Abstract
This book is primarily a critical survey of small-scale, theoretical macro models that attempt to analyze the cyclical behavior of modern economies. Our survey emphasizes the role of the labor market, which is treated very differently in the neo-Classical, neoMarxian and Keynesian models that are concerned with business cycles. We also consider recent business cycle models that are especially concerned with microfoundations.
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According to Lakatos, cognitive appraisal should focus not on theories but on research programs as the appropriate unit of analysis. A research program is a temporal sequence of theories which may progress through conjectures and refutations to encompass more and more confirmed empirical content. But it may also degenerate.
On this aspect, see the proceedings of the conference edited by Semmler (1985), in particular the paper by Boggio.
In particular, we agree with Malinvaud (1988) when he says: “...It was often stated that disequilibrium models were not admissible as long as the rationale for sticky prices had not been elucidated, or as long as the price and wage dynamics had not been derived from the study of elementary behavior behind it. The undisputable impact that such claims had in the profession reveals a kind of methodological perversion about which one ought to reflect. On the one hand, the concern for foundations has great importance and should not be rejected. On the other hand, science would never say anything if it had to wait until it fully explains the foundations of all phenomena.” (pp. 16–17)
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© 1989 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Ferri, P., Greenberg, E. (1989). Introduction. In: The Labor Market and Business Cycle Theories. Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, vol 325. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-00831-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-00831-7_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-50866-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-00831-7
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