1st Edition

The Keynesian Multiplier

Edited By Claude Gnos, Louis-Philippe Rochon Copyright 2000
    224 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    220 Pages 2 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The multiplier is a central concept in Keynesian and post-Keynesian economics.  It is largely what justifies activist full-employment fiscal policy: an increase in fiscal expenditures contributing to multiple rounds of spending, thereby financing itself.  Yet, while a copingstone of post-Keynesian theory, it is not universally accepted by all post-Keynesians, for reasons vastly different than the mainstream. 
    This book explores both the pros and cons of the multiplier from a strictly post-Keynesian – and Kaleckian – approach.  Anchored within the tradition of endogenous money, this book offers a lively discussion from a number of well-known post-Keynesians from a variety of perspectives: history of thought, theory and economic policy.  The book starts by analysing the historical foundations of the Keynesian Multiplier and it’s treatment throughout the history of economic thought. Moving through a critical debate about the limits of the multiplier, the contributions finish by offering cutting edge new views on this fascinating concept.

     

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    Introduction, Section One: Some Views of the Multiplier, 1. Three Views on the Multiplier, 2. John Maurice Clark’s Contribution to the Genesis of the Multiplier Analysis: A note with some related unpublished correspondence, 3. The Material and Methodological Significance of the Supermultiplier, Section Two: Critical Insights on the Multiplier , 4. The Investment Multiplier and Income Savings, 5. The Multiplier and the Principle of Reflux, 6. The Demise of the Keynesian Multiplier Revisited, 7. Consumption, Investment and Investment Multiplier, Section Three: Towards a Re-interpretation of the Muliplier , 8. Kalecki and the Multiplier, 9. The Keynesian Multiplier: The Monetary Pre-Conditions and the Role of Banks as Defended by Richard Kahn’s 1931 Paper. A Horizontalist Re-Interpetation, 10. The Multiplier, the Principle of Effective Demand and the Finance Motive: a coherent framework.

    Biography

    Louis-Philippe Rochon is Associate Professor of Economics at Laurentian University, Ontario, Canada. Claude Gnos is Associate Professor and Director of the Centre for Monetary and Financial Studies at the University of Burgundy, Dijon, in France.