The Concept of Uncertainty in Post Keynesian Theory and in Institutional Economics

摘要

John Maynard Keynes and the Post Keynesians demonstrate that, in an uncertain and unknown world, economic agents prefer to retain money rather than make investment decisions. The consequence of this rational preference is the possibility of unemployment resulting from insufficiency of effective demand. Institutionalists believe that the "economic environment" has nothing to do with the notion of "equilibrium," as well as that money is a fundamental institution of the capitalist system because it affects the preferences and actions of economic agents. In both schools of thought, we can observe at least two essential aspects of the dynamic of contemporary economies. These are, first, that the economy is a historical process (which means that uncertainty matters) and, second, that institutions, both political and economic, are indispensable to the task of "modeling" economic events.