A Brief Introduction to Post Keynesian Macroeconomics

I begin by setting out the core of Post Keynesian macroeconomics, and then distinguish three schools within Post Keynesian theory: the fundamentalist Keynesian approach taken by Paul Davidson, the Kaleckian variant represented by Eckhard Hein, and Hyman Minsky’s financial instability hypothesis. I continue by identifying what Post Keynesian macroeconomics is not, and outlining some very substantial criticisms of both “Old Keynesian” and “New Keynesian” theory. After an historical sketch of the development of Post Keynesian theory in Cambridge (UK) and the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, I summarise the contributions of two eminent Austrian theorists, Josef Steindl and Kurt Rothschild. I then discuss the distinctive Post Keynesian position on questions of macroeconomic policy, offer an explanation of the Global Financial Crisis that began in 2007 and suggest some policy measures that might make similar crises less likely in the future. I conclude by discussing the relationship between Post Keynesianism and three other schools of heterodox economic theory: Marxism, institutionalism and behavioural economics.