A passionate craftsman and his craft: reflections on Wynne Godley’s work and legacy

Abstract

The text has three main goals. The first is to share some of the author’s personal recollections on (briefly) working as Wynne Godley’s research assistant. The second is to reflect on the origins of the term/brand “stock-flow consistent” (or SFC, for insiders), which is at once successful (given the number of people who seem to like using it) and controversial. The third and most important is to reflect on Wynne Godley’s approach to macroeconomics—however, one wants to call it—and legacy.

Keywords:

• Keynesian macroeconomics
• stock-flow consistent macro models
• Wynne Godley

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Antonio Macedo e Silva for various useful comments and suggestions. All remaining errors are the author’s only.

Notes

1 Dos Santos (2003).

2 For example, Dos Santos (2006) and Macedo e Silva and Dos Santos (2011).

3 For example, Dos Santos (2005), Dos Santos and Zezza (2008), and Mandarino, Dos Santos and Macedo e Silva (2020).

4 See, on this topic, Nikiforos and Zezza (2017) and Carnevali et al. (2019).

5 See, for instance, Davis (1987a), Davis (1987b), and Patterson and Stephenson (1988). Godley and Lavoie (2007, 24, footnote 2) explicitly acknowledge this literature.

6 That would be Franklin Serrano, who by then had just finished his Ph.D. dissertation on supermultiplier models. Mandarino, Dos Santos, and Macedo e Silva (2020) is a stock-flow consistent model based on Serrano’s work.

7 The names of Kalecki, Minsky, Davidson, and Sraffa come to mind.

8 See Whelan (2000) for details.

9 See, for example, Papadimitriou et al. (2004).

10 See Godley et al. (2005).

11 Following, for example, Taylor (1991) and draft versions of Taylor (2004).

12 In the sense of Sen (1963), as interpreted, for example, by Taylor (1991).

13 As in Copeland (1952).

14 As in Bond et al. (2007).

15 Robinson (1980, 80).

16 As, for example, Turnovsky (1977).

17 Godley (1996, 3, footnote 3) makes this point clear: “My debt to Tobin is enormous; I could not possibly have made this model without his work (…).”

18 Way beyond, one must say, the exploratory efforts of, say, Blinder and Solow (1973) or Tobin and Buiter (1980).