Kalecki and Post-Keynesian Economics

Abstract

Michal Kalecki is recognized by many observers as an important contributor and inspiration of post-Keynesian economics.2 For instance, Joan Robinson, Geoff Harcourt and Malcolm Sawyer have constantly reasserted the importance and relevance of Kalecki’s work, arguing, as Philip Arestis (1996, p. 11) did, that ‘there is very little doubt that Kalecki’s role in post-Keynesian economics is both extensive and paramount’. This, however, is not the opinion of all post-Keynesians. Undoubtedly, the most reluctant author to induct Kalecki within the post-Keynesian Hall of Fame is the long-time editor of the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Paul Davidson. As recalled by John King (1996, p. 151), Davidson’s reluctance to pay homage to Kalecki is not something new; from the very beginning of his career in the early 1960s, Davidson found little of interest in Kalecki’s writings. This, of course, can be contrasted with the views of another prominent American post-Keynesian, namely Hyman Minsky, who from 1977 on explicitly adopted Kalecki’s macroeconomic theory of profits.