19,458 research outputs found
Ignoring the role of private debt in an economy is like driving without accounting for your blind-spot
Steve Keen argues that neoclassical economists have a blind-spot when it comes to the role of private debt in macroeconomics. They should be worried by the incredibly high UK levels and be seeking ways to avoid the next crash
Debunking Macroeconomics
The failure of neoclassical models to warn of the economic crisis has led to some rare soul searching in a discipline not known for such introspection. The dominant reaction within the profession has been to admit the failure, but to argue that there is no need for a drastic revision of economic theory. I reject this comfortable conclusion, and argue instead that this crisis illustrates the point made beforehand by Robert Solow, that models in which macroeconomic pathologies are impossible are not adequate models of capitalism. Hicksâs critique of his own IS-LM model also indicates that, though pathologies can be imposed on an IS-LM model, it is also inappropriate for macroeconomic analysis because of its false imposition of equilibrium conditions derived from Walrasâ Law. I then focus upon what I see as the key weakness in the neoclassical approach to macroeconomics which applies to both DSGE and IS-LM models: the false assumption that the money supply is exogenous. After outlining the alternative endogenous money perspective, I show that Walrasâ Law must be generalized for a credit economy to what I call the âWalras-Schumpeter-Minsky Lawâ. The empirical data strongly supports this perspective, emphasizing the need for a âroot and branchâ reform of macroeconomics.
Stable components in the parameter plane of transcendental functions of finite type
We study the parameter planes of certain one-dimensional, dynamically-defined
slices of holomorphic families of entire and meromorphic transcendental maps of
finite type. Our planes are defined by constraining the orbits of all but one
of the singular values, and leaving free one asymptotic value. We study the
structure of the regions of parameters, which we call {\em shell components},
for which the free asymptotic value tends to an attracting cycle of
non-constant multiplier. The exponential and the tangent families are examples
that have been studied in detail, and the hyperbolic components in those
parameter planes are shell components. Our results apply to slices of both
entire and meromorphic maps. We prove that shell components are simply
connected, have a locally connected boundary and have no center, i.e., no
parameter value for which the cycle is superattracting. Instead, there is a
unique parameter in the boundary, the {\em virtual center}, which plays the
same role. For entire slices, the virtual center is always at infinity, while
for meromorphic ones it maybe finite or infinite. In the dynamical plane we
prove, among other results, that the basins of attraction which contain only
one asymptotic value and no critical points are simply connected. Our dynamical
plane results apply without the restriction of finite type.Comment: 41 pages, 13 figure
Service improvement in social work and health. An e-guide for practitioners and managers
This book aims to provide practitioners and managers working within social care and health environments with the knowledge to be able to ask precise questions of a potential service improvement project
The balance between specific and ad valorem taxation
A recurring issue in indirect tax design â most obviously, but not only, for goods traditionally subject to heavy excises â is the appropriate balance between specific and ad valorem taxation. Recent work has developed new perspectives on the issue, which is also one of the oldest in the formal study of public finance. This paper provides a broadly non-technical account of the central considerations that arise in choosing the balance between specific and ad valorem taxation, reviewing and somewhat extending the lessons of theory and experience. There emerge clear presumptions as to the relative effects of the two kinds of tax on such attributes as price, profits, product quality and variety. But the socially optimal balance between them is likely to be quite sensitive to the characteristics of the market at issue.
- âŠ