Stability with growth. Macroeconomics, liberalization and development

Abstract

This book discusses the current debates on macroeconomics, capital market liberalization, and development, and develops a new framework within which one can assess alternative policies. The authors share the belief that the Washington consensus has advocated for narrow goals for development (with a focus on price stability), prescribed too few policy instruments (emphasizing monetary and fiscal policies), and places unwarranted faith in the role of markets. The new framework focuses on real stability and long-term sustainable and equitable growth, offers a variety of non-standard ways to stabilize the economy and promote growth, and accepts that market imperfections necessitate government interventions. Economists have traditionally divided their field into macroeconomics and microeconomics, with macroeconomics further divided into stabilization policy and growth. Since most policy discussions and much of the assignment of institutional responsibilities have followed these divisions, policy-makers have pursued stabilization goals with little concern for growth consequences, while trying to increase growth through structural reforms focused on improving economic efficiency. Moreover, structural policies, such as capital market liberalization, have had major consequences for economic stability. This book challenges these divisions by arguing that stabilization policy has important consequences for long-term growth and has often been implemented with adverse consequences. The first part of the book introduces the key questions and looks at the objectives of economic policy from different perspectives. The second part examines the central issues of macroeconomics, presenting an analysis of economic models and policy perspectives on stabilization from conservative, Keynesian, and heterodox perspectives. The third part presents a similar analysis for capital market liberalization (CML).