Solow's Struggle with Medium-Run Macroeconomics: 1956-1995

Solow has repeatedly called for the development of models that combine equilibrium and out-of equilibrium outcomes or what he called a macroeconomics of the medium-run. This paper recounts the history of Solow’s different attempts to address this issue. It starts in early 1950s when Solow developed his long-run growth model and it ends in the mid 1990s with the publication of A Critical Essay on Modern Macroeconomic Theory co-written with Frank Hahn. This narrative involves different economists associated with various research traditions, going from the neo-classical synthesis in the 1960s, the New Classical Economics in the 1970s and the New Keynesianism in the 1980s.