New-, Neo-Paleo- and Post-Keynesianism: Is a New Macroeconomic Paradigm Possible?

This paper emphasizes two major reasons why in the present context a paradigm shift in macroeconomics is unlikely to materialize, in contrast with what happened in the 1930s. First of all, the standard paradigm -- despite its predictive and explanatory failures -- appears to be an internally consistent research programme, built around a unifying framework like the Arrow-Debreu model. Secondly, various types of ‘Keynesian’ critics of the standard paradigm, while raising relevant issues, such as the role of animal spirits in the analysis, seem to miss the target of building a new paradigm precisely because they fail to rely upon a truly alternative unifying framework.