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Tom Michl

Professor of Economics

Economics , 230 Persson Hall

p 315 2287526

In my research, I try to understand the behavior of modern capitalist economies by drawing on multiple intellectual traditions, not restricted to the neoclassical orthodoxy that dominates the economics profession. The traditions that I find most helpful include the Classical economists (Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Karl Marx) and the Keynesian economists (John Maynard Keynes, Joan Robinson, Michal Kalecki). In my opinion, it is important to practice methodological pluralism by remaining open to the rich diversity of thought in economics. In my teaching, I try to expose students to multiple perspectives so that they can make up their own minds about how the world works.

Most of my research and teaching interests focus on macroeconomic questions. I co-authored a text, Growth and Distribution, over a decade ago, and have subsequently worked on elaborating some of the models and empirical research that emerged from that effort. This research culminated in my book, Capitalists, Workers, and Fiscal Policy: A Classical Model of Growth and Distribution.

This book focuses on understanding fiscal issues like the national debt or the social security system in the context of the class structure of modern capitalism. To illustrate how pluralism works, the basic model combines the life-cycle theory of saving drawn from neoclassical economics with a two-class structure drawn from Classical and Keynesian economics. All this research is directed at long-run growth over extended periods of time. Since the economic crisis that began in 2007, I have gotten more interested in understanding the nature of neoliberal capitalism, including its financial system, in the context of models that are more focused on the short run.

Degree

BA Oberlin College 1973; MA, PhD New School for Social Research 1983, 1984. Download complete CV

Specialities

Macroeconomics, political economy, labor economics, growth and distribution

Interests

Economic growth and income distribution, productivity and technical change, public debt, minimum wage legislation

Professional Experience

Director, Colgate London Economics Study Group, Spring 2011.

Distinctions

2001 Otto Eckstein Prize from the Eastern Economic Association (for the best paper to appear in the Eastern Economic Journal from 1998-2000).

Board Membership

Editorial Board, Metroeconomica

Member of Editorial Collective for Special Issues on Value Theory, Empirical Work on Marxian Crisis Theory, and David M. Gordon Memorial Issue.

Publications

"A Model of Fiscal and Monetary Policy," in L. Taylor, A. Rezai, and T. Michl, eds. Social Justice and Economics: Critical Economic Theory in the Spirit of Duncan Foley, (Routledge, Forthcoming, 2012)

"Finance as a Class? Review of The Crisis of Neoliberalism by Gerard Dumenil and Dominique Levy, New Left Review, 2011.

"Our Problem is Jobs," and "No End to Inequality," op-eds in the (Albany) Times Union, 2011

“Discounting Nordhaus,” Review of Political Economy, Vol. 22, No. 4, (October 2010), pp. 535-549.

Capitalists, Workers, and Fiscal Policy: A Classical Model of Growth and Distribution, (Harvard University Press, 2009)

"Tinbergen Rules the Taylor Rule," Eastern Economic Journal, Vol. 34, No. 3, (May 2008), pp. 293-309.

(with Duncan K. Foley) "Crossing Hubbert's Peak: Portfolio Effects in a Growth Model with Exhaustible Resources," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Vol. 18, No. 2, (June 2007), pp. 212-230.

“Capitalists, Workers, and Social Security," Metroeconomica, Vol. 58, No. 2 (2007) pp. 244-268.

"Comment on 'Transition to Fully Funded Pension Schemes: A Non-Orthodox Criticism,' by Sergio Cesaratto," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Vol. 30, No. 6, (November 2006), pp. 981-984.

"Capitalists, Workers, and the Burden of Debt," Review of Political Economy, Vol. 18, No. 4, (October, 2006), pp. 449-467.

"Macroeconomic Theory: A Short Course (M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2002)

"Can Rescheduling Explain the New Jersey Minimum Wage Studies?" Eastern Economic Journal, 2000;

Growth and Distribution with Duncan K. Foley (Harvard University Press, 1999)

Articles in Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, The Review of Economics and Statistics, Review of Political Economy, Metroeconomica, Cambridge Journal of Economics, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, The Review of Radical Political Economics, Eastern Economic Journal, Science & Society, Monthly Review, International Reivew of Applied Economics, Dollars and Sense, and The Albany Times Union; contributor to several books