Macroeconomics is fundamental to our understanding of how the world functions today. But too often our understanding is based on orthodox, dogmatic analysis.

IS-LM is perhaps the prime example of `cognitive dissonance' in economics, and is problematic to many economists. On the one hand, the IS-LM model is still taught by many academic economists or they use it to derive the AD-AS approach. On the other hand, the same economists realize the limitations of the basic IS-LM model and would not now use it for policy analysis, as they did in the past. The distinction between pedagogical and analytical efficacy is made by all the authors in this volume regarding the IS-LM model.

This volume is concerned with the different schools within the discipline of economics (theoretical pluralism) and the relationship of economics to other disciplines, such as sociology, political science and philosophy (interdisciplinarity).

Post-Keynesian and heterodox economics challenge the mainstream economics theories that dominate the teaching at universities and government economic policies. And it was these latter theories that helped to cause the great depression the United States and the rest of the world is in.

This book sets out to encourage a debate about the role that economic theory and philosophy of economics can play. A good part of economics consists of theoretical developments which describe completely imaginary worlds and have no connections to actual market economies

Mainstream economics almost completely ignores the role power plays in determining economic outcomes, which means it can only provide partial explanations of the distribution of wealth and income, and of the problems associated with inequality and poverty.

The new edition of this classroom classic retains the organizing theme of the original text, presenting the development of thought within the context of economic history.