Nicholas Kaldor: The Economics and Politics of Capitalism as a Dynamic System

Nicholas Kaldor (1908-1986) was one of this century's most original thinkers on economics, his influence on British economic policy second only to that of Keynes. This book traces the development of Kaldor's thought as it underwent a remarkable evolution from his membership of the Austrian neoclassical school to his embracing of radical Keynesianism. He was also extremely quick to grasp essential changes in economic reality and to forge analytical tools to explain them. Although he was innovative from 1938 onwards, much of his seminal work belongs to a coherent project of research which made him, together with Joan Robinson and Michał Kalecki, a leading representative of the post-Keynesian school, an outstanding critic of the neoclassical theory of equilibrium, growth, and distribution, and a convinced opponent of the monetarist school. The book also seeks to show how economic policy and political economy were closely connected in Kaldor's work. It was this that made Kaldor one of the most lucid and radical champions of the economic policies which, by blending political freedom with social justice, have been the outstanding feature of the great European tradition of social democracy.

Table of Contents:
Introduction: The Life of Nicholas Kaldor; 1. Equilibrium, Competition, and Capital Theory; 2. Wages, Speculation, and Interest; 3. The Trade Cycle; 4. War Economy, Welfare State, and Full Employment; 5. Cambridge and the Theories of Growth and the Distribution of Income; 6. The Debate on Kaldor's Theory of Distribution; 7. Growth at Different Rates and Kaldor's `Laws'; 8. The `Agriculture-Industry' Model and the Instability of the World Economy; 9. Underdevelopment, Industrialization, and Policies for Development; 10. Public-Finance Policy; 11. The Interest Rate, Monetry Policy, and the Supply of Money; 12. Inflation and Anti-Inflationary Policies; 13. The International Monetary System, Managing an Economy in an Open Market, and the De-Industrialization of Britain; 14. The Criticism of Equilibrium Theory and New Theoretical Hypotheses on Growth and the Distribution of Income; 15. Method and Vision of the World; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.

Review :
'The comprehensiveness of the book's coverage of Kaldor's writings makes it something most readers will wish to read selectively rather than from beginning to end. The book ... provides a very clear account of Kaldor's economics and a number of useful insights concerning this very remarkable economist.' Times Higher Education Supplement `Excellent book.' Kyklos