Profile Major Works Resources

Axel Leijonhufvud, 1933-

Photo of A.Leijonhufvud

Born in Stockholm, Axel Leijonhufvud obtained his BA at the University of Lund in 1960, before coming to the United States for graduate studies.  Leijonhufvud obtained his Ph.D. from Northwestern in 1967. Partly under the influence of Robert Clower, Leijonhufvud produced a dissertation which was to profoundly affect macroeconomics for the next decade: On Keynesian Economics and the Economics of Keynes (1968).

Perhaps the first serious scholarly study of Keynes's work, Leijonhufvud's book differentiated between "Keynesian Economics" (Hicks-Samuelson type of synthesis) and "Economics of Keynes" (the work of J.M. Keynes) and essentially demonstrated that the two had little in common. He joined Clower in calling for a dynamic, "microfounded" formulation of Keynesian theory which explained underemployment equilibrium rather than merely referring to it as an imperfection. In particular, Leijonhufvud relies on differing speeds of quantity and price adjustments to create the coordination failures which yield protracted unemployment.

His later work in the 1970s and 1980s still mirrored this quest. In the 1990s, Clower and Leijonhufvud identified the fast-growing evolutionary theory and computational economics as moving in the right direction and founded a fledgling school, "Post Walrasian", intent on harnessing macroeconomics to it. 

Axel Leijonhufvud joined the faculty at UCLA in 1964.  Since 1995, he has also been professor at the University of Trento, Italy.

 

  

top1.gif (924 bytes)Top

Major works of Axel Leijonhufvud

  • "Keynes and the Keynesians: A suggested interpretation", 1967, AER.
  • On Keynesian Economics and the Economics of Keynes: A study in monetary theory, 1968.
  • "Keynes and the Effectiveness of Monetary Policy", 1967, Western EJ.
  • Keynes and the Classics: Two lectures.
  • "Notes on the Theories of Markets", 1970, Intermountain ER.
  • "Life Among the Econ", 1973, Western EJ.
  • "Say's Principle: What it means and doesn't mean", with R.W.Clower, 1973, Intermountain ER.
  • "Effective Demand Failures", 1973, Swedish JE. [ucla wp]
  • "The Varieties of Price Theory: What Microfoundations for Macrotheory?" 1974, [ucla wp]
  • "The Coordination of Economic Activities: A Keynesian Perspective", with R. Clower, 1975, AER.
  • "Schools Revolutions and Research Programmes in Economics", 1976, in Latsis, editor, Method and Appraisal in Economics.
  • "Costs and Consequences of Inflation", 1977, in Harcourt, editor, Microeconomic Foundations of Macro. [ucla wp]
  • "Theories of Stagflation", 1980 Rev Assoc Francaise de Finance [ucla wp]
  • "The Wicksell Connection: Variations on a theme", 1981, in Leijonhufvud, 1981 [ucla wp]
  • Information and Coordination: Essays in macroeconomic theory, 1981.
  • "What was the matter with IS-LM?" in 1983, J.P. Fitoussi, ed., Modern Macroeconomic Theory [ucla wp]
  • "What would Keynes have thought of Rational Expectations?", 1983, in Worswick and Trevithick, Keynes and the Modern World. [ucla wp]
  • "Keynesian, Monetarism and Rational Expectations: Some reflections and conjectures", 1983, in R. Frydman and E.S. Phelps, eds, Individual Forecasting and Aggregate Outcomes [ucla wp]
  • "Hicks on Time and Money", 1984, Oxford EP
  • "Inflation and Economic Performance",  1984, in B.Siegel, ed., Money in Crisis [ucla wp]
  • "Constitutional Constraints on the Monetary Powers of Government", 1984, in R.B. McKenzie, Constitutional Economics
  • "Ideology and Analysis in Macroeconomics,  1985, in Koslowski, editor, Economics and Philosophy.
  • "Capitalism and the Factory System", 1986, in R. Langlois, ed, Economics as a Process
  • "Rules with Some Discretion" Comment on Barro", 1986, in Campbell and Dougan, eds, Alternative Monetary Regimes
  • "Time in Theory and History - Or Why I am not a Historian", 1986, Agricultural History
  • "Rational Expectations and Monetary Institutions", 1987, in M. de Cecco and J.P. Fitoussi, eds, Monetary Theory and Economic Institutions [ucla wp]
  • "Did Keynes Mean Anything? Rejoinder to Yeager", 1988, Cato Journal
  • "Whatever happened to Keynesian economics?", 1988, D.A. Reese editor, Legacy of Keynes [ucla wp]
  • "The Stock-Flow Analysis of Investment", with M. Aoki, 1988 in M. Kohn and S.C. Tsiang, eds, Finance Constraints, Expectations and Macroeconomics [ucla wp]
  • "Information Costs and the Division of Labour", 1989, Intl SSJ
  • "Monetary Policy and the Business Cycle and 'Loose' Convertibility", 1990, in Courakis and Goodhart, eds, Monetary Economics of John Hicks
  • "Keynesian Economics: Past confusions, Future Prospects", 1992, in Vercelli and Dimirti, Macroeconomics: A survey of research strategies
  • "High Inflations and Contemporary Monetary Theory", 1992, Econ Notes [ucla wp]
  • "Problems of Soviet Transformation: Kazakhstan, 1991", 1993, in L. Somogyi, ed., Political Economy of the Transition Process in Eastern Europe
  • "Towards a Not-Too-Rational Macroeconomics", 1993, Southern EJ.
  • High Inflations with D. Heymann, 1995
  • "Out of the Corridor, into the Crisis", 2009, Cambridge JE
  • "Wicksell, Hayek, Keynes, Friedman. Who should we follow?", 2009 [pdf]
  • "Nature of an Economy", 2011, CEPR [pdf]
  • "Monetary Muddles", 2015, Cato Journal [pdf]

 
HET

 
top1.gif (924 bytes)Top

Resources on Axel Leijonhufvud

  • Axel Leijonhufvud's homepage at UCLA.
  • Axel Leijonhufvud's homepage at CEEL, Trento (CV, articles)
  • Axel Leijonhufvud homepage at Insittute for New Economic Thinking (INET)
  • "Outside the Mainstream: Interview with Leijonhufvud", by Brian Snowden, 2002 (pdf)
  • "A Dictionary article of Axel Leijonhufvud's 'On Keynesian Economics and the Economics of Keynes" by Peter Howitt, 2002 (pdf)
  • "Axel Leijonhufvud and the Quest for Microfoundations", by David Laidler, 2006 (pdf)
  • Allin Cottrell's Reconciling Leijonhufvud and the Post Keynesians" - PDF download
  • "Axel Leijonhufvud and the Post-Walrasians" blog post at Social Democracy for 21st C.
  • Axel Lejionhufvud papers at Duke
  • Wikipedia
 
top1.gif (924 bytes)Top
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All rights reserved, Gonçalo L. Fonseca