On Post Walrasian Economics, Macroeconomic Policy, and Heterodox Economics

Abstract

Colander (2003) argues that mainstream economics is currently experiencing the rise of (what he calls) Post Walrasian economics, an approach that he believes to be the future of economics. He argues, further, that this phenomenon has far-reaching implications for the conduct of macroeconomic policy. Colander sees all this in a positive light. He also appears to recommend that heterodox economists (including analytical political economists) jump on the Post Walrasian bandwagon and join in its challenge of orthodox Walrasian theory and its free-market policy implications. In fact, Colander states that there is now very little to distinguish the content of heterodox economics from that of orthodox mainstream economics following the emergence of Post Walrasian economics. Although Colander's discussion of the present state of mainstream economics and its policy implications is quite perceptive and insightful, in my judgment, his prediction that what he calls Post Walrasian economics is the future of economics is