Beyond the Monetarists: Post-Keynesian Alternatives to Rampant Inflation, Low Growth and High Unemployment

Confronted with "stagflation" in the 1970s--negative economic growth coupled with high inflation--Canada along with many Western nations abandoned Keynesian economic policies for a monetarist approach mandating economic deregulation and reduced government spending. But did the monetarist approach work? To evaluate the economic situation, the Canadian Institute for Economic Policy sponsored the Conference on Post-Keynesian Alternatives and invited leading economists from Canada, the United States and Great Britain to assess the monetarist record. The consensus that emerged was that monetarism, if it works at all, is a slow and painful remedy that affects most adversely those who are least able to cope with straitened circumstances. The conference concluded that, with monetarism in force and with all its potential for damage, the need was more urgent than ever to develop and refine post-Keynesian alternatives. Beyond the Monetarists tracks the emergence of a new, conservative economic orthodoxy in the late 1970s, and attempts to formulate humane alternatives to monetarism in the post-Keynesian era.Crane, David is the author of 'Beyond the Monetarists: Post-Keynesian Alternatives to Rampant Inflation, Low Growth and High Unemployment' with ISBN 9780888625014 and ISBN 0888625014.