Suchergebnisse

Nine years have passed from the explosion of the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression, yet most European economies are stagnating if not sinking. Given the constraints on fiscal policies, the burden of restoring growth and employment has shifted from governments to the European Central Bank, which at first implemented a loose monetary policy by lowering short-term interest rates. Once the zero lower bound was attained, the ECB decided to purchase government securities and private bonds. The effects of such unconventional measures on investment, inflation and employment is what this Master's dissertation will assess. Post-keynesian economics will provide the main theoretical reference to better understand how central banks operate in a developed credit-based economy and how the economic environment is supposed to react. The mainstream view will be challenged by arguing that unconventional monetary policies such as the Quantitative Easing have no significant effects in increasing aggregate demand. It will be showed that asset purchasing programmes lead to perverse outcomes consisting in increasing financial instability via the substitution of safe with risky assets. At last, this encourages corporations in exploiting carry trade opportunities and accelerates the already worrisome dominance of the financial sector.

Cover; Half Title; Series Page; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of figures; List of tables; List of contributors; Foreword; Introduction: escaping from the economics cave; 1. A Janus-faced crisis; 2. Plato against the economists; 3. Shadow economic theory versus real economic phenomena; 4. Economic models as modern simulacra; 5. The old is dying, but . . .; 6. Our economics menu; 7. Looking for the light at the end of the . . . cave; Notes; PART I: Alternative methodologies; Chapter 1: Critical dilemmas in the methodology of economics facing the crisis; 1. Introduction

Cover -- Half Title -- Series Page -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- List of contributors -- Foreword -- Introduction: escaping from the economics cave -- 1. A Janus-faced crisis -- 2. Plato against the economists -- 3. Shadow economic theory versus real economic phenomena -- 4. Economic models as modern simulacra -- 5. The old is dying, but . . . -- 6. Our economics menu -- 7. Looking for the light at the end of the . . . cave -- Notes -- PART I: Alternative methodologies -- Chapter 1: Critical dilemmas in the methodology of economics facing the crisis -- 1. Introduction -- 2. The dilemma of causality -- 3. More dilemmas -- 4. Concluding remarks -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 2: "Anti-Blanchard": a comparative technique for macroeconomics -- 1. Signals of crisis in the 'core' of contemporary macroeconomics -- 2. Rediscovering a comparative approach to economic theory and policy -- 3. "Anti-Blanchard": a comparative approach in the sphere of teaching -- 4. Further comparisons between alternative paradigms: monetary policy rules -- 5. Which paradigm fits better with the data? Some empirical tests -- References -- PART II: Alternative theories -- Chapter 3: The originality of the Italian debate on Marx -- 1. Value and the falling rate of profit: Croce and Gramsci -- 2. Traditional Marxism: Dobb, Sweezy and Meek -- 3. Abstract labour as a "real abstraction": Lucio Colletti -- 4. Value and prices of production: Pierangelo Garegnani, Marco Lippi and Fernando Vianello -- 5. Value and the social relations of production: Claudio Napoleoni -- 6. Logic and history in Capital: Cesare Luporini -- 7. The method of presentation in Capital: Lorenzo Calabi and Alessandro Mazzone -- 8. Value and the transformation as a pseudo-problem: Rodolfo Banfi