In a contribution to Pensions: An International Journal, Prof. Jan Kuné discusses whether a fully funded (FF) pension scheme can cope with a demographic shock better than a payas- you-go (PAYG) system. He makes ample use of my own contributions on this issue but ignores my criticism of the...

The controversial saving-investment relationship is central to macroeconomics, but in this capacity – perhaps less evidently – it is also central to the macroeconomics of pension reforms. Bearing this in mind, in this paper we shall review the main issues concerning these reforms and examine...

This paper examines the US controversy over the Social Security ‘Trust Fund’ (SS-TF). It is shown that, according to neoclassical theory, the SS-TF has a substantial meaning as a safety belt in view of the alleged pending problems of, but, according to more Keynesian principles, it does not...

Endogenous growth literature emerged from dissatisfaction with one result of the neoclassical growth model: the independence of the growth rate from the saving ratio, which is seen as a variable subject to policy influence. There are at least three generations of EGT models: the old one of the...

The European crisis appears as the n-th “this time is different” episode of the financial liberalisation sequence cum fixed exchange rates, capital flows from the centre to the periphery, housing bubble, current account (CA) deficit and indebtedness, default. In the author’s view, although...

With some exceptions, non-orthodox economists share the ‘Keynesian Hypothesis’ of the independence of investment from capacity-savings, in the long-run no less than the short-run. This hypothesis marks an essential point of difference from neo-classical theory. Keynes showed that within the...

Research on the recent European financial crisis has prompted exploration of the harmonic and disharmonic views of international economic relations. The former, more liberal view is based on the Ricardian and Neoclassical trade theories. The latter is derived from pre-Smithian mercantilist...

Moving from the current global and European imbalances and crises, and from the consideration of the German reaction to them, the paper explores the political economy origins of the conservative German policy stance. It emerges that an export-oriented economy was a deliberate decision of the...

The paper provides an account of the meaning and implications of TARGET 2 in the Eurozone (EZ) balance of payments crisis. In this context, it discusses Hans-Werner Sinn’s thesis about a stealth bail-out of the EZ periphery by the ECB from a heterodox perspective. Financial liberalisation, a...

Il saggio illustra la spiegazione Classico-Kaleckiana della crisi dell’Eurozona domandandosi se essa sia un effetto indesiderato o possa, invece, rappresentare il dispiegamento dei veri obiettivi anti-sociali della moneta unica. Si esaminano poi le possibili vie d’uscita, inclusa quella di...