Edward J. Amadeo

In Institutions, Inflation and Unemployment, Edward J. Amadeo investigates the relationship between inflation and distributive conflict among social groups in an environment of pervasive uncertainty. Professor Amadeo considers theoretical, institutional and empirical aspects of a problem, chronic and very high inflation, which has been at the heart of the economic crisis in Brazil during the last 15 years. After analysing economic models of wage and price determination in regimes of high inflation, the author examines institutional approaches to the organization of unions and the structure of wage bargains - with emphasis on the centralization of bargains - and concludes with a discussion and empirical assessment of the relation between wage bargaining and inflation in Brazil.Combining a sophisticated theoretical analysis with a rigorous study of Brazil’s recent period of rampant inflation, Professor Amadeo offers both theoretical and applied economists a series of informed and significant insights into the phenomenon of inflation.

This important new book - the first of its kind - provides a detailed analysis and critical appraisal of the neo-Ricardian Keynesians and the post Keynesians. After placing them in the context of modern schools of macroeconomics, it discusses their contributions including the neo-Ricardian synthesis of Sraffa's ideas on the heterogeneity of capital goods and Keynes's ideas on effective demand, and the post Keyensian analysis of the role of historical time, money and uncertainty in Keynes's work. In conclusion, it suggests a synthesis of their views which could be seen as a starting point for an important challenge to mainstream economics.