Alternative Approaches in Macroeconomics Essays in Honour of John McCombie

This book honours Professor John McCombie’s retirement by exploring a variety of themes, theories and debates in non-orthodox macroeconomics. With contributions from leading scholars, the book covers diverse ground in economic thought, policy, empirical work and modelling. It demonstrates ongoing presumptions and asks probing questions of topical questions from the increase of income equality to the international variation of productivity investment. This collection will appeal to academics and students with an interest in the history of macroeconomic thinking.

1. Introduction.- 2. John McCombie’s Contribution to the Applied Economics of Growth in a Closed and Open Economy.- 3. Why Neither Samuelson’s Neoclassical Synthesis Keynesianism Nor New Keynesianism Theory Is Compatible with Keynes’s General Theory Explanation of the Cause of Unemployment.- 4. The Role of Commercial Banks and Financial Intermediaries in the New Consensus Macroeconomics (NCM): A Preliminary and Critical Appraisal of Old and New Models.- 5. Microeconomics, Mesoeconomics and Macroeconomics.- 6. A Coherent Approach to Macroeconomic Theory and Economic Policies.- 7. Is the Share of Income of the Top One Per cent Due to the Marginal Product of Labour or Managerial Power?.- 8. Macroeconomic Lessons from the Financialisation Process.- 9. Financial Instability and Speculative Bubbles: Behavioural Insights and Policy Implications.- 10. Sophistication, Productivity and Trade: A Sectoral Investigation.- 11. Urban Growth in South Asia: A View from Outer Space.- 12. Production Functions, the Kaldor-Verdoorn Law and Methodology.- 13. Is the Balance of Payments Constrained Growth Rate Time-Varying? Exchange Rate Over Valuation, Policy-Induced Recessions, Deindustrialization, and Long Run Growth.

Philip Arestis is Professor and Director of Research, Cambridge Centre for Economics and Public Policy, Department of Land Economy, University of Cambridge, UK, and Professor of Economics at the Department of Applied Economics V, University of the Basque Country, Spain. He is also Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of Utah, US, and Research Fellow, Levy Economics Institute, New York, US. He served (2005-2013) as Chief Academic (External) Adviser to the UK Government Economic Service (GES) on Professional Development in Economics. He is holder of the ‘Queen Victoria Eugenia’ award of the British Hispanic Chair of Doctoral Studies, and has been awarded ‘homage’ by the Brazilian Keynesian Association (AKB) for his contribution to Economics in Brazil. Holder of the FAcSS (Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences). He has published as sole author or editor, as well as co-author and co-editor, a number of books and papers in academic journals.