the course of Keynesian macroeconomics by contributing to the transition from IS/LM macroeconomics to fix-price theories. Despite this influence, no scholar proposed to explain its origins, with the notable exception of Roger E. Backhouse and Mauro Boianovsky (2013). They explained that the 1965 piece was the result of an independent research program rooted in the works of Clower during the 1950s. My paper aims to offer an alternative explanation. It is synthesized in the metaphor of an about-face to stress that a theoretical break is at the origin of this contribution. This break, initiated in the early 1960s, is characterized by a double change in perspective (individual equilibrium vs. individual disequilibrium, and compatibility vs. incompatibility between Keynesian and Walrasian theories). The intellectual context, particularly Don Patinkin (1956; 1958), will be invoked to trace the roots of this about-face. Consequently, rather than independency and linearity, I argue that dependency and non-linearity are the two salient features of Clower’s intellectual path.

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  • Plassard, Romain, 2015. "Clower's about-face regarding the 'Keynesian Revolution'," MPRA Paper 69233, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:69233
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Backhouse,Roger E. & Boianovsky,Mauro, 2014. "Transforming Modern Macroeconomics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107435384.
    2. Robert W. Clower, 1995. "Economic Doctrine And Method," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 92.
    3. De Vroey, Michel, 1999. "The Marshallian Market and the Walrasian Economy. Two Incompatible Bedfellows," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 46(3), pages 319-338, August.
    4. Takashi Negishi, 1961. "Monopolistic Competition and General Equilibrium," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 28(3), pages 196-201.
    5. J. de V. Graaf, 1950. "Income Effects and the Theory of the Firm," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 18(2), pages 79-86.
    6. R. W. Clower & M. L. Burstein, 1960. "A Symposium on Monetary Theory: On the Invariance of Demand for Cash and other Assets," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 28(1), pages 32-36.
    7. Don Patinkin, 1958. "Liquidity Preference and Loanable Funds : Stock and Flow Analysis," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 25(100), pages 300-318, November.
    8. Pedro Garcia Duarte & Gilberto Tadeu Lima, 2012. "Microfoundations Reconsidered," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 14869.
    9. Robert Clower, 1960. "Keynes and the Classics: A Dynamical Perspective," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 74(2), pages 318-323.
    10. Romain Plassard, "undated". "The origins, development, and fate of Clower’s ‘stock-flow’ general-equilibrium program," Center for the History of Political Economy Working Paper Series 2016-16, Center for the History of Political Economy.
    11. Goulven Rubin, 2005. "La controverse entre Clower et Patinkin au sujet de la validité de la loi de Walras," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 56(1), pages 5-24.
    12. Robert W. Clower, 1952. "Professor Duesenberry and Traditional Theory," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 19(3), pages 165-178.
    13. Goulven Rubin, 2002. "From equilibrium to disequilibrium: the genesis of Don Patinkin's interpretation of the Keynesian theory," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(2), pages 205-225.
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    Cited by:

    1. Romain Plassard, "undated". "The origins, development, and fate of Clower’s ‘stock-flow’ general-equilibrium program," Center for the History of Political Economy Working Paper Series 2016-16, Center for the History of Political Economy.
    2. Plassard, Romain, 2017. "Disequilibrium as the origin, originality, and challenges of Clower's microfoundations of monetary theory," MPRA Paper 78917, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    microfoundations of macroeconomics; disequilibrium theory; instability of the full employment equilibrium; Clower.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B21 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Microeconomics
    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • D50 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - General

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