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The Traverse, Equilibrium Analysis, and Post-Keynesian Economics

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Post-Keynesian Essays from Down Under Volume IV: Essays on Theory

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Abstract

The traverse refers to the movement of the economy outside equilibrium. It requires a consideration of how an economy may achieve equilibrium and how it may navigate toward a new one if conditions change. Analysis of these themes, from the classical economists onward, leads to the conclusion that it is difficult to envisage any useful role for equilibrium theory in the absence of some evidence that there are forces in the economy that propel it to equilibrium, without influencing the position to which the economy is gravitating toward. Complicating factors, emphasized in the post-Keynesian literature, include the existence of path dependency, hysteresis, cumulative causation, and the evolutionary nature of economic change.

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  1. Joseph Halevi
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  2. Neil Hart
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  3. Peter Kriesler
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© 2016 Joseph Halevi, G. C. Harcourt, Peter Kriesler and J. W. Nevile

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Halevi, J., Hart, N., Kriesler, P. (2016). The Traverse, Equilibrium Analysis, and Post-Keynesian Economics. In: Post-Keynesian Essays from Down Under Volume IV: Essays on Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47529-9_20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-47529-9_20

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