FMM Working Paper

A Steindlian/neo-Kaleckian perspective: Stagnation policy in the Eurozone and economic policy alternatives

Empirically, the macroeconomic institutions and the macroeconomic policy approach in the Eurozone have failed badly, both in terms of preventing the global financial and economic crisis from becoming a euro crisis and in generating a rapid recovery from the crisis, in particular. In this paper I will argue that the dominating macroeconomic policy regime in the Eurozone can be seen as a version of what Steindl (1979) had called `stagnation policy`. To underline this argument, I will provide a simple Steindlian distribution and growth model in order to identi-fy the main channels through which stagnation policy affects accumulation and productivity growth. This will also provide a set of elements of a Steindlian anti-stagnation policy. Against this theoretical background I will then examine the macroeconomic institutions and the macro-economic policy approach of the Eurozone which has been based on the New Consensus Macroeconomics (NCM) and I will highlight its main deficiencies. This will then provide the grounds for an outline of an alternative macroeconomic policy approach for the specific institu-tional setup of the Eurozone based on a post-Keynesian/Steindlian/neo-Kaleckian approach.