All capitalist economies experience fluctuations in employment and economic activity around a long-term growth rate. How is this cyclical pattern of growth to be explained? Are the causes of fluctuations in output and employment to be found outside the system or are they intrinsic to the system? Will the long-term growth rate correspond to the growth of the labour force? It is the search for answers to these questions which motivates Peter Skott's analysis. The book develops a theory of dynamic interaction between three types of agent: firms, households and banks. Firms are profit-maximisers operating under conditions of imperfect competition and their production and investment decisions are influenced by monetary and financial factors as well as by the state of the labour market. Households hold financial assets, supply labour and have a direct influence on nominal wage rates. Banks set interest rates on bank loans and deposits. No assumptions are made about nominal price rigidities and the capital-output ratio is determined endogenously. Using a framework of analysis which is rigorous and which does not exclude traditional neoclassical mechanisms, this book demonstrates the validity of important Marxian and Keynesian insights into the growth process.

The speci…cation of the accumulation function is critical for the properties and implications of structuralist and post-Keynesian models. A large Kaleckian literature assumes that investment is relatively insensitive to variations in the utilization rate of capital, and this extension of a standard short-run "Keynesian stability condition" to the long run has been defended by Lavoie and Dutt, among others. This paper examines the theoretical and empirical arguments for and against a Kaleckian speci…cation.JEL classi…cation: E12, E32

Recent empirical studies have found a robust correlation between competitive exchange rates and economic growth in developing economies. This paper presents (i) a formal model to help explain these findings and (ii) econometric evidence on the relation between investment and the real exchange rate. The model emphasizes the existence of (hidden) unemployment as a source of endogenous growth, even under constant returns to scale. Growth promoting policies, however, affect the external balance, and two instruments are needed in order to achieve targets for both the growth rate and the trade balance. The real exchange rate can serve as one of those instruments. The implications of the model for the relation between real exchange rates and the rate of capital accumulation find support in our econometric analysis.JEL classification: F43, O11, O41

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Recent research has found a positive relationship between real exchange rate (RER) undervaluation and economic growth. Different rationales for this association have been offered, but they all imply that the mechanisms involved should be stronger in developing countries. Rodrik (2008) explicitly analyzed and found evidence that the RER-growth relationship is more prevalent in developing countries. We show that his finding is very sensitive to the criterion used to divide the sample between developed and developing countries. We then use alternative classification criteria and empirical strategies to evaluate the existence of asymmetries between groups of countries and find that the effect of currency undervaluation on growth is indeed larger and more robust for developing economies. However, the relationship between RER undervaluation and per capita GDP is non-monotonic.

This paper compares Kaleckian and Harrodian models of accumulation. The simplicity of the canonical Kaleckian model is appealing but more complex Harrodian speci…cations are preferable from a behavioral perspective. The local instability of Harrodian-inspired speci…cations, moreover, o¤ers a uni…ed understanding of both trend and cycles.JEL classi…cation: E12, E32, O41

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Structuralist and post-Keynesian models differ in their assumptions