Work

An Agenda Without a Plan: Robert E Lucas's Trajectory Through the Public Debate

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: This article explores Robert E. Lucas’s policy agenda and his engagement with the public debate between the 1970s and early 1980s. It investigates how he interacted with the public debate by envisioning key principles of his macroeconomic theory and methodology, and how he promoted his policy agenda. An exploration of Lucas’s personal and professional archives sheds light on his participation in policy debates after the publication of his works, illustrating how Lucas built a discreet and cautious way of engaging with the public. Lucas did not propose a detailed program to implement his policy agenda, nor was he actively promoting his policy agenda. The article suggests that Lucas’s originality compared to his contemporaries was his belief on the ability of macroeconomics to scientifically devise binding policy rules that could be integrated in an economic constitution.

Source: OEconomia

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3248550

Authors: Aurélien Goutsmedt, Danielle Guizzo, Francesco Sergi

Institutions: Centre d'Économie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, University of the West of England, Université Paris-Est Créteil, Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire d'étude du Politique Hannah Arendt

Language: English

Topic: Economic Theory and Policy

Subfield: General Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W3023876110

FWCI: 3.291

Cites: 69

Cited by: 11

Related to: 10