Suchergebnisse

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Preface -- Main Symbols -- Part I. From the Short Run to the Long -- 1 Introduction: Toward a Classical Growth Model -- 2 The Nature of the Long Run -- Part II. Long-run Models of Fiscal Policy -- 3 A Two-Class Model -- 4 Saving and the Class Structure -- 5 Debt and Endogenous Growth -- 6 Debt and Exogenous Growth -- 7 Pensions and Endogenous Growth -- 8 Pensions and Exogenous Growth -- 9 Optimal Policy -- Part III. Technical Change and the Production Function -- 10 Fossil Production Function: Theory -- 11 Fossil Production Function: Evidence -- Part IV. Summary -- 12 Fiscal Policy Reconsidered -- References -- Author Index -- Subject Index

A look at all the key topics in intermediate-level macroeconomic theory with carefully chosen linear versions of the standard models of both the closed and the open economy. It requires no mathematical proficiency beyond high school level algebra, and has been thoroughly tested in the classroom

Three models are presented which hold in common the assumption of imperfect competition but differ in their treatment of technical change. When technical change is purely endogenous (Model I) or exogenous (Model II), the rate of profit declines to some steady-state value, either as capital accumulates or as time passes. Dynamic wage-profit curves describe the paths over time of the product wage and profit rate. Under a combined form of technical change (Model III), the slope of the dynamic wage-profit curve is indeterminate but it converges on some steady state. These steady states are the terminus of a historical process rather than the equilibria of the models. The models invite comparisons between neoclassical and Marxian theory.

The decline in the rate of return on nonfinancial corporate capital from 1948-1986 can be usefully divided into two distinct periods. From 1948-1972, a decline in the profit share accounts for most of the decline in the profit rate. From 1972-86, the profit share rose, and a decline in capital productivity accounts for the continued decline in the profit rate. Regression analysis of the trend structure and a decomposition of the factors accounting for the profit rate are used to support this thesis.