Riffing Off Kevin Cox: Thinking through Comparison

The question of comparison is one that haunts contemporary urban and regional studies—the need for it is taken for granted, but what it is, how to do it and what it can teach us remain matters of contention. In 2016 Kevin Cox published a book that brought some of these issues to the fore, challenging the ways in which US models have tended to dominate and (with the help of reflections on the experience of Western Europe) highlighting the extent of what he called the American exception. In this intervention four authors from different perspectives and located in different geographies deliver not a review or critique of the text but a series of responses, riffing off Cox to generate ways of thinking about comparison as well as offering alternative ways of approaching some of the issues with which he grapples, reflecting on particular national experiences while setting out to place them comparatively, and drawing wider conclusions while posing new questions, to which Kevin Cox in turn responds.     

Can learnability save new-Keynesian models?

McCallum (2009) argues that “learnability” can save new-Keynesian models from indeterminacies. He claims the unique bounded equilibrium is learnable, and the explosive equilibria are not. However, he assumes that agents can directly observe the monetary policy shock. Reversing this assumption, I find the opposite: the bounded equilibrium is not learnable and the unbounded equilibria are learnable. More generally, I argue that a threat by the Fed to move to an “unlearnable” equilibrium for all but one value of inflation is a poor foundation for choosing the bounded equilibrium of a new-Keynesian model.     

Understanding policy in the great recession: Some unpleasant fiscal arithmetic

I use the valuation equation of government debt to understand fiscal and monetary policy in and following the great recession of 2008–2009. I also examine policy alternatives to avoid deflation, and how fiscal pressures might lead to inflation. I conclude that the central bank may be almost powerless to avoid deflation or inflation; that an eventual fiscal inflation can come well before large deficits or monetization are realized, and that it is likely to come with stagnation rather than a boom.     

The efficiency of the london metal exchange: another look at the evidence

Recent evidence suggests that some markets on the London Metal Exchange do not exhibit the major characteristics of efficient markets: rationality and risk neutrality. In this note we ilustrate several shortcomings of recent work in this area. We suggest that one can be confident that the tin market exhibited a risk premium, that is, was inefficient, between 1976 and 1985. Reliable results on the efficiency of the lead, copper, aluminium, and nickel markets escape the Fama approach to testing the efficient markets hypothesis as it is currently employed.     

Reviews

INNER CITIES.

MacGregor, S. and Pimlott, B. (eds) 1990: Tackling The Inner City. Oxford: Oxford University Press, £35.00 cloth.

RECYCLING.

Geoff Wright, 1990: The Need to Restructure the Economics of Recycling (SWAP

Report No 1). Leeds: Save Waste and Prosper, £1.95.

POPULISM.

Norman Pollack, 1990: The Humane Economy: Populism, Capitalism and Democracy. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, $40.00 cloth.

PRESSURES ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT AUTONOMY.

King, D. and Pierre, J. (eds) 1990: Challenges to Local Government. Sage Modern Politics Series Volume 28 sponsored by the European Consortium for Political Research. London: Sage, £30.00 cloth.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THE MARKET.

Bennett, R.J. (ed) 1990: Decentralisation, Local Governments and Markets: Towards a Post-Welfare Agenda. Oxford: Clarendon Press, £40.00 cloth.

LABOUR MARKET POLICY.

Adnett, N. 1990: Labour Market Policy. Harlow: Longman, £9.95 paper.