Title: Managerial Economics
1Managerial Economics
- Lecture Nine
- Alternative theories of macroeconomic behaviour
2Recap
- Last week
- Empirical data on economic cycle contradicts
neoclassical economics - Prices anti-cyclical
- Wages pro-cyclical
- No diminishing marginal productivity
- Credit leads cycle, money base follows
- Not quantity theory of money but endogenous
credit money creation - Complements Blinders survey research
- Supports Schumpeters theory of cycle
- KP conclude with fascinating statement
3Money, credit and business cycles
- The fact that the transaction component of real
cash balances (M 1) moves contemporaneously with
the cycle while the much larger nontransaction
component (M2) leads the cycle suggests that
credit arrangements could play a significant role
in future business cycle theory. - Introducing money and credit into growth theory
in a way that accounts for the cyclical behavior
of monetary as well as real aggregates is an
important open problem in economics. - This open problem the focus of Hyman Minskys
research
4Like father, like son
- Minsky a student of Schumpeters
- influenced by Keynes and Marx
- Built on foundations of all three (but never
admitted to inspiration from Marxworked during
McCarthyist period in USA when reading Marx
effectively a crime) - Did first degree in mathematics before economics
Phd - During longest period of sustained prosperity in
Americas history, developed the Financial
Instability Hypothesis - Key proposition The most significant economic
event of the era since World War II is something
that has not happened there has not been a deep
and long-lasting depression. (Minsky 1982 xi) - Why is this significant? Because
5Financial Instability Hypothesis
- As measured by the record of history, to go more
than thirtyfive years without a severe and
protracted depression is a striking success. - Before World War II, serious depressions occurred
regularly. The Great Depression of the 1930s was
just a "bigger and better" example of the hard
times that occurred so frequently. This postwar
success indicates that something is right about
the institutional structure and the policy
interventions that were largely created by the
reforms of the 1930s.. (xi) - So what were these structures interventions?
- Restrained use of debt
- Public spending to ameliorate any downturn
- Both developed in response to Great Depression
6The Great Depression
WW II
7The Great Depression
To 25 in 3 years
WW II Brings Sustained Recovery
From effectively zero...
8Minskian Economic History
- Minskys reading of Depression
- Final in series of financial crises in which
accumulated debt falling prices overwhelmed
system - Deflation (prices fell by up to 10 p.a.) meant
real rate of interest exceeded 15 - Nominal debt fell but real debt (ratio nominal
debt to nominal DGP) ballooned - Irving Fisher claimed debt/GDP ratio was
- 60 in 1929
- 160 by 1933
- Complex price dynamics, mechanics of bankruptcy,
government public works, etc. partially reduced
debts - World War II reduced them to trivial levels
9USA Interest Rates 1918-2000
Huge deflation caused by post-WWIreturn to the
Gold Standard by UK
Korean War Inflation
Negative real rates during WW II
Even more negative real rate during Post-War
recovery
Massive positive real rates due to deflation in
Great Depression
Post-War stability
and then... chaos!
10Minskian Economic History
- Post-War success due to
- Reduction of private debt to historically low
levels - Culture of prudence after WWII, Great Depression
- versus excess of Roaring Twenties stock market
boom - Big government
- Large government spending/taxing role
counterbalanced private sector tendencies to
excess during boom, frugality during slump - Institutions designed to attenuate excessive
behaviour in borrowing, lending, investing - Emphasis upon income equality
- Less money for speculation by wealthy
- More for income-financed stable mass consumption
11Minskian Economic History
- Gradual development of problems since WWII due to
gradual - Increase in debt to income levels over many
business cycles - Decline in fear of financial collapse as GD
forgotten - Relaxation of prudent financial arrangements
- Financial fragility rising from 1950 till early
1960s - Financial crises in USA but still high
growth/employment - 1973 major financial crisis in period of high
employment - Income distribution (high wages) and raw
materials (high prices) driven inflation - Stagflation first major post WWII financial
crisis
12Financial Instability Hypothesis
- To understand why weve had crises but not a
Depression, we need - an economic theory which makes great depressions
one of the possible states in which our type of
capitalist economy can find itself. - We need a theory which will enable us to identify
which of the many differences between the economy
of 1980 and that of 1930 are responsible for the
success of the postwar era. (xi) - Neoclassical conventional Keynesian models
cant do this because they are timeless
equilibrium models - might explain equilibrium but
- Cant explain location of equilibrium itself
- Omit time processes that are evolutionary and
non-equilibrium
13Financial Instability Hypothesis
- Minsky knew suitable model had to
- treat financial crises as normal events in
unconstrained capitalist economy - Explain why such events hadnt happened in
1948-1966 - The first twenty years after World War II were
characterized by financial tranquility. No
serious threat of a financial crisis or a
debtdeflation process took place. - The decade since 1966 has been characterized by
financial turmoil. Three threats of financial
crisis occurred, during which Federal Reserve
interventions in money and financial markets were
needed to abort the potential crises. (1982 63) - Minsky on the historical record 1948-1978
14Financial Instability Hypothesis
- The first post-World War II threat of a
financial crisis that required Federal Reserve
special intervention was the so-called "credit
crunch" of 1966. This episode centered around a
"run" on bank-negotiable certificates of deposit. - The second occurred in 1970, and the immediate
focus of the difficulties was a "run" on the
commercial paper market following the failure of
the PennCentral Railroad. - The third threat of a crisis in the decade
occurred in 1974-75 can be best identified as
centering around the speculative activities of
the giant banks. In this third episode the
Franklin National Bank of New York, with assets
of 5 billion as of December 1973, failed after a
"run" on its overseas branch. (63)
15Financial Instability Hypothesis
- The lessons from this history?
- Since this recent financial instability is a
recurrence of phenomena that regularly
characterized our economy before World War II, it
is reasonable to view financial crises as
systemic, rather than accidental, events. - From this perspective, the anomaly is the twenty
years after World War II during which financial
crises were absent, which can be explained by the
extremely robust financial structure that
resulted from a Great War following hard upon a
deep depression. - Since the middle sixties the historic
crisis-prone behavior of an economy with
capitalist financial institutions has reasserted
itself (63)
16Financial Instability Hypothesis
- Minskys view of unbridled capitalism supported
by record of 19th century trade cycle
- Financial crisesroughly every20 years
17Financial Instability Hypothesis
- But post-1973 still differs from pre-WWII periods
of instability - The past decade differs from the era before World
War II in that embryonic financial crises have
been aborted by a combination of support
operations by the Federal Reserve and the income,
employment, and financial effects that flow from
an immensely larger government sector. This
success has had a side effect, however
accelerating inflation has followed each success
in aborting a financial crisis. (63) - So how to turn these historical insights into a
theory? - Firstly, build on your antecedents
18Brief HET of Minsky
- Parents met at a Communist Party social function
- No prizes for guessing early formative
influences! - Fought in US Army in WWII, decamped post-war to
do a degree - Educated during McCarthyist communist witch
hunt periodno mention ever of Marx in his
research, for obvious reasons - PhD supervisor Joseph Schumpeter the archetypal
theorist of cycles - Foundation influences thus Marx Schumpeterand
not Keynes - With degree in mathematics, attempted to build
mathematical model of trade cycle (based on
Hickss difference equation model, extended by
Kaleckis principle of increasing risk)
19Brief HET of Minsky
- Kalecki argued investment restrained by
increasing risk (uncertainty) as capital grows - Minsky used this at macro level in model of trade
cycle Model was
- Minsky made b dependent on financial conditions
- b declines as economy grows, thus giving turning
point to upward explosive movement - "the accelerator coefficient ... is in part based
on the productive efficiency of investment, but
it is also related to the willingness of
investors to take risks and the terms in which
investors can finance their endeavours..."
(Minsky 1965 261)
20Brief HET of Minsky
- Model went nowhere, but Minsky began to explore
implications of finance for economic behaviour - Initially tried from conventional understanding
of Keynes - If we make the Keynesian assumption that
consumption demand is independent of interest
rates, but assume that investment demand, and
hence the b coefficient, depends on interest
rates, then a rising set of interest rates will
lower the b coefficient. (Minsky 1965, 1982
262) - Also went nowhere
- Then, one day, by chance, he read Keyness 1937
papers - My interpretations of Keynes is not the
conventional view which is mainly derived from
Hicks' "Mr. Keynes and the Classics," an article
which I believe misses Keynes' point completely
(Minsky 1982 280)
21Theres more than one Keynes
- Keynesian economics of IS-LM AS-AD more due to
Hicks than Keynes - Different theme in Ch. 12 Ch. 17
- Rather than investment regulated by rate of
interest - investment motivated by the desire to produce
those assets of which the normal supply-price is
less than the demand price (Keynes 1936 228) - Demand price determined by prospective yields,
depreciation and liquidity preference. - Supply price determined by costs of production
- Two price levels in capitalism
- Normal commodities basically cost plus
- Assets expectations under uncertainty
22Theres more than one Keynes
- Two price level analysis becomes more dominant
subsequent to General Theory - The scale of production of capital assets
depends, of course, on the relation between
their costs of production and the prices which
they are expected to realise in the market.
(Keynes 1937a 217) - Marginal Efficiency of Investment (MEI or MEC
for Capital) analysis akin to view that
uncertainty can be reduced to the same
calculable status as that of certainty itself
via a Benthamite calculus, whereas - uncertainty in investment is that about which
there is no scientific basis on which to form
any calculable probability whatever. We simply do
not know. (Keynes 1937a 213, 214)
23Theres more than one Keynes
- Three aspects to expectations formation under
true uncertainty - Presumption that the present is a much more
serviceable guide to the future than a candid
examination of past experience would show it to
have been hitherto - Belief that the existing state of opinion as
expressed in prices and the character of existing
output is based on a correct summing up of future
prospects - Reliance on mass sentiment we endeavour to fall
back on the judgment of the rest of the world
which is perhaps better informed. (Keynes 1936
214) - Fragile basis for expectations formation thus
affects prices of financial assets
24What is uncertainty?
- Imagine you are very attracted to someone
- This person has accepted invitations from 1 in 5
of the people who have asked him/her out - Does this mean you have a 20 chance of success?
- Of course not
- Each experience of attraction is unique
- What someone has done in the past with other
people is no guide to what he/she will do with
you in the future - His/her response is not risky it is uncertain.
- Ditto to individual investments
- success/failure of past instances give no guide
to present odds
25How to cope with relationship uncertainty?
- We try to find out beforehand
- ask friendseliminate the uncertainty
- We do nothing
- paralysed into inaction
- We ask regardless
- compel ourselves into action
- We follow conventions
- follow the herd of the social conventions of
our society - play the game hope for the best
- So what about investors?
26Theres more than one Keynes
- In the midst of incalculable uncertainty,
investors form fragile expectations about the
future - These are crystallised in the prices they place
upon capital asset - These prices are therefore subject to sudden and
violent change - with equally sudden and violent consequences for
the propensity to invest - The marginal efficiency of capital/investment
is simply ratio of yield from asset to its
current demand price, and therefore there is a
different marginal efficiency of capital for
every different level of asset prices (Keynes
1937a 222)
27Theres more than one Keynes
- In 1969, Minsky states that his own ideas about
uncertainty "seem to be consistent with those of
Keynes" (1969a, 1982 191, footnote 6), citing
Keynes 1937 - Eventually concludes
- capitalism is inherently flawed, being prone to
booms, crises and depressions. This instability,
in my view, is due to characteristics the
financial system must possess if it is to be
consistent with full-blown capitalism. Such a
financial system will be capable of both
generating signals that induce an accelerating
desire to invest and of financing that
accelerating investment. (Minsky 1969b 224) - Combines elements of Marx, Keynes Schumpeter
- Christens his model the Financial Instability
Hypothesis
28Financial Instability Hypothesis
- The natural starting place for analyzing the
relation between debt and income is to take an
economy with a cyclical past that is now doing
well. - The inherited debt reflects the history of the
economy, which includes a period in the not too
distant past in which the economy did not do
well. - Acceptable liability structures are based upon
some margin of safety so that expected cash
flows, even in periods when the economy is not
doing well, will cover contractual debt payments. - As the period over which the economy does well
lengthens, two things become evident in board
rooms. Existing debts are easily validated and
units that were heavily in debt prospered it
paid to lever. (65)
29Financial Instability Hypothesis
- After the event it becomes apparent that the
margins of safety built into debt structures were
too great. - As a result, over a period in which the economy
does well, views about acceptable debt structure
change. In the dealmaking that goes on between
banks, investment bankers, and businessmen, the
acceptable amount of debt to use in financing
various types of activity and positions
increases. - This increase in the weight of debt financing
raises the market price of capital assets and
increases investment. As this continues the
economy is transformed into a boom economy (65) - This transforms a period of tranquil growth into
a period of speculative excess
30Financial Instability Hypothesis
- Stable growth is inconsistent with the manner in
which investment is determined in an economy in
which debt-financed ownership of capital assets
exists, and the extent to which such debt
financing can be carried is market determined. - It follows that the fundamental instability of a
capitalist economy is upward. The tendency to
transform doing well into a speculative
investment boom is the basic instability in a
capitalist economy. (65) - This characteristic of capitalism necessarily
missed by IS-LM/AS-AD analysis because process
fundamentally non-equilibrium in nature
31Financial Instability Hypothesis
- Whether neoclassical or Keynesian, IS-LM/AS-AD
analysis omits time and debt - Difference between Keynesian (1950-1973) and
Neoclassical (1973) economic management
outcomes may reflect deterioration of economy - but neither theory could have seen it coming
- Minsky notes Hicks also rejects IS-LM
- John R. Hicks, "Some Questions of Time in
Economics," in Evolution, Welfare and Time in
Economics Essays in Honor of Nicholas
GeorgescuRoegen (Lexington, Mass. Lexington
Books, 1976), pp. 135-151. In this essay Hicks
finally repudiates the potted equilibrium version
of Keynes embodied in the IS-LM curves he now
views IS-LM as missing the point of Keynes and as
bad economics for an economy in time. (Minsky
1982 70)
32Financial Instability Hypothesis
- But both equilibrium theories missed causal
factors behind deterioration - Evolution of riskier behavior financial
arrangements as long period of tranquility
changed expectations - Stabilityor tranquilityin a world with a
cyclical past and capitalist financial
institutions is destabilizing. - Resulting cyclical/secular increase in debt
levels made economy more fragile, more
susceptible to financial crises - Spelling Minskys model out step by step
33Financial Instability Hypothesis
- Economy in historical time
- Debt-induced recession in recent past
- Firms and banks conservative re debt/equity
ratios, asset valuation - Only conservative projects are funded
- Recovery means conservative projects succeed
- Firms and banks revise risk premiums
- Accepted debt/equity ratio rises
- Assets revalued upwards
34The Euphoric Economy
- Self-fulfilling expectations
- Decline in risk aversion causes increase in
investment - Investment expansion causes economy to grow
faster - Asset prices rise, making speculation on assets
profitable - Increased willingness to lend increases money
supply (endogenous money) - Riskier investments enabled, asset speculation
rises - The emergence of Ponzi (Bondy?) financiers
- Cash flow from investments always less than
debt servicing costs - Profits made by selling assets on a rising market
- Interest-rate insensitive demand for finance
35The Assets Boom and Bust
- Initial profitability of asset speculation
- reduces debt and interest rate sensitivity
- drives up supply of and demand for finance
- market interest rates rise
- But eventually
- rising interest rates make many once conservative
projects speculative - forces non-Ponzi investors to attempt to sell
assets to service debts - entry of new sellers floods asset markets
- rising trend of asset prices falters or reverses
36Crisis and Aftermath
- Ponzi financiers go bankrupt
- can no longer sell assets for a profit
- debt servicing on assets far exceeds cash flows
- Asset prices collapse, drastically increasing
debt/equity ratios - Endogenous expansion of money supply reverses
- Investment evaporates economic growth slows or
reverses - Economy enters a debt-induced recession ...
- High Inflation?
- Debts repaid by rising price level
- Economic growth remains low Stagflation
- Renewal of cycle once debt levels reduced
37Crisis and Aftermath
- Low Inflation?
- Debts cannot be repaid
- Chain of bankruptcy affects even non-speculative
businesses - Economic activity remains suppressed a
Depression - Big Government?
- Anti-cyclical spending and taxation of government
enables debts to be repaid - Renewal of cycle once debt levels reduce
38Minskian Economic History
- Since WWII
- Debt has risen in ratchet-like manner
- Rise during boom
- Peak then fall during slump
- Cycle renews with higher initial debt level
- Government spending rescued system in each slump
- Massive inflation in asset prices as by-product
- Monetarist/Neoclassical policy has
- reduced counter-vailing impact of government
spending - driven down inflation rate to near-deflation
levels - Debt levels now highest in history, inflation
near zero
39Minskian Economic History of Australia
- Data from recent (2004) PhD thesis
- Luke Reedman, "As assessment of the Development
of Financial Fragility in the Australian economy - Rise in debt to GDP from 50 to 135 1960-2000
40Minskian Economic History of Australia
- Interest payments peaked in 1989/90
- Corporate indebtedness decreased since 1990
- BUT Household debt levels rising
41Minskian Economic History of Australia
- BUT Corporate indebtedness decreased since 1990
- BUT overall fragility higher given debt
repayments
42Minskian Economic History of Australia
- AND situation of Sydney households worst in
history
- Debt financial fragility has risen as Minsky
predicted
43Minskian Economic History of Australia
- Household corporate sector now more susceptible
to financial crisis than ever before
Note key acceleration point of mid-1970's
44Minskian Economic History of Australia
- Cyclical ratcheting up of gap between
expenditure and debt over last 40 years - Household corporate sector now net borrowers
- A positive gap means that capital expenditures
exceed available internal funds. (153)
45Modelling Financial Instability
- Minskys verbal model appears confirmed by data
- But (for better or worse!) only mathematical
models cut it with economists - Vigorous methodological debates about role of
mathematics in economics - Considered in History of Economic Thought
- Whatever outcome of debate, reality is that
mathematical models are key part of rhetoric of
economics - If you cant say it with maths, economists
wont listen - Can this be modelled mathematically?
- Yes but not with equilibrium tools
- Need something like what Minsky tried
mathematical models that incorporate time
46Modelling Financial Instability
- Mathematical models that incorporate time are
- Differential equations
- Difference equations
- Not taught at undergraduate level in most
universities (including UWS) - Sometimes taught at advanced (Masters/PhD) level
- But frequently at inadequate level
- Modern sciences (biology, physics, maths itself)
show differential equations only able to model
real-world processes when they are - Nonlinear
- Involve three or more variables (third order)
- Most economics courses dont go beyond linear
second order equations
47Modelling Financial Instability
- Several attempts to model Minsky in literature
- See references in final slide
- My model based on Goodwins trade cycle model
(next slide) - Key component of dynamic model is rate of change
of x with respect to time - Mathematically shown as dx/dt
- Similar to calculus you have done in Maths 1.3
etc. BUT - One key difference calculus considers equations
of form
- Rate of change of dependent variable a function
of value of independent variable
- Differential equations rate of change of
dependent variable a function of its own value
48Modelling Financial Instability
- Maths gets quite complicated (overview only
here!) but - Dividing by dependent variable puts equation in
percentage change form
- Percentage rate of change
- rate of change thinking therefore essentially
dynamic - Often complicated models easily expressed in
percentage rate of change terms - Applying this to model a cyclical economy
- The natural starting place for analyzing the
relation between debt and income is to take an
economy with a cyclical past that is now doing
well (Minsky 1982 65)
49Modelling Financial Instability
- First stage Goodwins model (of Marxs cyclical
growth theory) - Causal chain
- Capital (K) determines Output (Y)
- Output determines employment (L)
- Employment determines wages (w)
- Wages (w?L) determine profit (P)
- Profit determines investment (I)
- Investment I determines capital K
- chain is closed
accelerator
Chain is closed
productivity
Rate of change terms vital
Phillips curve
Investment function
Depreciation
50Modelling Financial Instability
- Goodwins model reduces to two rate of change
expressions
- rate of change of employment rate equals
rate of economic growth minus rate of
population growth and technical change
- Employment will rise if the rate of economic
growth exceeds the sum of population growth
technical change
- rate of change of wages share of GDP equals
increase in wages (Phillips curve) minus rate
of technical change
- Workers share of output will rise if the
increase in wages exceeds the rate of technical
change
51Modelling Financial Instability
- Click on graph to run it dynamically
- Adding debt relatively easy
52Modelling Financial Instability
- Debt finances investment
- Debt will grow if desired investment exceeds
retained earnings - Interest is paid on outstanding debt
where
- Adds 3rd rate of change expression
- The debt to output ratio will grow if the rate
of interest exceeds the rate of growth and
investment exceeds EBIT
53Modelling Financial Instability
- Generates system which can be stable if starts
near equilibrium
- But which can suffer debt-induced breakdown if
far from equilibrium
54Modelling Financial Instability
- Exactly the same model
- Different initial conditions
- Cyclical pattern of debt to output very similar
to data on US and Australian economies
55Modelling Financial Instability
- Click on graph to run it dynamically
- Model replicates Minskys verbal description of
free market (no government) capitalist economy - What about mixed economy?
56Modelling Financial Instability
- Add in government sector with spending a function
of unemployment rate
- rate of change of government spending is a
function of the rate of employment
- Results in 4th rate of change expression
- The government spending to output ratio will
grow if the rate of growth of government spending
exceeds the rate of economic growth
57Modelling Financial Instability
- Results in model which is cyclical but not
unstable
58Modelling Financial Instability
- How does model compare to reality?
- Real world a mixture of free market mixed
economy models - Model government holds the line on unemployment
- Real-world ones progressively reduced commitment
to employment since WWII - Models investment (etc.) parameters fixed
- Real world (and Minskys) behaviours evolve over
time - more speculation as memory of crisis recedes
- No price dynamics in model
- Real-world inflation can reduce debt burden
- But deflation increases it
- Price dynamics can be added to model
59Modelling Financial Instability
- Minsky prognosis for world/Australian economies
- Debt levels now at historic highs
- Inflation now close to zero (except for oil,
China impact on raw material pricessteel etc.) - Government anti-cyclical spending weakened by 30
years of neoclassical economic policy - Recessions inevitable (economy fundamentally
cyclical) - Next one could be extended by impact of
- Substantial debt levels
- Low or falling prices
- Precursor Japans economic crisis 1990-2005
- Next week A managerial look at finance
- Finale to run Minsky models dynamically, install
Vissim viewer (on WebCT) and run Vissim models
60References
- Minsky Models
- Deleplace, G. Nell, E.J. (eds.), 1996, Money in
Motion The Post Keynesian and Circulation
Approaches, Macmillan, London. - Deleplace, G. Nell, E.J., 1996b Monetary
Circulation and Effective Demand, in Deleplace,
G. Nell, E.J. (1996a). - Desai, M., 1973, Growth Cycles and Inflation in
a Model of the Class Struggle, Journal of
Economic Theory, Vol. 6, 527-545. - Desai, M., 1995, An Endogenous Growth-Cycle with
Vintage Capital Economics of Planning, Vol 28,
Iss 2-3, 87-91. - Jarsulic, M., 1989, Endogenous credit snd
endogenous business cycles, Journal of Post
Keynesian Economics, Vol. 12, 35-48. - Keen, S., 1995. Finance and economic breakdown
modelling Minskys Financial Instability
Hypothesis, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics,
Vol. 17, No. 4, 607-635. - Keen, S., 1996. The chaos of finance, Economies
et Societes, Vol. 30, special issue Monnaie et
Production No. 10, 55-82. - Keen, S., 1997. From stochastics to complexity
in models of economic instability, Nonlinear
Dynamics, Psychology and Life Sciences, Vol. 1,
No. 2, 151-172. - Keen, S., 1999. The nonlinear dynamics of debt
deflation, Complexity International, Volume 6
http//journal-ci.csse.monash.edu.au/ci/vol06/keen
/keen.html. - Keen, S., 2000. The nonlinear economics of debt
deflation, in Barnett, W., Chiarella, C., Keen,
S., Marks, R., Schnabl, H., (eds.), Commerce,
Complexity and Evolution, Cambridge University
Press, 83-110. - Skott, P., 1989, Effective Demand, Class
Struggle and Cyclical Growth, International
Economic Review, Vol. 30 No. 1, 231-247. - Goodwin, R.M., 1950, A non-linear theory of the
cycle, Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol.
32, 316-320. - Goodwin, R.M., 1967, A Growth Cycle, in
Feinstein, C.H. (ed.), Socialism, Capitalism and
Economic Growth, Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 54-58. Reprinted in Goodwin, R.M.,
1982, Essays in Dynamic Economics, MacMillan,
London.