Ethical Implications of Time in Economic Analysis

Abstract

Those economists who emphasise the short‐run analysis and its effects tend to value distributive equity more than productive efficiency, full employment more than price stability, fiscal policy more than monetary policy and collective necessity more than individual freedom. Those stressing the long‐run tend to believe in the opposite way. Any emphasis on one particular time frame, however, represents at best a partial and biased analysis of the whole economic reality and at worst a distortion of it. It would be necessary, therefore, in economic theory and policy, for both the short‐run and the long‐run effects, to be monitored with equal interest and intensity.

Citation

Sun, L. (1990), "Ethical Implications of Time in Economic Analysis", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 17 No. 5, pp. 54-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/03068299010140557