michel de vroey | UCLouvain (University of Louvain) (original) (raw)

Papers by michel de vroey

Social Science Research Network, 2010

Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch ge... more Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Jul 6, 2021

In this paper, we introduce a new understanding of the mainstream notion in economics. Its distin... more In this paper, we introduce a new understanding of the mainstream notion in economics. Its distinct character is based on a set of methodological standards deemed compulsory in the theoretical or empirical practice of the discipline. We contend that a theoretical mainstream arose around the 1980s, when the prevailing methodological standards in microeconomics and game theory – mathematical language, equilibrium discipline, and ‘explicit micro-foundations’ – came to be adopted in theoretical papers across a wide range of fields and specializations. We further argue that the 1990 period witnessed the surge of a distinct empirical mainstream and the emergence of a joint mainstream, the result of the rise of experimental economics and a renewal of applied economics centered on the notion of causal inference. An examination of the contents of the articles published in top journals in selected years from 1970 to 2018 confirms our contention

Depuis quelques annees, un vent de contestation souffle dans les facultes d’economie de nombreuse... more Depuis quelques annees, un vent de contestation souffle dans les facultes d’economie de nombreuses universites europeennes. On y voit des etudiants et des etudiantes se plaindre de ce qu’ils considerent etre une absence de pluralisme dans la discipline economique. La plainte peut se resumer en deux propositions.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Nov 1, 2005

Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2017

Our paper analyzes and compares two attempts at integrating unemployment in macroeconomics. The f... more Our paper analyzes and compares two attempts at integrating unemployment in macroeconomics. The first, due to Peter Diamond, consists in a search model exhibiting multiple equilibria and wherein cycles may be produced. The second is due to David Andolfatto and Monika Merz, who, more or less simultaneously, constructed models enabling the integration of the matching function into RBC modeling. In the first sections, we present the methodology upon which our paper is based—Axel Leijonhufvud’s decision-tree insight—and briefly describe these three economists’ motivations and the context in which they were working. We continue with recounting the birth and further development of the search paradigm upon which Diamond’s, Andolfatto’s, and Merz’s attempts were based. These preliminaries settled, we address the heart of the paper, the critical analysis of their respective contributions. Our interest lies specifically in how they made their way in the development of the field. We explain wh...

Karl Brunner and Monetarism, 2022

The aim of this paper is to compare the visions held by two eminent monetarist economists, M. Fri... more The aim of this paper is to compare the visions held by two eminent monetarist economists, M. Friedman and K. Brunner, on the development prospects of monetarism within the macroeconomics discipline. Brunner, jointly with A. Meltzer, strived at constructing a model competing with the IS-LM model. By contrast, when invited to elaborate on the broader theoretical framework of monetarism, Friedman had no qualms to use the IS-LM model. In the first part of this paper, we summarize Friedman's "Theoretical Framework" paper, Brunner and Meltzer's reaction to it, and Friedman's response. In the second part, we study the commonalities and differences between Friedman's and Brunner's approaches. In the third part, we summarize and assess the Brunner-Meltzer model. More general observations are offered in the conclusion.

Cahiers d Économie Politique, 2018

Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis Volume III

Cahiers d'économie politique, 2001

ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to criticize two claims made by Deleplace in his recent Histo... more ABSTRACT The aim of this article is to criticize two claims made by Deleplace in his recent Histoire de la pensée économique. First, I criticize the widespread claim that effective demand deficiencies can explain the existence of involuntary unemployment. Second, I question Deleplace's account of the history of macroeconomics from Hicks to the present in terms of an absorption of macroeconomics into microeconomics.

This paper studies the way in which macroeconomics is taught at the undergraduate and graduate le... more This paper studies the way in which macroeconomics is taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Based on two sources of information, the world’s largest network of library content and services, the WorldCat data base, and a survey of the textbooks used for teaching at leading universities across the world, the paper provides an up-to-date description of macroeconomics teaching. Our results show a clear methodological divide: whereas IS-LM/AS-AD modeling is the theoretical core of undergraduate textbooks, graduate ones have the RBC model as their baseline model

Reflections on the Milton Friedman legacy

The aim of this article is to assess Friedman's claim, put forward in his 1949 article on the Mar... more The aim of this article is to assess Friedman's claim, put forward in his 1949 article on the Marshallian demand curve, that there is a methodological divide between the Marshallian and Walrasian approaches. Friedman's argument will be critically examined and compared with the views he expressed in other articles written around the same time. My evaluation will lead to a mixed conclusion. Positively, Friedman must be hailed for having brought the Marshall−Walras divide to the forefront. In a more critical vein, I will suggest, first, that Friedman's argumentation in the 1949 paper is definitely wanting. A better account of the differences between Marshall and Walras is to be found in his 1955 review of Jaffé's translation of Walras's Élements d'économie pure. Second, I will claim that Friedman's real target in his 1949 article was imperfect competition theory à la Chamberlin and Keynesianism à la Lange, which he wrongly associated with Walrasian theory. Third, present-day proponents of the divide will be criticised for having naively echoed Friedman's argumentation instead of having tried to improve it.

A History of Macroeconomics from Keynes to Lucas and Beyond

Have new classicists invented market clearing or have they just rehabilitated it? This is the que... more Have new classicists invented market clearing or have they just rehabilitated it? This is the question addressed in the present paper. It is generally agreed that market clearing underpins Walrasian theory, so my exploration is limited to the question of whether this is also true for Marshallian theory. I will claim that this is broadly the case: once Marshallian theory is properly reconstructed, it exhibits market clearing as a constantly present result. Still, an important difference between market clearing à la Walras and market clearing à la Marshall exists: in the former market clearing is equilibrium, while in the latter market clearing can coexist with disequilibrium. Next, I investigate whether my conclusion extends to the labour market. Again the conclusion reached is affirmative both for Marshall's theory and for present-day Marshallian models. As to the latter, I take Friedman's Phillips Curve model as a case study. I show that this is a market clearing model in w...

Microfoundations Reconsidered, 2012

The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, 2013

Present day macroeconomics has been sometimes dubbed as the new neoclassical synthesis, suggestin... more Present day macroeconomics has been sometimes dubbed as the new neoclassical synthesis, suggesting that it constitutes a reincarnation of the neoclassical synthesis of the 1950s. This has prompted us to examine the contents of the 'old' and the 'new' neoclassical syntheses. Our main conclusion is that the latter bears little resemblance with the former. Additionally, we make three points: (a) from its origins with Paul Samuelson onward the neoclassical synthesis notion had no fixed content and we bring out four main distinct meanings; (b) its most cogent interpretation, defended e.g. by Solow and Mankiw, is a plea for a pluralistic macroeconomics, wherein short-period market non-clearing models would live side by side with long-period market-clearing models; (c) a distinction should be drawn between first and second generation new Keynesian economists as the former defend the old neoclassical synthesis while the latter, with their DSGE models, adhere to the Lucasian view that macroeconomics should be based on a single baseline model.

The aim of this paper is to disentangle four main acceptations of the unvoluntary unemployment co... more The aim of this paper is to disentangle four main acceptations of the unvoluntary unemployment concept, to be found in the literature. The will be dubbed respectively as unvoluntary unemployment à la Keynes, à la Modigliani, à la Azariadis and à la Haavelmo (or, alternatively, Keynes-, Modigliani-, Azariadis- and Haavelmo-underemployment). In a first part, Keynes’s kaleidoscopic understanding of the concept is recalled. A second part discusses the (negative) role which Modigliani-underemployment has played in the first generation of Keynesian models. Part three ponders on the claim, put forward by new classicists, that unvoluntary unemployment à la Keynes is unacceptable within the neo-Walrasian research program. Part four examines the new Keynesian retort to this criticism and the two new acceptations it has brought about, namely Azariadis- and Haavelmo- underemployment.

History of Political Economy, 2004