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(In)stability at the Cowles Commission (1939–1948)

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  • Michaël Assous
  • Vincent Carret

Abstract

Stability analysis touched off extensive discussions at the Cowles Commission between 1939 and 1948. Oskar Lange, later followed by Lawrence Klein and Don Patinkin, among others, advocated for a move from a static analysis aimed at proving the existence of a stationary equilibrium with unemployment towards a dynamic approach exploring stability properties of full employment equilibria. In presence of excess supply of goods and labour with flexible money wages and prices, the message was that macroeconomic pathologies are better regarded as disequilibrium dynamics when full employment equilibrium is unstable – Lange and Klein – or when it is stable – Patinkin. The objective of this paper is to examine this type of modelling and how it provided the basis of a specific political vision shared by most economists of the Cowles Commission in the 1940’s.

Suggested Citation

  • Michaël Assous & Vincent Carret, 2020. "(In)stability at the Cowles Commission (1939–1948)," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 582-605, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:eujhet:v:27:y:2020:i:4:p:582-605
    DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2020.1779775
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    Cited by:

    1. Vincent Carret, 2020. "And yet it rocks! Fluctuations and growth in Ragnar Frisch's rocking horse model," Working Papers halshs-02969773, HAL.
    2. Assous, Michaël & Boianovsky, Mauro & Dávila-Fernández, Marwil J., 2024. "Samuelson's last macroeconomic model: Secular stagnation and endogenous cyclical growth," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 417-426.

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