nep-hpe New Economics Papers on History and Philosophy of Economics
─────────────────────────────┐
Issue of 2019‒11‒25
five papers chosen by
Erik Thomson (University of Manitoba)
http://ep.repec.org/pth72
[Selections by Humberto Barreto for SHOE list.]
1. "Too Bad to Be True". Swedish Economists on Keynes's 'The Economic
Consequences of the Peace, 1919-1929'
Carlson, Benny; Jonung, Lars
3. Econophysics deserves a revamping
Paolo Magrassi
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
1. "Too Bad to Be True". Swedish Economists on Keynes's 'The Economic
Consequences of the Peace, 1919-1929'
Carlson, Benny (Department of Economic History, Lund University); Jonung,
Lars (Department of Economics, Lund University)
This paper examines the response of five prominent Swedish economists, David
Davidson, Gustav Cassel, Eli Heckscher, Knut Wicksell and Bertil Ohlin, to
John Maynard Keynes’s "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" and to the
German reparations in the 1920s. When Keynes’s book appeared, Davidson and
Cassel strongly endorsed it. Heckscher also agreed with Keynes – “a bright
spot in a time of darkness” – in a long review entitled "Too bad to be true".
Inspired by his Malthusian view, Wicksell found the reparations impossible to
meet unless German population growth was arrested. Germany should settle for
a stationary population in exchange for reduced reparations. The contacts
between the Swedes and Keynes became close after Keynes’s book, in particular
between Cassel and Keynes, competing for being the best-known economist in
the world in the 1920s. The exchange of views took a new turn when Bertil
Ohlin responded to an article by Keynes in The Economic Journal in 1929 on
the transfer problem. In his comment, Ohlin summarized two previously
overlooked articles from 1928 where he analyzed the transfer of the German
reparations by using his theory of international trade. The famous
Keynes-Ohlin discussion laid the foundation for the analysis of the transfer
problem, bringing Ohlin international recognition. He emerged as the champion
in this debate, which marked the end of academic interest in the German
reparations in the interwar period. We also trace how Davidson, Cassel and
Heckscher changed their appreciation of Keynes in the 1930s with the
publication of the General Theory while Ohlin viewed the message of Keynes in
the 1930s as consistent with the policy views of the Stockholm school of
economics. We rely on newspaper and journal articles published by the Swedish
economists, on half a dozen unpublished manuscripts by Wicksell as well as on
the correspondence between Keynes and the Swedish economists.
JEL: B13 E12 E44 F21 F35 F55 J11 N24 N44
Keywords: John Maynard Keynes; David Davidson; Gustav Cassel; Eli
Heckscher; Knut Wicksell; Bertil Ohlin; Treaty of Versailles; reparations;
the transfer problem; United Kingdom; Germany; Sweden; Malthusianism; World
War I.
Date: 2019–11–18
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lunewp:2019_016&r=hpe
3. Econophysics deserves a revamping
Paolo Magrassi
The paper argues that attracting more economists and adopting a more-precise
definition of dynamic complexity might help econophysics acquire more
attention in the economics community and bring new lymph to economic
research. It may be necessary to concentrate less on the applications than on
the basics of economic complexity, beginning with expansion and deepening of
the study of small systems with few interacting components, while until thus
far complexity has been assumed to be a prerogative of complicated systems
only. It is possible that without a thorough analysis at that level, the
understanding of systems that are at the same time complex and complicated
will continue to elude economics and econophysics research altogether. To
that purpose, the paper initiates and frames a definition of dynamic
complexity grounded on the concept of non-linear dynamical system.
Date: 2019–11
URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1911.05814&r=hpe
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This nep-hpe issue is ©2019 by Erik Thomson. It is provided as is without any
express or implied warranty. It may be freely redistributed in whole or in
part for any purpose. If distributed in part, please include this notice.
General information on the NEP project can be found at http://nep.repec.org.
For comments please write to the director of NEP, Marco Novarese at
<[log in to unmask]>. Put “NEP” in the subject, otherwise your mail may be
rejected.
NEP’s infrastructure is sponsored by the School of Economics and Finance of
Massey University in New Zealand.
|