Have the early coordination failures models achieved Keynes’s programme ?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to assess how three seminal coordination failure models (Diamond ((1982)1991), Howitt (1985) and Roberts (1987) have fared against ‘Keynes’s programme’. The first part of the paper characterises Keyne’s programme as consisting of the following four objectives : (a) demonstrating the existence of involuntary unemployment, (b) demonstrating that wage rigidity can be exonerated as its cause, (c) giving a general equilibrium interdependency explanation of the phenomenon within a perfect competition framework, ad (d) demonstrating that demand stimulation is the proper remedy to suppress involuntary unemployment. In a second part, I claim that no correct assessment of Keynes’s programme can be made without drawing a distinction between involuntary unemployment and underemployment. These prerequisites being settled, in part three I undertake the study of the three models to conclude that none of them succeed in achieving Keynes ‘ programme in its entirety. In the last part of the paper, I raise the issue as to whether Keynesian economists should continue to fight for the involuntary unemployment concept.involuntary unemployment; coordination failures; Keynes