Monetary Theory and Fiscal Policy

by Alvin Harvey Hansen, Seymour E. Harris (Editor)

Overview

IN TRADITIONAL economics the theory of money and the theory of output have been treated separately with little or no tendency toward integration. First Wicksell and then Keynes gave impetus to the movement to combine the theory of money with that of output as a whole. Drawing on classical economics and the modern aggregate analysis of Keynes, Professor Hansen in this volume succeeds in writing a book which, unlike the classical studies, shows the importance of money in the theory of output as a whole; and which, unlike numerous modern writings (e.g., of Hawtrey, Douglas, Hayek), avoids overemphasizing the importance of money. Here is a book that shows what monetary policy can and cannot achieve and why it has often failed in the past; the necessary supplementary role of monetary policy as an aid to fiscal policy; and the manner of integrating monetary and fiscal policy, in periods of both depression and inflation, as prerequisites for assuring a stable economy.
Professor Hansen has drawn on his rich experience over thirty-five years in the study of cycles, fiscal policy, and international economics, and on his many years as an economic practitioner to write a book that makes use of the riches of classical economics, as well as neoclassical and Keynesian economics. The book should, for many years to come, be the standard work on monetary theory and fiscal policy as determinants of output. The reader will find here not only the modern theory of money and fiscal policy, but also rich surveys covering the last 150 years, reinterpreted with the tools of modern economics. He will find also suggestions, based on theory and history, for a policy in the years to come that will yield the high levels of income and stability without which the survival of democratic institutions is most unlikely.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789127416
Publisher:	Papamoa Press
Publication date:	12/02/2018
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	197
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

ALVIN HARVEY HANSEN (1887-1975), often referred to as "the American Keynes", was a professor of economics at Harvard, a widely read author on current economic issues, and an influential advisor to the government who helped create the Council of Economic Advisors and the Social Security system. He was best known for introducing Keynesian economics in the United States in the 1930s; more effectively than anyone else, he explicated, extended, domesticated, and popularized the ideas embodied in Keynes' The General Theory. Born in Viborg, South Dakota in 1887, he graduated from Yankton College in 1910 with a major in English. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1916. He then moved back west to the University of Minnesota in 1919, where he rose quickly through the ranks of a full teacher in 1923. His books Business Cycle Theory (1927) and his introductory text Principles of Economics (1928, with Frederic Garver) brought him to the attention of the wider economics profession. His Economic Stabilization in an Unbalanced World (1932) established him in the broader circle of public affairs. He was elected as a Fellow of the American Statistical Association in 1932. In 1937 he became Lucius N. Littauer Chair of political Economy at Harvard University and published three further books. He served as special economic adviser to Marriner Eccles at the Federal Reserve Board from 1940-1945. After retiring from active teaching in 1956, he wrote The American Economy (1957), Economic Issues of the 1960's and Problems (1964), and The Dollar and the International Monetary System (1965). He died in Alexandria, Virginia in 1975, aged 87.
SEYMOUR E. HARRIS (1897-1974) was an American political economist and adviser to Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. He taught at Harvard University for more than 40 years and became emeritus professor of economics at the University of California at San Diego in 1963.