KALECKI'S THEORY OF INCOME DETERMINATION: A RECONSTRUCTION AND AN ASSESSMENT

The paper considers the legacy for modern macroeconomics of Kalecki’s theory of income determination. The latter is reconstructed in its analytical constituent parts referring in detail to the original sources. The critical appraisal of its historical relevance is made from the vantage point of the specific strain of contemporary New-Keynesian macroeconomics that is also based, after a long historical gap, on imperfectly competitive microeconomic foundations. Important elements of Kalecki’s theoretical construction have been a lasting, even if usually unacknowledged, legacy to the toolkit of modern macroeconomics.