The Fall and Rise of Keynesian Economics*

Keynesian economics came under much criticism in the 1970s This paper argues that the decline in Keynesian economics and the rise in, notably, new classical economics in this period related to their respective theoretical appeal rather than their ability to explain developments in the macroeconomy. As this has become increasingly recognized, and with the development of sound microeconomic foundations, Keynesian economics has again been on the rise.     

The Fall and Rise of Keynesian Fiscal Policy

This paper reviews the recent evolution of thinking and evidence regarding the effectiveness of activist fiscal policy, including how policy multipliers might vary with respect to economic conditions. Like many other countries that were hit by the “Great Recession,” the USA responded initially with active fiscal policy measures. But a more positive view of fiscal intervention appears to have developed earlier in the decade, and estimated decision rules confirm that there was an increase in policy activism. While this positive view has been tested by the unclear effects of fiscal policy during the Great Recession, recent evidence does suggest that fiscal policy may be especially effective in recession. Fiscal policy activism has also been tempered by recent concerns about growing government debt, a development which potentially might also undercut the effectiveness of expansionary fiscal policy.     

Richard Thaler and the Rise of Behavioral Economics

Richard Thaler was awarded the 2017 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for his contributions to behavioral economics. In this article, I review and discuss these contributions.     

Alternative Ways to Teach and Learn Economics: Writing,Quantitative Reasoning,and Oral Communication

The authors describe an interesting attempt by one university to require of students demonstrated competencies in the areas suggested by the title—writing as freshmen, quantitative reasoning as sophomores and juniors, and oral communication as juniors or seniors. Quantitative measures of the effectiveness of the program are not provided.     

On the Exchange Rate as a Nominal Anchor: The Rise and Fall of the Credibility Hypothesis

The credibility hypothesis, which was used to support the use of a pegged exchange rate arrangement as a nominal anchor mechanism, is based on restrictive analytical foundations that circumscribe its real world applicability. While all pegged exchange rate arrangements are subject to circumstances that can undermine the sustainability of the peg, exchange rate nominal anchor pegs are especially fragile because such arrangements introduce problems that are endogenous to that particular type of regime. The East Asian crisis is used to demonstrate the fragility of exchange rate nominal anchor pegs, while the case of Australia demonstrates how a floating currency escaped the contagion of the East Asian crisis.     

Research in Economic Education and the Teaching of Economics

Input cost and output value are depicted in a diagram of vertical slices of the production function surface.     

会计环境与会计学的基本假设--对会计学基本假设研究的检讨

随着会计环境的变化,会计学的基本假设需要进行重新解读。而准确判断会计环境的变化,是进行重新解读的基础。     

Geographic Differences in the Earnings of Economics Majors

Economics has been shown to be a relatively high-earning college major, but geographic differences in earnings have been largely overlooked. The authors of this article use the American Community Survey to examine geographic differences in both absolute earnings and relative earnings for economics majors. They find that there are substantial geographic differences in both the absolute and relative earnings of economics majors, even when controlling for individual characteristics such as age, education, occupation, and industry. They argue that mean earnings in specific labor markets are a better measure of the benefits of majoring in economics than simply looking at national averages.     

强制性会计变更与自发性会计变更之相关性研究

研究结果表明，我国强制性会计变更与自发性会计变更具有相关性。在强制性会计变更为调减利润的年度，我国自发性会计变更部分抵消了强制性会计变更的影响；具有特殊目的的上市公司会逆当年强制性会计变更方向而进行能实现其特定目的的自发性会计变更。     

The Rise and Fall of Centralized Wage Bargaining

During the three decades spanning the early 1950s to the early 1980s, the wage‐setting process in most Northern European countries was dominated by centralized bargaining (i.e., peak‐level labor and employer associations set wages nationwide). In the early 1980s, centralized wage bargaining began to collapse. In this paper, we assess a novel explanation for both the initial establishment of a centralized wage‐setting process, and its subsequent collapse. According to our theory, centralized wage bargaining was set up as a response to the spillovers created by the unemployment benefit program. Its collapse was the result of the increase in the productivity gap across workers, brought about by equipment‐specific technological progress and equipment–skill complementarity.     

Behavioral Objectives and Student Learning Contracts in the Teaching of Economics

The authors present a series of writing assignments that teaches students how to evaluate and critique the written economic work of others. The foundation text is McCloskey's (2000) Economical Writing. The students' dialogues with McCloskey, with each other, and with the authors of the pieces they evaluate sharpen their understanding of, and ability to use, language as an instrument of economic thought. Interviews with former students identify specific benefits from the student perspective of this approach. The authors show how the assignment series can be modified in several ways and how the general approach, as well as the foundation text, can be used in different economics courses.     

The Rise and Fall of National Allocative Planning in Australia

In 1979 the Australian Labor Party's supreme policy making body, Federal Conference, proposed that a future Labor government embark on an extensive program of economic planning. In addition to continuing Keynesian monetary and fiscal policy, the Conference argued in favour of the introduction of a more comprehensive form of stability planning, or incomes policy; partial allocative, or industry, planning; and a national allocative plan. Since coming to power in 1983, the Federal Government has introduced an incomes policy as well as a number of industry plans. However, it has rejected national allocative planning. In this article we discuss the differences between these forms of economic planning and analyse the reasons which might explain the Government's rejection of national allocative planning.     

从民众态度看吴淞铁路的兴废

吴淞铁路是中国近代第一条正式营运的铁路,它的兴废成为中外铁路史上著名的事件。长期以来学界笼统地认为民众因风水观念及民族意识而反对兴建铁路,实际上民众对待吴淞铁路的态度并非如此简单。本文将民众分为乡民和市民,分阶段细致考察他们在吴淞铁路兴建运营过程中表现出的态度,从而再现具有经济理性的上海民众对待吴淞铁路的复杂态度。吴淞铁路虽然被拆毁,但它对民众空间观念、时间意识及民族意识均产生较大影响,由此,在近代特殊的历史背景下,中国民众逐步形成融利益观、时空观及主权观于一体的铁路观。     

宋代监牧制度及其兴衰

宋初建立了内、外监牧制度,宋真宗时管理体制已相当完备,监牧数量多,占地广。北宋曾三次废罢监牧,特别是神宗进行寓马于民的改革,大批牧地成为农田,监牧逐渐衰落,至北宋末而瓦解。南宋除杭州御马监外,所建马监均以失败告终,监牧极少,不受重视。     

Monetary policy, oil shocks, and TFP: Accounting for the decline in US volatility

An equilibrium model is used to assess the quantitative importance of monetary policy for the post-1984 decline in US inflation and output volatility. The principal finding is that monetary policy played a substantial role in reducing inflation volatility, but a small role in reducing real output volatility. The model attributes much of the decline in real output volatility to smaller TFP shocks. We also investigate the pattern of output and inflation volatility under an optimal monetary policy counterfactual. We find that real output volatility would have been somewhat lower, and inflation volatility substantially lower, had monetary policy been set optimally.     

Accounting for output fluctuations in manufacturing

There is a substantial body of evidence to the effect that output is more volatile than sales among manufacturing industries. Numerous explanations have been advanced to account for this excess output volatility. Some examples are pro-cyclical inventory movements induced by a stockout-avoidance motive, cost and technology shocks and decreasing marginal costs. This article assesses the contribution of these different motives to output volatility for six different manufacturing industries. Linear–quadratic models are estimated for each of the industries and then dynamic simulations are employed to determine the volatility of output when one or more of the factors are removed from the model. Technology shocks provide the most significant contribution to output volatility. The stockout-avoidance motive is also important. Cost shocks provide a very small contribution and marginal production costs are increasing at the margin and thus stabilize output. It is also shown that output volatility declines when current values of sales and material costs are assumed known rather than forecasted from prior periods’ values.     

浅谈财经院校电子商务专业的发展

电子商务的发展是当今社会发展的趋势,社会急需电子商务专业的人才,本文在分析培养电子商务专业人才的迫切性及人才的巨大需求的基础上,介绍了财经院校发展电子商务专业的优势及其发展的几点策略。     

会计信息披露的经济学思考

我国正致力于建立和发展社会主义市场经济体制，经济信息的规范化为其基础和灵魂，会计信息作为经济信息的重要组成部分，在其中起着不可忽视的作用。但是目前在会计信息披露过程中出现了诸多问题，已成为制约经济发展的“瓶颈”，引起了人们的关注，并从不同的侧面寻找解决问题的途径。本文试图从经济学与会计学的关系入手，利用经济学的基本理论，分析会计     

The Doctoral Origins of Economics Faculty and the Education of New Economics Doctorates

For the open economy, the workhorse model in intermediate textbooks still is the Mundell-Fleming model, which basically extends the investment and savings, liquidity preference and money supply (IS-LM) model to open economy problems. The authors present a simple New Keynesian model of the open economy that introduces open economy considerations into the closed economy consensus version and that still allows for a simple and comprehensible analytical and graphical treatment. Above all, their model provides an efficient tool kit for the discussion of the costs and benefits of fixed and flexible exchange rates, which also was at the core of the Mundell-Fleming model.