Wednesday 29 July 2009

A compact representation of macroeconomic models

Here's a compact way of representing some of the major variants of modern macroeconomic models.

Companies earn a profit equal to P = I - C where I is income and C is wage costs. Employees receive wages equal to C and spend an amount which generates company income of a*C for some number a. So I = a*C.

A classical analysis may view C as changeable without I changing much. So if a < 1, companies can be made profitable again by cutting wages.

A Keynesian analysis may consider I to be tied more tightly to C because of wage earners' spending preferences. So I falls if C falls, and if a < 1 companies will not be able to make a profit no matter how much they cut wages.

Modifications can be made to the two models, some of which bring them closer to each other. If in the classical model wages are linked to income because of labour market power, then we have the same outcome as for the Keynesian model. In the Keynesian model, if workers do not act on a wage fall - perhaps prices have gone up and they have not asked for a wage rise - the model should move closer to the classical one.

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