It is helpful to recall the crises our planet presently undergoes, with its affecting
economy and social structure, is not the first of its kind. Its overcoming shall surely request
different actions of those developed right after World War I and Russian Revolution, although
one would not be inexpedient to search analogies between “that” Global Crises and
“this” one.

JEL Classification: N10; P51.

Inspired by Polanyi’s and Von Hayek’s ideas, this paper traces the dynamics of
the modern state and its role on the economic sphere. The concept of a mixed economy is
used to guide the discussion.

JEL Classification: B20; B25; P51.

The debt crisis that swapped Latin America received keen attention from economists
of the most diverse schools. They are expected to reaffirm their differences but also
show some points of convergence. This paper aims to delineates these points by giving an
historical retrospect of both debt itself and the Latin American crisis.

JEL Classification: B21; B22; H63.

In this paper the author discusses the dynamics of the international monetary
regimes. In opposition to mainstream economics, these regimes are seen as irreversible historical
institutions characterized by a structural instability. They are defined by the degree of
exchange rate rigidity, by the mobility of capitals, and by weight of internal objectives in the
preference function of governments. Their dynamics is based on an irreversible sequence defined
by the increasing degradation of macroeconomic adjustments, leading to the accumulation
of tensions and to a structural instability, as the world economy changes, and finally
to questioning the founding principles of the international monetary regime.

JEL Classification: E58; E42; F33; F36.

How to account for the wide and persistent differentials in per capita productivity in the world economy? From a Marshallian perspective, these differences are related to microeco-nomic factors (e.g. organization) and in particular to per capita investment in human beings as agents of production. Marshall believed that the relative importance of mental vis-à-vis manual labour tended to increase through time; and he held the view that human capital — i.e. the physical, moral and cognitive attributes of workers, professionals and business men — is one of the most important of all inputs in the production function and one of the key elements in the process of organic growth. The aim of this paper is to present Marshall’s theo-retical and normative thinking on the economic role of education and to bring out his pionee-ring contribution to the modern theory of human capital.

JEL Classification: B13; B31; I25.

This article focuses on the strategic importance of cheap food policies and imputes
to that sort of state intervention the low level of current benefits in capitalist developed
agricultures. As a consequence, corporate farming has been inhibited and family fanning has
found favourable conditions to develop.

JEL Classification: Q11; Q18; O13.

This paper traces the macroeconomic roots of the current agricultural crisis. It
shows that the increase in inflationary instability after 1986, and the policies adopted by the
Government, since then, to fight hyperinflation, caused the terms of trade of agriculture to
be- come much more unstable, at the same time that the Government pulled back the support
they had been providing to agriculture; these adverse conditions ultimately caused the
reduction of activity levels in agriculture in 1989 and 1990. The paper concludes by pointing
out the implications for the current stabilization strategy.

JEL Classification: Q18; Q11.

This paper examines loanable fund models with a stabilized interest rate, in which the banking system bridges the gap between the flow of demand and the provision of funds. A typical Mickselian model is developed to emphasize the importance of credit and inflation (deflation) in closing the gap between savings and investment. Substituting the nominal interest rate for the real – an appropriate modification in a model whose inflation is relevant – and using the Robertsonian definition of income, we realize that, depending on the reaction of ‘lacking’ and investment to inflation, there is the possibility of the system become unstable. By introducing unemployment into the system, we realize that investment is more sensitive than the lack of inflation, the greater the degree of wage flexibility, the greater the level of unemployment balance, in the face of the demand shock, and the greater the chances of macroeconomic instability. Finally, we demonstrate that if we replace the Robertsonian definition of income with Keynesian, investment becomes more sensitive to inflation, making wage rigidity necessarily a good deal.

JEL Classification: E12; E24.

This paper focuses on the thesis of pluralism, proposed by Caldwell as an adequate
methodology for Economics. It compares pluralism and the position advocated by Neville
Keynes 100 years ago, when Economics was passing through a similarly difficult period
of its history, characterized by a conflict between antagonistic lines of thought.

JEL Classification: B41; B20.

The federal budget of the United States displayed only 8 surpluses in the whole
post-World War II period, the last of which was in 1969. Several theories have been developed
in an attempt to explain the persistency of the Federal deficits. Due to the Keynesian/
stagnationist views predominant among leftist theorists, emphasis has been put on the
analysis of the expenditure side of government finances and its role of supporting aggregate
demand. Little if any attention at all was paid to the revenue side, particularly to the impact
of diminishing corporate profitability on government tax revenues. This article estimates the
tax losses that have resulted from the sharp decrease in profitability in the last 45 years. It
concludes by pointing out some wider economic consequences of large deficits, such as the
foreign debt of the United States which is the largest in the world, and the present regressive
tendencies of the American tax system.

JEL Classification: H25; H62.