Friday, December 21, 2012

PK on NK

"So, Noah Smith weighs in on the state of macro and argues that there really isn’t that much disagreement in the field, because both saltwater and freshwater macro use the same set of techniques."


 "...New Keynesians .. still find  Keynesian ideas useful and argues that monetary and fiscal policy can be effective;
 real business cyclist ....business cycles are optimal responses to real shocks "


". Alchemists and chemists used similar equipment: retorts, beakers, and so on. ....
. New Keynesians and real business cycle theorists both do lots of intertemporal maximization
. Again, this doesn’t make them the same endeavor."


"The real test came when the financial crisis struck"

".. pretty much to a man freshwater economists not only argued against fiscal stimulus — which is a defensible position — but insisted that there was no possible way to justify stimulus,"


".. such ideas had been refuted and that “nobody” believed in them anymore."


 "anyone who actually worked with an NK  model would know that fiscal policy
 can indeed have an effect in that framework."


"I’m not saying that the NK approach is necessarily right;.....there’s a lot of evidence for the price stickiness that is central to NK models;"

"... maybe  that evidence doesn’t mean what the theorists think, but surely that evidence ought to be part of any discussion."


"So yes, the equations in one of Mike Woodford’s papers look a lot like the equations coming out of Chicago or Minneapolis."

" And a few years ago it was possible to delude oneself into believing that this represented a true convergence of thought. But recent events have proved that it just wasn’t true"




---------------------------------------------------

what caught my eagle eye :

"pretty much to a man freshwater economists ..... argued against fiscal stimulus

— which is a defensible position "

a defensible position eh ?

paul still clings to the  monetary only  macro school the morbid usury infested
   cave of the cyclopian school
that reveled at the feats of  the late great moderation

old  beliefs die hard or at least remain ....as big chunks in the daily stool

--------------------------------------------------


okay the bit about sticky prices is pathetic
i know \
but that horse we must beat on a happier  more triumphant  day


--------------------------------------------

just  to brighten up this measly macro  post some

here's ....