Free Market Conservatism : A Critique of Theory & Practice

ISBN-13: 9780415567152 / Angielski / Twarda / 2009 / 274 str.

Edward Nell

Opis

First published in 1984, this book carefully dissects and convincingly demonstrates that conservative economics is incoherent in theory and disastrous in practice. The three main schools of thought supporting "free-market" policies – supply side economics, monetarism and rational expectations- are examined in turn and each is found defective. Three case studies of conservative policy in action follow: Reagan’s U.S., Thatcher’s U.K. and Pinochet’s Chile and their courses are charted in economic conservatism’s ideology and social policy, and the book concludes with an assessment of the political reasons for the theoretical incoherence and practical failure.

This is a careful and comprehensive look at this subject which tackles both the theory and the practice head-on. It will make useful and stimulating reading for students of economics and political economy on courses of economic policy and macro-economics and in addition will be of keen interest to all those involved in the debate about one of the major policy issues of our time.

Spis treści

1. Introduction - Capitalism as Gestalt: A Contrast of Visions  Robert Heilbroner  Part 1: Theory  2. Supply-side Economics: Incentives and Disasters  Rosemary Rinder  3. Monetarism: Conservative Policy and Monetary Theory  Edward Nell and Alex Azarchs  I The Conservative Critique of Interventionist Policy II  Wealth Effects and the Government Budget Constraint  III The Real Balance Effect in Neoclassical Theory: Micro and Macro  IV Milton Friedman’s Monetary Theory  4. Rational Expectations: Radical Assumptions and Conservative Conclusions  I Expectations and Rationality within a Capitalist Framework  Jan Kregel  II The Micro Foundations of the Short-Run Phillips Curve  Bob Cherry, Pat Clawson and James Dean  III Rational Expectations and Imperfect Knowledge  Jagdish Handa  5. Social Policy: Private Reactions to Public Decisions Edward Nell  Part 2: Practice  6. The Politics of Reaganomics  Teresa Amott  7. Thatcherism: The Miracle that Never Happened  Geoff Hodgson  8. Supply-side Economics in a Small Economy: The Chilean Case  Antonio Schneider  9. Conclusions-Cowboy Capitalism: The Last Round-Up  Edward Nell

O autorze

Edward Nell