Choice of Exogenous Variables, Stock Market Dynamics, Financial Sector: Three Essays on Macroeconomic Theory

The choice of exogenous variables is a fundamental element for the logical structure of economic models, leading to different positive and normative implications about growth, distribution and economic policies. In this dissertation a comparative approach is used both to study different models from a theoretical point of view and to analyze the link between the financial and the real sector of the economy. In the first chapter we present a comparison between the neoclassical model and the alternative approach, drawn from the classical and post-keynesian literature, within a common mathematical framework based on the Solow growth model. Several variations in the canonical models are considered. We shall show in a convenient analytical framework how the fundamental differences between the two paradigms ultimately lie in the choice of the exogenous variables: factors endowments in the neoclassical approach or effective demand and, in some cases, income distribution in the alternative approach. In the second chapter, we adopt a comparative approach to interpret stock market dynamics, pursuing two objectives. First, we shall show how the prevailing interpretation of Shiller tests on stock price volatility can all be traced back to the neoclassical model, which makes them exposed to several criticisms. Second, we shall present an alternative macroeconomic model drawn from Sraffian and Keynesian literature which suggests a different interpretation of the empirical evidence on stock market volatility. In the third chapter we propose an integration between the classical-Keynesian model and the monetary circuit framework, evaluating its consistency and its policy implications. In particular, we shall verify whether the Keynesian multiplier can be consistently introduced in the monetary circuit framework, how monetary authorities can affect economic dynamics, how monetary circuits are intertemporally linked to each other and how the problem of interest repayments can be solved.