期刊名称：Discussion Paper / Département des Sciences Économiques de l'Université Catholique de Louvain
印刷版ISSN：1379-244X
出版年度：2009
卷号：1
出版社：Université catholique de Louvain
摘要：The aim of the present paper is to assess the new classical/real business cycle revolution,
which dethroned Keynesian macroeconomics. In its first part, I critically discuss the
microfoundations requirement that constitutes a cornerstone of the new approach and suggest
an alternative, softer, formulation of it. The conclusion of this discussion is that the new
classical/real business cycle revolution marked a transition from a soft to a demanding
understanding of the microfoundations requirement. In the second part of the paper, I present
additional salient traits of the new classical and the real business cycle stages of the
revolution. While each of these stages brought a specific contribution to the revolution, I
emphasize the decisive role played by Kydland and Prescott in re-orienting the type of work
in which macroeconomists were engaged. Finally, in part three, I ponder upon the causes of
this revolution. After presenting and assessing Prescott’s and Lucas’s accounts of the factors
which gave rise to the new approach, I venture into muddier waters by raising the question of
whether a political agenda underpinned the NC/RBC revolution.
