Social and Behavioural Macroeconomics

Despite significant theoretical advances in social and behavioural macroeconomics, little has been done to synthesise the disparate developments in these fields and point the way forward to future research directions and policy implications.  This book reviews, unifies and extends diverse strands of thinking and shows how these theories can be used to improve macroeconomic modelling for policy development in a range of spheres.

The book explores how the most empirically relevant socio-behavioural traits can widen the scope of macroeconomics to fruitfully address new issues and challenges, such as rising inequality, the change in the functional distribution of income (labour and capital shares), and a further understanding of the government spending multiplier. Chapters also address more traditional topics such as macroeconomic policy effectiveness, growth, saving and labour supply. Other, more open-ended themes of the book include whether the concept of individual rationality should be complemented by collective rationality; whether socio-behavioural traits underlie socially inefficient outcomes such as tragedies-of-the-commons, rat races, financial crises and global warming; and whether such traits can provide new foundations for (New) Keynesian macroeconomics.

This book will be essential reading for advanced researchers and students working in macroeconomics and other social sciences, including psychology and politics, as well as those working on the theoretical end of public policy.

Christopher Tsoukis is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at Keele Business School, Keele University. His research foci include social and behavioural theories and models of macroeconomics, as well as on more traditional areas of the discipline such as business cycles, fiscal policy and current accounts.

Frédéric Tournemaine is Professor of Economics at Chulalongkorn University of Thailand. His main interests are in endogenous growth and socio-economics including human capital, economics of population, R&D, sustainable development and industrial organization.

Edward John Driffill is Professor of Economics at Yale-NUS College, National University of Singapore. He was the Director of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) World Economy and Finance Programme from 2004-2010.