The Rate of Interest, Economic Growth, and Inflation: An Alternative Theoretical Perspective

The premise of this paper is that in a monetary production economy, policy decisions of the central bank, or more generally the ‘monetary authority’, set the tone not only for nominal interest rates but also for ‘real’ interest rates defined in the usual way. This is a different question than that of which institution(s) acquire the status of monetary authority at any particular stage of socioeconomic or technological development. Rather the suggestion is that the existence of some such social structure is a prerequisite if anything resembling capitalist monetary production is to be viable. The paper demonstrates that a coherent macroeconomic theory can be elaborated on this basis, including an explanation of economic growth, the business cycle, inflation, the functional distribution of income, the ‘Keynesian’ problem of the impact of demand growth on economic growth, endogenous money, cumulative causation, and endogenous technical change.interest rates; monetary policy; macroeconomics; growth; inflation

A Note on Endogenous Time Preference and Monetary Non-Superneutrality

We suggest a simple variant of Uzawa preferences which has the same predictions as his formulation, but is less prone to criticism. We assume that the rate of time preference is an increasing function of the total value of current financial assets. It is shown that an increase in the rate of money growth will initially reduce the real value of financial assets, reducing the rate of time preference, increasing savings and the steady state capital stock. This provides a restatement of the Mundell-Tobin effect in an optimizing framework.Monetary Non-Superneutrality, Time Preference, Financial Assets

The structure of financial markets and the 'first principles' of monetary economics

There has been a significant degree of financial restructuring over the last few decades, which has prompted a rethinking of the first principles of monetary economics. The focus here is on how four specifications of these principles address such issues as the need for central banks and the potential for separation of the monetary functions. The case is made for one approach, which suggests that the need to establish trustworthy credit relations, in an environment subject to fundamental uncertainty, is at the heart of monetary systems. It is argued that monetary history demonstrates that monetary standards and central banking have indeed tended to be the outcome of the competitive process in the financial sector

Rational Behavior with Deficient Foresight

The Keynesian notion that economic decision making is subject to fundamental uncertainty (as opposed to probabilistic risk) is often dismissed by contemporary economists using familiar arguments about the presumed rationality of the expectations formation process. The paper argues that this line of reasoning is invalid. The key issues involved do not concern the rationality, or otherwise, of economic agents, at least as the term "rational" seems to be understood by the majority of economists, but lie elsewhere.

The rate of interest, economic growth, and inflation. An alternative theoretical perspective.

The premise of this paper is that in a monetary production economy, policy decisions of the central bank, or more generally the 'monetary authority', set the tone not only for nominal interest rates but also for 'real' interest rates defined in the usual way. This is a different question than that of which institution(s) acquire the status of monetary authority at any particular stage of socioeconomic or technological development. Rather the suggestion is that the existence of some such social structure is a prerequisite if anything resembling capitalist monetary production is to be viable. The paper demonstrates that a coherent macroeconomic theory can be elaborated on this basis, including an explanation of economic growth, the business cycle, inflation, the functional distribution of income, the 'Keynesian' problem of the impact of demand growth on economic growth, endogenous money, cumulative causation, and endogenous technical change. (author's abstract)Series: Working Papers Series "Growth and Employment in Europe: Sustainability and Competitiveness

Interest parity, purchasing power parity, "risk premia," and Post Keynesian economic analysis

This paper explores the implications for open economy macroeconomic analysis of the "cambist" approach to the forward exchanges, put forward by Lavoie (2000) and others. It argues that logically the counterpart to the rejection of any domestic natural rate of interest must also be the rejection of the idea that the real exchange rate is primarily determined by nonmonetary factors such as the supposedly immutable barter terms of trade. The real exchange rate is an endogenous monetary variable and is therefore subject in principle to manipulation by public policy. Much depends on the nature and determinants of the currency risk premium, in an environment in which separate monetary systems in different economies continue to exist, and which is characterized by imperfect asset substitutability , whether or not there is also perfect capital mobility .CURRENCY RISK, IMPERFECT ASSET SUBSTITUTABILITY, INTEREST PARITY, PURCHASING POWER PARITY, REAL EXCHANGE RATES,