Robert W. Clower
Encyclopedia
Robert Wayne Clower was an American economist. He is credited with having largely created the field of stock-flow analysis in economics and with seminal works on the microfoundations
of monetary theory
and macroeconomics
.
In seminal papers that advanced strong methodological
positions and set an agenda for subsequent research, Clower formalized and reformulated:
Clower continued postgraduate work as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University. There he studied under John R. Hicks
and received a B.Litt. degree in 1952. On re-examination, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters
degree in 1978.
Subsequent positions as a professor of economics or administrator included:
Other responsibilities included:
Clower was a Fellow of the Econometric Society
. He died in 2011 at Columbia, South Carolina
.
Microfoundations
In economics, the term microfoundations refers to the microeconomic analysis of the behavior of individual agents such as households or firms that underpins a macroeconomic theory....
of monetary theory
Monetary theory
Monetary economics is a branch of economics that historically prefigured and remains integrally linked to macroeconomics. Monetary economics provides a framework for analyzing money in its functions as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. It considers how money, for example...
and macroeconomics
Macroeconomics
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of the whole economy. This includes a national, regional, or global economy...
.
Major contributions
Clower is credited with having largely created the field of stock-flow analysis in economics.In seminal papers that advanced strong methodological
Economic methodology
Economic methodology is the study of methods, especially the scientific method, in relation to economics, including principles underlying economic reasoning...
positions and set an agenda for subsequent research, Clower formalized and reformulated:
- Keynesian theory as disequilibrium analysis in contrast to standard general equilibrium theory, thereby generalizing (or rejecting) Walras' lawWalras' lawWalras’ Law is a principle in general equilibrium theory asserting that when considering any particular market, if all other markets in an economy are in equilibrium, then that specific market must also be in equilibrium. Walras’ Law hinges on the mathematical notion that excess market demands ...
and standard price theory. To this end, he proposed the 'dual-decision hypothesis' in which realized transaction quantities affect adjustments in output at other than full-employmentFull employmentIn macroeconomics, full employment is a condition of the national economy, where all or nearly all persons willing and able to work at the prevailing wages and working conditions are able to do so....
equilibrium but not at full-employment equilibrium. This, he argued, was implicit in Keynes's work to explain how full-employmentFull employmentIn macroeconomics, full employment is a condition of the national economy, where all or nearly all persons willing and able to work at the prevailing wages and working conditions are able to do so....
equilibrium is only a special case. Such quantity constraints introduce nonlinearities that complicate dynamic stability of the economic systemEconomyAn economy consists of the economic system of a country or other area; the labor, capital and land resources; and the manufacturing, trade, distribution, and consumption of goods and services of that area...
as to full-employment equilibrium and require a distinction between notional and effective demandEffective demandIn economics, effective demand in a market is the demand for a product or service which occurs when purchasers are constrained in a different market. It contrasts with notional demand, which is the demand that occurs when purchasers are not constrained in any other market...
. - monetary theoryMonetary theoryMonetary economics is a branch of economics that historically prefigured and remains integrally linked to macroeconomics. Monetary economics provides a framework for analyzing money in its functions as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. It considers how money, for example...
to incorporate explicitly the difference between a moneyMoneyMoney is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
economy and barter economy such that "in sharp contrast with established [microeconomic] theory, money commodities play a peculiar and central role in shaping prevailing forces of excess demand."
Early life and professional positions
Robert Clower grew up in Pullman, Washington, where he was born on February 13, 1926. His father, F.W. Clower, was a professor of economics there at Washington State College. After high-school graduation, he joined the army, serving thirty-one months before returning to the U.S. where he enrolled at Washington State in the summer of 1946. He received a B.A. degree in Economics there in 1948 (highest honors). When his father became ill in 1948, he was tapped to fill in for his father's classes, in which he had been enrolled after intense earlier reading. He was promoted to Associate Professor upon his father's death for completion of the term and demoted to Instructor in the next term. He received an M.A. degree there in 1949.Clower continued postgraduate work as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford University. There he studied under John R. Hicks
John Hicks
Sir John Richard Hicks was a British economist and one of the most important and influential economists of the twentieth century. The most familiar of his many contributions in the field of economics were his statement of consumer demand theory in microeconomics, and the IS/LM model , which...
and received a B.Litt. degree in 1952. On re-examination, he was awarded a Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
degree in 1978.
Subsequent positions as a professor of economics or administrator included:
- Washington State College (later, University), 1952–1957
- University of Punjab, Lahore, West Pakistan, 1954–1956
- Northwestern University, 1958–1971, also department Chairman, 1958–65
- Director, Economic Survey of Liberia, 1961–1962
- Makerere College, Kampala, Uganda, 1965, Summer
- University of Essex 1965-1966, 1968–1969, the latter also Dean, School of Social Studies
- UCLA, 1971–1986, Professor Emeritus, 1987-2011
- Washington State University, 1978–1980, Adjunct Professor
- University of South Carolina, 1986–2001; Distinguished Professor Emeritus, 2001-.
Other responsibilities included:
- Managing Editor, Economic Inquiry, 1973–1979
- Editor, American Economic Review, 1981-85
- President, Western Economic Association, 1987.
- President, Southern Economic Association, 1992-93.
Clower was a Fellow of the Econometric Society
Econometric Society
The Econometric Society is an international society for the advancement of economic theory in its relation with statistics and mathematics. It was founded on December 29, 1930 at the Stalton Hotel in Cleveland, Ohio....
. He died in 2011 at Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina
Columbia is the state capital and largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The population was 129,272 according to the 2010 census. Columbia is the county seat of Richland County, but a portion of the city extends into neighboring Lexington County. The city is the center of a metropolitan...
.
Selected publications of Robert W. Clower
- 1954a. "An Investigation into the Dynamics of Investment," American Economic Review. 44(l), pp. 64-81.
- 1954b. "Price Determination in a Stock-Flow Economy" with D. W. Bushaw, Econometrica 22(3), pp. 328-343.
- 1957. Introduction to Mathematical Economics, with D.W. Bushaw. Chapter ("Section") and arrow-searchable page links.
- 1960. "On the Invariance of Demand for Cash and Other Assets," with M.L. Burstein, Review of Economic Studies, 28(1), pp. 32-36.
- 1964. "Monetary History and Positive Economics," Journal of Economic History, 24(3), pp. 364-380
- 1965. "The Keynesian Counter-Revolution: A Theoretical Appraisal," in F.H. HahnFrank HahnFrank Horace Hahn is a British economist whose work has focused on general equilibrium theory, monetary theory, Keynesian economics and monetarism...
and F.P.R. Brechling, ed., The Theory of Interest Rates. Macmillan. Reprinted in Clower, 1987, pp. 34-58. - 1966. Growth without Development: An Economic Survey of Liberia, with George Dalton, Mitchell Harwitz, and Alan A. WaltersAlan WaltersProfessor Sir Alan Arthur Walters was a British economist, best known as the former Chief Economic Adviser to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1989 after his return from the USA.- Early life :...
. Review extracts 1 and 2. - 1967. "A Reconsideration of the Microfoundations of Monetary Theory," Western Economic Journal, 6(1), pp. 1-8 (press +).
- 1968. "Stock-flow analysis," International Encyclopedia of the Social SciencesInternational Encyclopedia of the Social SciencesThe International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences was first published in 1968. Edited by David L. Sills and Robert K. Merton.-See also:*List of encyclopedias by branch of knowledge*International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences...
, v. 12. - 1969a. Editor, Monetary Theory: Selected Readings, Hammondsworth, Penguin.
- 1969b. "What Traditional Monetary Theory Really Wasn't," Canadian Journal of Economics. 2(2), pp. 299-302.
- 1973. "Say's Principle: What It Means and Doesn't Mean," with A. Leijonhufvud, Intermountain Economic Review.
- 1975a. "Reflections on the Keynesian Perplex," Journal of Economics, 35(1), pp. 1-25.
- 1975b. "The Coordination of Economic Activities: A Keynesian Perspective," with Axel LeijonhufvudAxel LeijonhufvudAxel Leijonhufvud is a Swedish economist, currently professor emeritus at the University of California Los Angeles and professor at the University of Trento, Italy....
, 1975, American Economic Review. 65(2), pp. 182-188 (press +). - 1977. "The Anatomy of Monetary Theory," American Economic Review, 67(1), pp. 206-212. WP.
- 1978. "The Transactions Theory of the Demand for Money: A Reconsideration", with Peter W. HowittPeter Howitt (economist)Peter Wilkinson Howitt is a Canadian economist. He is the Lyn Crost Professor of Social Sciences at Brown University. Howitt is a Fellow of the Econometric Society since 1994 and a Fellow of Royal Society of Canada since 1992...
, 86(3), pp. 449-466 (press +). - 1987. Money and Markets, D.A. Walker, ed. Cambridge. Description and chapter-preview links. Review extract of David LaidlerDavid LaidlerDavid Ernest William Laidler has been one of the foremost scholars of monetarism. He published major economics journal articles on the topic in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
. - 1988. "The Ideas of Economists," in A. Klamer, D.N. McCloskey, and R.M. Solow, ed., The Consequences of Economic Rhetoric, Cambridge. pp. 85-98.
- 1989. "How Economists Think," Business and Economic Review, 36(1), pp. 9–17. Reprinted in 1995c.
- 1994. "Economics as an Inductive Science," Southern Economic Journal, 60(4), pp. 805-814 (press +). Presidential address, SEASouthern Economic AssociationChief Honourable Akeem Musa Maluda was appointed Executive Chairperson of the Nigerian Anti-crime force unit in September 2004. he succeeded Rashida Abdulahi in this post.-Background:...
. - 1995a. "Axiomatics in Economics," Southern Economic Journal, 62(2), pp. 307-319(press +).
- 1995b. "On the Origin of Monetary Exchange," Economic Inquiry, 33(4), pp. 525–36. Abstract and reprint.
- 1995c. Economic Doctrine and Method: Selected Papers of R.W. Clower, Edward Elgar Publishing. Description.
- 1996. "Taking Markets Seriously: Groundwork for a Post-Walrasian Macroeconomics", with P.W. Howitt, in David Colander, ed., Beyond Microfoundations, pp. 21-37.
- 1999. "Robert W. Clower," in Brian Snowdon and Howard R. Vane, Conversations with Leading Economists: Interpreting Modern Macroeconomics, ch. 6, pp. 177-91.
- 2000. "The Emergence of Economic Organization," with Peter HowittPeter Howitt (economist)Peter Wilkinson Howitt is a Canadian economist. He is the Lyn Crost Professor of Social Sciences at Brown University. Howitt is a Fellow of the Econometric Society since 1994 and a Fellow of Royal Society of Canada since 1992...
, Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 41(1), pp. 55-84 (select page and press +).
External links
- Robert Clower from the New School History of Economic Thought Website.