The Great Recession and the financial crisis of 2007-09 prompted ca lls for fundamental reforms of economic theory. The role of theory in economics and in recent economic events is considered in light of two recen t books: the sociologist Richard Swedberg's The Art of Social Theory and the...

Economic, financial and social commentators from all directions and of various persuasions are obsessed with the prospect of recovery. The world remains mired in a deep, prolonged crisis, and the key question seems to be how to get out of it. The purpose of our paper is to ask a very different...

This essay reviews the development of neoclassical growth theory, a unified theory of aggregate economic phenomena that was first used to study business cycles and aggregate labor supply. Subsequently, the theory has been used to understand asset pricing, growth miracles and disasters, monetary...

Recommended readings (Machine generated): Alesina, A. and S. Ardagna (1998) 'Tales of Fiscal Adjustment', Economic Policy, October: 489-545 -- Alesina, A. and R. Perotti (1995) 'Fiscal Expansion and Adjustments in OECD Countries', Economic Policy, 10 (21): 205-48 -- Alesina, A. and R. Perotti...