History of Economics, Economics - General & Miscellaneous, General Economic Policies, Economic Policy - Great Britain, Economic Policies in Europe, Great Britain - Economic History, Economic History - General & Miscellaneous
Economics Through the Looking-Glass: Reflections on a Perverted Science
R. A. RaymanLog in to track your reading progress.
Overview
In spite of spectacular improvements in market flexibility, the characteristics of the past twenty years are slow growth and high unemployment. Economics Through the Looking-Glass exposes the theoretical fallacy at the heart of the New Economic Orthodoxy. The fallacy lies in treating the economy as a 'single-gear' machine guaranteed to operate at its full employment potential as long as it benefits from the lubricant of perfectly flexible markets (in a Walrasian Utopia of continuous market-clearing equilibrium). Unemployment is thereby reduced to a structural problem of market imperfection. As a cure for unemployment, market flexibility is presumed to be adequate; as a cure for inflation, monetary restriction is presumed to be safe. The flaw in Orthodox logic is exposed by a demonstration that a monetary economy operates as a 'multi-gear' machine. Unless it is in 'top gear', market-flexibility (even of Utopian perfection) is not sufficient for full employment. The 'multi-gear' alternative heralds the final stage of economic liberalisation: deregulation of the market for money. The rescue of interest rates from political or central bank interference and the control of inflation by a mechanism triggered by market forces would put an end to the Orthodox policy of maintaining unemployment above its natural market rate by misguided monetary intervention.Book Details
Published
June 1, 1998
Publisher
Ashgate Publishing, Limited
Pages
352
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9781840144192