So the theoretical firm's wages are resent every once in a while. Productivity will not respond right away to wage changes, but will happen as the natural course of turnover occurs.
There are several policy implications for the New Keynesian school. One is that government intervention is required. While new classical economists view recessions as a natural component of the business cycle, New Keynesians believe recessions to be the result of market failure. Thus, intervention is required in order to correct the failure and put the economy back on course.
The Economic Crisis
The New Keynesian school would view the current economic crisis as a market failure. The failure would likely be identified as the real estate bubble, which can be attributed to a number of externalities. The Fed reduced rates sharply to stimulate growth in the wake of the bursting of the dot-com bubble. The Bush Administration had made home ownership a priority and set out policies to support that activity. These externalities and others had brought about this market failure. The prescription, then, is to intervene to restore the market.
With respect to the escalating unemployment rate, the Keynesian view holds that this is economic malady, rather than a natural, rational function of the economic cycle. Thus, it is not a response to labor prices that has resulted in the growing unemployment, but a response to the decrease in aggregate demand. This concept appears sound during the current downturn, simply because aggregate demand has fallen so significantly. In boom times, however, we see that there are other factors more strongly associated with employment levels. These include changes in the technological environment and shifts of labor overseas. Keynesian economics is slightly dated in the respect that it strictly considered national accounts. With the free flow of investment capital resulting in substantially greater global economic integration, employment cannot be analyzed in strictly national terms.
The response of the Obama administration, in particular with respect to the stimulus plan, is to increase spending to help create jobs. In Keynesian fashion, the plan assumes a multiplier effect. What we have seen thus far is that the government's response did not come quickly enough, which is consistent with a key limitation of the activist policy. The Federal Reserve, unencumbered by the need to go through Congress, hold elections or any other such delaying constraints, was able to act first, in early 2008. Their moves were not sufficient to avoid the economic downturn. However, by the time the lack of effectiveness became apparent, two things had happened. One was that the Fed had used its most powerful levers, having brought interest rates to a minimum almost immediately after the warning signs of recession manifested. The other thing that happened was the impending recession had gained strength, in particular as crude oil prices skyrocketed. Even though those prices later declined, the momentum towards recession had been built. The crude price increase had essentially neutralized the Fed's moves. At this point, the government still had to organize a response.
There has been considerable criticism with respect to the use of government spending to stimulate the economy. The problem is that the monetary policy levers were ineffective. In general, those levers have functioned well, guiding the market economy towards steady growth. However, in lieu of those levers, other action needed to be taken. Hence the move towards the old school Keynesian approach. The stimulus spending is simply intended to prop up the aggregate demand function, on the understanding that supply will be increased to meet demand. The traditional Keynesian view of unemployment as the most economic concern is at play here as well. This fits well with the current economic situation. Inflation rates are low -- deflation is more a risk. Even if the government spending stimulated some inflation, it would take time for that inflation to get out of control. The Fed would be able to raise rates quickly in the interim to stem the inflation before it was out of control. Moreover, growing unemployment is going to have a multiplier effect on demand.
The major issue with respect to the stimulus package is not whether it will stimulate demand, but whether it will stimulate enough demand. Keynesians believe that government has the ability to impact the market. For this to be true, however, the government would...
There are many potential actions that could have been taken to help prevent the closing of GM and the job losses, plant closings, and economic catastrophe that is likely to occur as the once unstoppable giant collapses (Wolff, 2009). The UAW won above subsistence level wages for GM employees, which should have theoretically had the same effect as an economic stimulus in the traditional Keynesian sense. However, rather than being
Keynesian Revolution: Analysis and Criticism believe myself to be writing a book on economic theory which will largely revolutionize -- not, I suppose, at once, but in the course of the next ten years -- the way the world thinks about economic problems" John Maynard (Keynes, Letter to G.B. Shaw, January 1, 1935) Prior to the Keynesian Revolution, may economists and politicians viewed economics from a "micro" perspective. They saw factors such
Keynesian economics is an economic theory based on the ideas of John Maynard Keynes (Jackson 29). First published in 1936, Keynes's theory suggests that general trends may overwhelm the micro-level behavior of individuals. He stated," This book is chiefly addressed to my fellow economists ... I myself held with conviction for many years the theories which I now attack, and I am not, I think, ignorant of their strong points"
Business Cycles The Keynesian approach to recessionary gaps is to increase government spending and lower taxes -- run a deficit -- in order to spur aggregate demand. In the Keynesian model, aggregate demand is affected by a number of different factors -- consumer consumption, business investment, government spending and net exports. During a recessionary gap, consumer spending and business investment are probably both down, which leaves the other two factors to
Even when forced to rework his model to allow for some private investment, he argued that it wasn't as efficient as government spending because private investors would be less likely to undertake/overpay for unnecessary works in hard economic times" (Beattie 2010). For the world to extricate itself from the Great Depression, said Keynes, the government must intervene in the market. Keynes' rationale is one reason that the current administration's stimulus
When there is no obvious solution to a particular problem, the recommended course was to extend the Neoclassical paradigm by incorporating new concepts into it that would make the subject matter amenable to economic analysis" ("The Chicago School," 2006, the New School) Recessions are short-term pain that can cause long-term gain, provided people 'wait them out' and provided the government has a minimal role in the economy, except to
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