Neat, Plausible, & Wrong: The deluded discipline of economics

Steve Keen University of Western Sydney

Debunking Economics www.debtdeflation.com/blogs www.debunkingeconomics.com

www.cfesi.org

The Era of Crises •  Crises? What Crises?

1.  Climatic Crisis of Global Warming 2.  Energy Crisis of Peak Oil 3.  Financial Crisis of 2007

•  First two “hotly” denied by some –  Climate change denialists vs scientists –  Peak Oil Sceptics vs geologists

•  3rd undeniable—it’s already happened, and ongoing •  If others occur, can’t complain “Why weren’t we warned?”

–  Numerous warnings by relevant scientists for decades • Climate Change (Keeling 1958; Meadows 1972) • Peak Oil (King Hubbert 1956)

–  Will occur because advice of professionals ignored

An era of crisis •  Economic & Financial Crisis very different

–  Consensus of economists gave no warning at all • In fact predicted blissful economic future

–  Crisis occurred because professional advice followed! •  How could economics be so wrong? •  Discipline holds tenaciously to “Neoclassical” beliefs

–  Despite logical flaws –  Despite empirical failings

•  Explanation partly ideological –  Justifies existing distribution of wealth & power –  But unsatisfactory total answer

• Most economists deny “ideological” badge • Following advice also destroyed wealth, power

•  Tenacity of belief has deeper, subtler cause…

Neat, Plausible, and Wrong •  “Success” of neoclassical economics in a nutshell:

–  “Explanations exist; –  they have existed for all time; –  there is always a well-known solution –  to every human problem…

• neat, plausible, and wrong” (H. L. Mencken) •  Fundamental flaws in theory… •  Even manifest empirical failure to predict 2007 crisis… •  Ignored because neoclassical theory is “neat & plausible” •  To defeat it

–  “Wrong” has to trump “neat & plausible” – Need “complex, sensible & generally right” alternative

• Ambition of “Debunking Economics II” •  Wider audience than DE I: neoclassicals as well, because…

A paradoxical but transcendental truth… •  Neoclassical economists don’t understand neoclassical

economics •  Before the Crisis: founding editor of AER: Macro

–  “The state of macro is good… –  “Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium” model is… –  “simple, analytically convenient, and has largely

replaced the IS-LM model as the basic model of fluctuations in graduate courses…

– Unlike the IS-LM model, it is formally, rather than informally, derived from optimization by firms and consumers.” (Blanchard 2009)

After the crisis…

•  “The great moderation lulled macroeconomists and policymakers alike in the belief that we knew how to conduct macroeconomic policy.

•  The crisis clearly forces us to question that assessment… •  It is important to start by stating the obvious, namely,

that the baby should not be thrown out with the bathwater…” (Blanchard, Dell'Ariccia et al. 2010)

•  Wrong: this baby should never have been conceived –  Base of DSGE macro is Solow-Ramsey growth model

• Yet Solow rejects DSGE models!

Solow rejects DSGE •  Robert Solow 2001

–  “The prototypical real-business-cycle model goes like this. There is a single, immortal household—a representative consumer—that earns wages from supplying labor. It also owns the single price-taking firm…

–  This is nothing but the neoclassical growth model… –  [When I built it] … It was clear … what I thought it

did not apply to, namely short-run fluctuations ... the business cycle...

– Now ... an article today [on the] 'business cycle' … will be ... a slightly dressed up version of the neoclassical growth model.

–  The question I want to circle around is: how did that happen?”

Solow: SMD conditions invalidate DSGE •  “Suppose you wanted to defend the use of the Ramsey

model as the basis for a descriptive macroeconomics. What could you say? ...

•  You could claim that … there is no other tractable way to meet the claims of economic theory.

•  I think this claim is a delusion. •  We know from the Sonnenschein-Mantel-Debreu

theorems that…” (Solow 2008) •  Sonnenschein-Mantel-Debreu: demand curve for a single

market can have any (polynomial) shape at all –  Even study of a single market can’t be reduced to

study of a single utility-maximizing agent –  Yet Neoclassical DSGE macro models the whole

economy as a single utility-maximizing agent

SMD: “Anything goes” for market demand curves •  SMD Conditions (Sonnenschein 1973):

– Market demand curves do not obey the „Law of Demand“ –  Even if summing „well behaved“ individual demand curves

•  Proof by contradiction: – Assume market demand curves do obey Law of Demand –  Derive conditions under which this is true –  Contradict initial assumption •  Therefore they don‘t obey the „Law“ of Demand

q

P Crusoe

q

P Friday Market

Q

P

Market demand curve any polynomial at all •  Only way to avoid this:

– Assume all consumers have identical tastes • So there is only one consumer!

– Assume that tastes don’t change with income • So there is only one commodity!

•  Contradicts starting assumption: –  Two consumers with different tastes –  Two different commodities

•  Proof by contradiction that “Law of Demand” does not apply to market demand curve

•  How did Neoclassical economists react?…

Representative agent madness instead

•  Gorman 1953 –  “we will show that there is just one community

indifference locus through each point if, and only if, the Engel curves for different individuals at the same prices are parallel straight lines…

–  The necessary and sufficient condition quoted above is intuitively reasonable. • It says, in effect, that an extra unit of purchasing power should be spent in the same way no matter to whom it is given.”

•  Intuitively reasonable?

– No, it’s intuitively rubbish! •  Textbooks reproduced the rubbish…

Macro an “emergent property”

•  Real meaning of SMD conditions – Macroeconomic behavior an “emergent property” of

interaction of agents in a complex system • Cannot deduce behavior of macroeconomy from

behavior of utility-maximizing individuals • Cannot reduce macroeconomics to “applied

microeconomics” •  But that is what DSGE models do! •  Fallacy of “Strong Reductionism”

–  Believe “macroeconomics is applied microeconomics” –  But SMD conditions prove otherwise

• “macroeconomics cannot be applied microeconomics”

Fallacy of Strong Reductionism

•  Can’t deduce even market behavior from model of individual behavior –  Let alone deduce macro behavior from individual

•  Common knowledge in real sciences: Anderson, “More is Different”, Science (1972) –  The behavior of large and complex aggregates of

elementary particles, it turns out, is not to be understood in terms of a simple extrapolation of the properties of a few particles.

–  Instead, at each level of complexity entirely new properties appear, and the understanding of the new behaviors requires research which I think is as fundamental in its nature as any other.”

Fallacy of Strong Reductionism •  “one may array the sciences roughly linearly in a

hierarchy, according to the idea: “The elementary entities of science X obey the laws of science Y”

X Y Solid state or many-body physics Elementary particle physics Chemistry Many-body physics Molecular biology Chemistry Cell biology Molecular biology … … Psychology Physiology Social sciences Psychology

•  But this hierarchy does not imply that science X is “just applied Y”. At each stage entirely new laws, concepts, and generalizations are necessary, requiring inspiration and creativity to just as great a degree as in the previous one. Psychology is not applied biology, nor is biology applied chemistry.”

Poor Scholarship basis of neoclassical economics •  And “macroeconomics is not applied microeconomics”! •  Neoclassical “Strong Reductionism” maintained by:

–  Poor scholarship; –  Poor technique; & –  Ideology

•  Poor scholarship: – Most Neoclassical economists don’t read their own

literature but rely upon sanitized textbook version • Act as if theory vindicated • Don’t know that theory contradicted

– Lack of knowledge of SMD conditions just one instance of collective neoclassical ignorance of neoclassical economics

Poor Scholarship basis of neoclassical economics

•  Even Solow shows poor scholarship: –  “For a while the dominant framework for thinking

about the short run was roughly ‘Keynesian'. –  I use that label for convenience; I have absolutely

no interest in 'what Keynes really meant'. –  To be more specific, the framework I mean is what is

sometimes called 'American Keynesianism' as taught to many thousands of students by Paul Samuelson's textbook and a long line of followers.” (Solow 2001)

•  Yet he wonders why his Growth Model misinterpreted! –  Bad Scholarship—DSGE developers didn’t heed his

advice about limitations of Neoclassical growth model •  Same poor scholarship he applies to Keynes!

Equilibrium fetish the core neoclassical weakness •  Today’s dominant PhD textbook by Mas-Colell:

–  “A characteristic feature that distinguishes economics from other scientific fields is that, for us, the equations of equilibrium constitute the center of our discipline.

– Other sciences, such as physics or even ecology, put comparatively more emphasis on the determination of dynamic laws of change.

–  In contrast, up to now, we have hardly mentioned dynamics.

–  The reason, informally speaking, is that economists are good (or so we hope) at recognizing a state of equilibrium but poor at predicting how an economy in disequilibrium will evolve.” (Mas-Colell 1995)

Bernanke an “expert” on Great Depression?

•  No: An expert at developing explanations of Great Depression which are consistent with neoclassical theory

•  Ignores alternative views: –  “Hyman Minsky and Charles Kindleberger have in

several places argued for the inherent instability of the financial system but in doing so have had to depart from the assumption of rational economic behavior…

–  I do not deny the possible importance of irrationality in economic life; however it seems that the best research strategy is to push the rationality postulate as far as it will go.” (Bernanke 2000)

–  That’s it for Bernanke’s consideration of Minsky!

The exogenous money fallacy

•  Individuals/companies have sources of spending: –  Income –  Increase in debt

•  Neoclassical theory counts the first, ignores the second –  Logic: “Ignoring the foreign component, or looking at

the world as a whole, the overall level of debt makes no difference to aggregate net worth—one person's liability is another person's asset…

–  In what follows, we begin by setting out a flexible-price endowment model in which “impatient” agents borrow from “patient” agents, but are subject to a debt limit.” (Krugman and Eggertsson 2010, pp. 3,5)

The exogenous money fallacy •  Patient lends to Impatient

•  Patient’s spending power goes down •  Impatient’s spending power goes up •  No change in aggregate demand •  Banks mere intermediaries (ignored in analysis)

The Bankruptcy of Neoclassical Economics •  Neoclassical theory wrong from first principles:

–  Treats complex monetary exchange as barter – Assumes macroeconomy is stable –  Ignores social class

• Treats entire economy a single agent • Despite SMD proof that this can’t be done

– Obliterates uncertainty • “Rational” as capacity to foresee the future;

– Uses empirically falsified “money multiplier” model of money creation; and

–  Ignores credit and debt.

The Walras-Schumpeter-Minsky Law

•  Neoclassical belief: Walras’ Law –  “Sum of excess demands is zero”

•  i.e., Aggregate Demand is Aggregate Supply – No role for credit

•  Empirical reality: credit matters •  Even Neoclassicals admit it (but do nothing about it!):

–  “Introducing money and credit into growth theory in a way that accounts for the cyclical behavior of monetary as well as real aggregates is an important open problem in economics.” (Kydland & Prescott 1990)

•  Consequence: Walras’ Law incomplete in credit economy…

Actual “endogenous money” process •  Entrepreneur approaches bank for loan

•  Bank grants loan & creates deposit simultaneously

•  Alan Holmes, Senior V-P, New York Fed

•  “In the real world, banks extend credit, creating deposits in the process, and look for the reserves later.” (1969)

•  New loan puts additional spending power into circulation •  Aggregate demand exceeds demand from income alone •  Neoclassicals wrong to ignore change in debt

The Walras-Schumpeter-Minsky Law

•  In credit economy, aggregate demand –  includes growth in debt –  is spent on both goods (GDP) and existing assets

•  Aggregate demand consists of: –  Expenditure financed by sale of goods (Walras); –  + debt-financed entrepreneurial demand (Schumpeter); –  + debt-financed Ponzi Finance demand (Minsky)

•  The Walras-Schumpeter-Minsky Law – Aggregate Demand = GDP + Change in Debt – AD = Income + ΔDebt = GDP + Net Asset Turnover (NAT)

• NAT = (PA * QA * TA) –  Δ AD = Δ GDP + ΔΔDebt

• = ΔGDP + NAT

The Walras-Schumpeter-Minsky Law •  Private debt ignored by neoclassical economists •  “Fisher's idea was less influential in academic circles,

though, because of the counterargument that debt-deflation represented no more than a redistribution from one group (debtors) to another (creditors). Absent implausibly large differences in marginal spending propensities among the groups, it was suggested, pure redistributions should have no significant macro-economic effects…” (Bernanke 2000)

•  “overall level of debt makes no difference … one person's liability is another person's asset.” (Krugman 2010)

•  Neoclassicals wrong: private debt matters –  3 factors: Level (compared to GDP), Rate of Change, &

Acceleration (Credit Accelerator)

Private Debt and Depressions •  Private debt bubbles caused “Roaring Twenties” &

“Noughty Nineties” •  Bubble burst when level of debt to GDP became extreme

•  Bursting of bubbles caused Great Depression & Great Recession

Boom & Bust: debt-charged growth & collapse •  Rising debt boosted demand by $4 trillion at peak •  Falling debt cut demand by $2.8 trillion at trough •  From $18.3 to $11.5 trillion in just 2 years

Partial Government Rescue •  Rise in government debt 30% GDP •  Dwarfed by 47% fall in private debt

“The Great Recession” •  Fall in debt-financed demand drove unemployment

“The Great Recession” •  Acceleration drives change in unemployment

Stock market boom and bust •  Debt acceleration drives asset prices—up and down

Minsky’s FIH: dynamic-disequilibrium-debt model

•  Economy in historical time •  Debt-induced recession in recent past •  Firms and banks conservative re debt/equity, assets •  Only conservative projects are funded

–  Recovery means most projects succeed •  Firms and banks revise risk premiums

– Accepted debt/equity ratio rises – Assets revalued upwards…

•  “Stability is destabilising” –  Period of tranquility causes expectations to rise…

•  Self-fulfilling expectations –  Decline in risk aversion causes increase in investment –  Investment expansion causes economy to grow faster

The Euphoric Economy

•  Asset prices rise: speculation on assets profitable •  Increased willingness to lend increases money supply

– Money supply endogenous, not controlled by CB • Riskier investments enabled, asset speculation rises

•  The emergence of “Ponzi” financiers –  Cash flow less than debt servicing costs –  Profit by selling assets on rising market –  Interest-rate insensitive demand for finance

•  Rising debt levels & interest rates lead to crisis –  Rising rates make conservative projects speculative – Non-Ponzi investors sell assets to service debts –  Entry of new sellers floods asset markets –  Rising trend of asset prices falters or reverses

The Assets Boom and Bust

•  Ponzi financiers go bankrupt: –  Can no longer sell assets for a profit –  Debt servicing on assets far exceeds cash flows

•  Asset prices collapse, increasing debt/equity ratios •  Endogenous expansion of money supply reverses •  Investment evaporates; economic growth slows •  Economy enters a debt-induced recession

–  Back where we started... •  Process repeats once debt levels fall

–  But starts from higher debt to GDP level •  Final crisis where debt burden overwhelms economy •  My work: converting this from verbal description to

mathematical model…

Theoretical dynamics of debt: Minsky + Circuit

•  Monetary model of capitalism built from combination of: –  Goodwin’s growth cycle – Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis –  Circuit theory of endogenous money creation

•  Product: “Monetary Circuit Theory”—MCT •  Physical side: Goodwin put into mathematical form Marx’s

“growth cycle” model in Capital I, Ch. 25: –  “The mechanism of the process of capitalist

production removes the very obstacles that it temporarily creates. The price of labor falls again to a level corresponding with the needs of the self-expansion of capital, whether the level be below, the same as, or above the one which was normal before the rise of wages took place…”

Keen 1995 Model Foundations: Nonlinear dynamics •  Inherently cyclical growth (Goodwin 1967, Blatt 1983)

•  Closes the loop:

•  Capital K determines output Y via the accelerator:

•  Y determines employment L via productivity a:

•  L determines employment rate l via population N:

•  l determines rate of change of wages w via Phillips Curve

•  Integral of w determines W (given initial value)

•  Y-W determines profits P and thus Investment I…

Monetary Circuit Theory •  Basic process of endogenous money creation •  Entrepreneur approaches bank for loan

•  Bank grants loan & creates deposit simultaneously

•  Alan Holmes, Senior Vice-President New York Fed, 1969:

•  “In the real world, banks extend credit, creating deposits in the process, and look for the reserves later.” (1969, p. 73)

•  New loan puts additional spending power into circulation •  Modeling this using strictly monetary framework:

Explicitly Monetary Minsky Model •  Input financial relations in Table:

Assets Liabilities Equity

Reserve Loan Firm Deposit Worker Deposit Bank Equity

Lend -A A

Record Loan A

Interest B

Pay Interest -B B

Record -B

Wages -C C

Consumption D+E -D -E

Repay Loan F -F

Record -F

New Money G

Record G •  Generate dynamic monetary model of economy:

Explicitly Monetary Minsky Model •  New monetary macroeconomics can explain the crisis

Debunking Economics 2nd Edition… •  For more details: