Keynesian theorising during hard times: stock-flow consistent models as an unexplored ‘frontier’ of Keynesian macroeconomics

Abstract

This paper argues that the stock-flow consistent approach to macroeconomic modelling (SFCA) is a natural outcome of the path taken by Keynesian macroeconomic thought in the 1960s and 1970s, a theoretical ‘frontier’ that remained largely unexplored with the end of Keynesian academic hegemony. It does so in two steps. First, it phrases the representative views of Davidson, Godley, Minsky and Tobin as different ‘closures’ of the same (SFC) accounting framework, calling attention to their similarities and logical implications. Second, it discusses unresolved issues within this approach and how it differs from ‘modern’ theorising.