A key objective of the Central European Economies (CEE) on their transition path from planned to more market-oriented economies has been membership of the European Union (EU). The start of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 1999 has added membership of the EMU to the agenda for the CEEs. The...

Reviews Milton and Rose D. Friedman’s, Two Lucky People: Memoirs, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998, $35 (£24.95), ISBN 0-226-26414-9. Focuses on how the memoirs illuminate the main contributions Friedman has made to political economy and the economics literature.

This paper argues that the natural rate of unemployment hypothesis, in which equilibrium unemployment is determined by ‘structural’ variables alone, is wrong: it is both implausible and inconsistent with the evidence. Instead, equilibrium unemployment is haunted by hysteresis. The...

We argue that the Soros account of reflexivity does not provide a clear-cut distinction between a social science such as economics and the physical sciences. It is pointed out that the participants who attempt to learn from refutations of conjectures in the Soros world are likely to be haunted...

This paper assesses the Layard et al. (1991) NAIRU framework for explaining unemployment. Their approach is distinct from the natural rate of unemployment framework in that it postulates a short-run NAIRU influenced by 'hysteresis'. It is pointed out that this is not hysteresis in the meaning...

Assesses the NAIRU framework for analysing the determinants of equilibrium unemployment, as expressed in Layard, Nickell and Jackman's Unemployment: Macroeconomic Performance and the Labour Market. It is argued that the NAIRU has produced many useful insights regarding the effects of...

Reviews Milton and Rose D. Friedman’s, Two Lucky People: Memoirs, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1998, $35 (£24.95), ISBN 0‐226‐26414‐9. Focuses on how the memoirs illuminate the main contributions Friedman has made to political economy and the economics literature.

Considers two main strands of literature. The first deals with the tension between the falsificationist view of how economic know-ledge could or should be acquired, and the view that economics is a separate, deductive science. The second concerns the metaphors used in economic analysis, the main...

Looks at the relevance to economic systems of force field equilibrium metaphors. Points out that the force field view of physical reality developed in nineteenth century physics does not necessarily involve homeostasis and reversible time paths. Illustrates the properties of force fields with...

Considers two main strands of literature. The first deals with the tension between the falsificationist view of how economic know‐ledge could or should be acquired, and the view that economics is a separate, deductive science. The second concerns the metaphors used in economic analysis, the...