Contending Economic Theories - 9780262018005

Contending Economic Theories offers a unique comparativetreatment of the three main theories in economics as it is taught today: neoclassical, Keynesian,and Marxian. Each is developed and discussed in its own chapter, yet also differentiated from andcompared to the other two theories. The authors identify each theory's starting point, its goals andfoci, and its internal logic. They connect their comparative theory analysis to the larger policyissues that divide the rival camps of theorists around such central issues as the role governmentshould play in the economy and the class structure of production, stressing the differentanalytical, policy, and social decisions that flow from each theory's conceptualization ofeconomics. The authors, building on their earlier book Economics: Marxian versusNeoclassical, offer an expanded treatment of Keynesian economics and a comprehensiveintroduction to Marxian economics, including its class analysis of society. Beyond providing asystematic explanation of the logic and structure of standard neoclassical theory, they analyzerecent extensions and developments of that theory around such topics as market imperfections,information economics, new theories of equilibrium, and behavioral economics, considering whetherthese advances represent new paradigms or merely adjustments to the standard theory. They alsoexplain why economic reasoning has varied among these three approaches throughout the twentiethcentury, and why this variation continues today--as neoclassical views give way to new Keynesianapproaches in the wake of the economic collapse of 2008.