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In Search of Lost Time: The Neoclassical Synthesis

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  • Michel De Vroey
  • Pedro Garcia Duarte
Abstract
Present-day macroeconomics has sometimes been dubbed ‘the new neoclassical synthesis’, suggesting that it constitutes a reincarnation of the neoclassical synthesis of the 1950s. This paper assesses this understanding. To this end, we examine the contents of the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ neoclassical syntheses. We show that the neoclassical synthesis originally had no fixed content, but two meanings gradually became dominant. First, it designates the program of integrating Keynesian and Walrasian theory. Second, it designates the methodological principle that in macroeconomics it is better to have alternative models geared towards different purposes than a hegemonic general-equilibrium model. The paper documents that: (a) the first program was never achieved; (b) Lucas’s criticisms of Keynesian macroeconomics eventually caused the neoclassical synthesis program to vanish from the scene; (c) the rise of DSGE macroeconomics marked the end of the neoclassical synthesis mark II; and (d) contrary to present-day understanding, the link between the old and the new synthesis is at best weak..

Suggested Citation

  • Michel De Vroey & Pedro Garcia Duarte, 2012. "In Search of Lost Time: The Neoclassical Synthesis," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2012_07, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    • Handle: RePEc:spa:wpaper:2012wpecon07
    Note: Published in the "B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics", Jan. 2013, 13(1). http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/bejm.2013.13.issue-1/bejm-2012-0078/bejm-2012-0078.xml
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    neoclassical synthesis; new neoclassical synthesis; Paul Samuelson; Robert Lucas; Robert Solow;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • B30 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - General
    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical

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