Abstract. The formal representation of economic theories normally takes the form of a model, that is, a system of equations which connect the endogenous variables with the values of the parameters which are taken as given. Sometimes, it is possible to identify one or more equations which are able to determine a subset of endogenous variables priorly and independently of the other equations and of the value taken by the remaining variables of the system. The first group of equations and variables are thus said to determine causally the remaining variables. In Pasinetti's works this notion of causality has often been emphasized as a formal property having the burden to convey some deep economic meaning. In this work, we will go through those Pasinetti's works where this notion of causality plays a central role, with the purpose to contextualize it within the econometric debate of the Sixties, to enucleate its economic meaning and to show its connections with other fields of the modern classical approach.
Preliminary version; English to be revisedPlease, do not quote without permission (12/12/2013) J.E.L. classification: B00, B24, B51, C50, E12.
The paper aims at assessing Jacob Viner's role in that brand of monetary thought which historians associate with the Chicago School and whose origins can be retraced in the writings and teaching of Frank Knight, Lloyd Mints, Henry Simons and Viner himself. After a brief description of the prolonged debate over the origins and nature of the so called “Chicago Monetary Tradition”, we examine Viner's analyses and policy proposals drawing particular attention to: his analysis of the Great depression; his proposals for monetary expansion and banking reform; his shift of emphasis in favour of Fiscal Policy; the evolution of its monetary framework in the early 1930's. Finally, we compare his position with the ones associated with the early Chicago school and with the ones stemming from the Harvard economic department where Viner had been trained and with which he continued to entertain important ties.
Between 1943 and 1947 a new economic order was founded, which aimed at implementing multilateral trade, international monetary cooperation and economic stability supported by government intervention. This paper describes the contribution provided to this process by a group of American economists working under the auspices of the Council on Foreign Relations and in close connection with the State Department. Since 1939 the Economic and Financial Group led by Jacob Viner and Alvin H. Hansen played an important role in designing strategic choices which concerned American economic interests in the postwar world and in preparing the ground for the establishment of such multilateral agencies as the IMF, the IBRD and the ITO-GATT system. In assessing Viner's and Hansen's views and proposals, this paper shows how different and competing approaches to economic theory and policy compromised and converged in supporting this outcome.
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