B22 - History of Economic Thought: MacroeconomicsNávrat zpět

The article describes when and in what form the term “monopoly” appeared in theory. First, attention is paid to A. Smith’s classical political economy and the neoclassical binary model of competition and monopoly presented by A. Marshall. Robinson’s model of imperfect competition and Chamberlin’s model of monopolistic competition of 1933 were turning points in economic theory. The article not only highlights the elements that were adopted from Marshall and Pigou of the Cambridge Neoclassical School and are common to both theories, but also emphasizes the aspects in which the approaches of Robinson and Chamberlin differ and highlights their contribution to economic theory and competition law.

The article deals with the fate of the first governor of the Czechoslovak Central Bank after World War II. It analyses his economic thinking and the sources that influenced it. The text sees him as deeply rooted in non-liberal Central European tradition but with a strong impact of Anglo-Saxon economics of the interwar period. The article also explores his contribution to the transition of the Czechoslovak economy to Soviet-type central planning and proves the hypothesis that his influence was much smaller than existing literature indicates.

Very low real rates of interest observed in modern economies might be caused by the fact that the natural rate of interest declined to a zero level. This article shows that a zero or a negative natural interest can be explained by the Böhm-Bawerkian and neoclassical theory. Firstly, two senses of time preference are introduced in a discounted utility model, and key determinants of the zero interest rate on the side of time preference are discussed in detail. Secondly, a simple general equilibrium model with fixed intertemporal endowment is presented. Within this model, a decreasing shape of the income stream is identified as a major source of zero interest along with a low intertemporal elasticity of substitution in consumption. Even in the world of zero or negative natural interest, it might be optimal to be a lender. The last section focuses on the role of marginal productivity of capital in the model, stressing the role of this phenomenon on one side and time preference on the other in lowering the natural rate of interest to a zero level.

During 1930s and 1940s Josef Macek developed monetary theory leading to monetary policy recommendations which are deeply influenced by macroeconomic theory of John Maynard Keynes. Macek became leading Czech left-wing keynesian. His theory of money was nominalist and similarly to J. M. Keynes and G. Cassel he elaborated the concept of managed fiat money. He critisized and disapproved the quantity theory of money. In his monetary theory and his monetary policy conclusions he was a forerunner of contemporary post-keynesian monetary theories. Money supply is in his monetary theory highely endogenous and he expressed certain doubts about effeciency of monetary policy measures as antirecessionary remedy.

Paper deals with the European Monetary Union from perspective of Post Keynesian school of economic thought. It discusses separately arguments often proposed by mainstream economists. After the brief introduction, which highlights main differences between mainstream and Post Keynesian economic theory, work deals in sequence with trade argument often found in discussion about monetary unification, monetary issues mainly with the role of European Central Bank and lastly, work appraises European Monetary Union from international monetary arrangement perspective proposed by Post Keynesian economists. Based on this evaluation, work concludes stating that Post Keynesian economists are more likely not to be overenthusiastic with European monetary unification.