Skott, Peter

Job Title

Professor, Department of Economics

Last Name

Skott

First Name

Peter

Discipline

Economics

Expertise

Macroeconomics; income distribution

Show all metadata

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 37

Sources of inflation and the effects of balanced budgets and inflation targeting in developing economies
(2020) Martins, Guilherme Klein; Skott, Peter
This paper presents a model of inflation in developing economies and uses it to evaluate macroeconomic policy in those countries. We see cross-sectoral interactions between demand and supply side forces as central and show that the standard macroeconomic policy recommendations of inflation targeting and balanced budgets (i) increase volatility by amplifying external shocks and (ii) can lead to premature deindustrialization. The analysis applies to economies with marked underemployment, a central feature of developing and emerging countries. The recent Brazilian experience is used to illustrate the argument.
Power, Luck and Ideology in a Model of Executive Pay
(2013-02) Skott, Peter; Guy, Frederick
The microprocessor and related technologies have transformed corporate and industry structure; applied in a neo‐liberal environment, the technologies have had profound effects on the relative power of different groups. Skott and Guy (2007) and Guy and Skott (2008) formalized one aspect of this process of power‐biased technical change: firms' increased ability to monitor low‐paid employees and the resulting changes in inequality and employment at the low end of the income distribution. This paper addresses power biases and income inequality at the high end. Increasing firm‐level financial volatility has intensified the agency problem and increased the power of corporate executives. These effects, which have been compounded by changes in ideology and pay norms, yielded an explosion in executive pay.
Heterodox macro after the crisis
(2011-10) Skott, Peter
Macroeconomics is in crisis and this creates openings for alternative perspectives. The dominant heterodox traditions, however, have shortcomings that need to be addressed, both to improve our understanding of the real world and to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the irrelevance of most mainstream macro. This paper discusses three examples of areas that need attention: (i) investment functions (where popular specifications lack behavioral and empirical support), (ii) income distribution (where key developments have received little attention) and(iii) the relation between income inequality and financial markets (where extensions of existing models may help explain financial instability)
Fiscal and Monetary Policy Rules In an Unstable Economy
(2015) Ryoo, Soon; Skott, Peter
This paper examines the implications of different monetary and fiscal policy rules in an economy characterized by Harrodian instability. We show that (i) a monetary rule along Taylor lines can be stabilizing for low debt ratios but becomes de-stabilizing if the debt ratio exceeds a certain threshold, (ii) a `Keynesian' fiscal policy rule can stabilize the economy at full employment, (iii) a fiscal `austerity' rule that links fiscal parameters to deviations from a target debt ratio fails to adjust the `warranted' to the `natural' growth rate and destabilizes the warranted path, (iv) instability may arise from a combination of fiscal and monetary policy rules which separately would stabilize the system, and (v) austerity rules can in some circumstances enhance the stabilizing effects of monetary policy.
Economic growth in dual and mature economies: revisiting the Pasinetti and neo-Pasinetti theorems
(2022) Skott, Peter
This paper (i) examines the role of income distribution in the determination of the average saving rate and the growth process in dual and mature economies, and (ii) revisits the Pasinetti and neo-Pasinetti theo- rems. The profit share may influence saving because of differences in the saving rates across households (the Pasinetti theorem) or because firms retain part of their earnings (the neo-Pasinetti theorem). The two mechanisms are not mutually exclusive, and the alignment between warranted and natural growth rates in mature economies can happen through feed- back e¤ects from employment to the distribution of income.
An empirical evaluation of three post Keynesian models
(2010-09) Skott, Peter; Zipperer, Ben
Structuralist and post Keynesian models differ in their assumptions about firms’ investment behavior and pricing/output decisions. This paper compares three benchmark models: Kaleckian, Robinsonian and Kaldorian. We analyze the implications of these models for the steady growth path and the cyclical properties of the economy, and evaluate the consistency of the theoretical predictions with empirical evidence for the US. Our regression results and the stylized cyclical pattern of key variables are consistent with the Kaldorian model. The Kaleckian investment function and the Robinsonian pricing behavior find no support in the data.
Challenges for Post-Keynesian Macroeconomics
(2018) Skott, Peter
Post-Keynesian macroeconomics faces several challenges. The labor market and the supply side, first, have not been getting the attention that they deserve in post-Keynesian growth theory. The failings of the Lucas-type microeconomic foundations, second, must not lead to a neglect of microeconomic behavior. Convincing macroeconomic theories must recognize and address the connections between macroeconomic relations and the microeconomic behavior whose aggregate manifestation the relations represent. Microeconomic behavior, third, takes place within an institutional structure that shapes economic behavior and economic outcomes. Macroeconomic theory must be both behavioral and structuralist.
Pluralism, the Lucas critique, and the integration of macro and micro
(2012-02) Skott, Peter
Mainstream macroeconomics has pursued .micro founded.models based on the explicit optimization by representative agents. The result has been a long and wasteful detour. But elements of the Lucas critique are relevant, also for heterodox economists. Challenging common heterodox views on microeconomics and formalization, this paper argues that (i) economic models should not be based purely on empirically observed regularities,(ii) heterodox economists must be able to tell an integrated story about goal-oriented micro behavior in a specific macro environment, and (iii)relatively simple analytical models have an essential role to play.
Inflation in Developing Economies
(2021) Skott, Peter
Phillips curves and natural rates of unemployment provide a poor foundation for analyzing inflation in developing economies. Structuralist alternatives have focused on distributional conflict and cross-sectoral interactions, but if the distributional claims are exogenous, the theory has formal similarities with mainstream analysis, generating a 'natural rate of underemployment'. This paper outlines a modified structuralist model in which historically determined distributional claims eliminate this natural rate of underemployment. Economic development and structural transformation are not blocked by immutable distributional claims, but shocks to relative incomes can produce explosive inflation.
Employment and Distribution Effects of the Minimum Wage
(2010) Slonimczyk, Fabian; Skott, Peter
This paper analyzes the effects of the minimum wage on wage inequality, relative employment and over-education. Using an effciency wage model we show that over-education can be generated endogenously and that an increase in the minimum wage can raise both total and low-skill employment, and produce a fall in inequality. Evidence from the US suggests that these theoretical results are empirically relevant. The over-education rate has been increasing and our regression analysis suggests that the decrease in the minimum wage may have led to a deterioration of the employment and relative wage of low-skill workers.