Journal of Economic and Social Thought

Classicals versus Keynesians: A comprehensive table to teach 50 distinctions between two major schools of economic thought

Seyyad Z.N. MOSTAKVIYAN — 2025-03-10

Macroeconomics essentially discusses macroeconomic phenomena from the perspectives of various schools of economic thought, each of which takes different views on how macroeconomic agents make decisions and how the corresponding markets operate. Therefore, developing a clear, comprehensive understanding of how and in what ways these schools of economic thought differ is a key and a prerequisite for economics students to prosper academically and professionally in the discipline. This becomes even more crucial as economics students pursue their studies toward higher levels of education and graduate school, during which students are expected to attain higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy, including analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and creation. Teaching the distinctions and similarities of the two major schools of economic thought has never been an easy task to undertake in the classroom. Although the reason for such a hardship can be multi-fold, one reason has undoubtedly been students’ lack of a holistic view on how the two mainstream economic schools of thought differ. There is strong evidence that students make smoother transition to higher levels of education after building up such groundwork, on which they can build further later on (e.g. Didia and Hasnat, 1998; Marcal and Roberts, 2001; Islam, et al., 2008; Green, et al., 2009; White, 2016). The paper starts with a visual spectrum of various schools of economic thought, and then narrows down the scope to the classical and Keynesian schools, i.e. the backbone of modern macroeconomics. Afterwards, a holistic table contrasts the two schools in terms of 50 aspects. Not only does this table help economics students enhance their comprehension, retention, and critical-thinking capability, it also benefits macroeconomic instructors to gain a holistic view and deliver such a view more easily in their classrooms. The pedagogical aspects of this approach are discussed throughout the paper with reference to the economics education literature.

Keywords. Classicals; Keynesians; Economic schools of thought; Teaching of economics; Macroeconomics, and pedagogy.

JEL. A10; A22; A23; B10; E10.

Energy and emissions on the African Continent: Can and will the COP21 treaty be implemented?

Jan-Erik LANE — 2025-03-10

African nations share a common situation in that they pollute little in terms of CO2s globally speaking, but at the same time global warming may have terrible consequences for the continent, set to face a sharp population increase. They have now access to few energy resources, which is conducive to their poverty. New renewables belong to the future (solar, wind, geo-thermal), whereas old renewables – wood coal – are a thing of the past. The coal or oil and gas dependent giants must start energy transformation, as must the many countries relying upon traditional biomass. The use of wood coal is simply too large for the survival of the African forest. Under the COP21, African countries have right to financial assistance, especially for more electricity to connect its rural and also many urban people to heating, air-conditioning and the electronic high ways. Without the COP21 promises, decarbonisation will be impossible in Africa, and thus its large need for more energy will lead to more CO2:s.

Keywords. COP21 Agreement, African energy diversity, new and old renewables, coal or oil and gas dependency, Super Fund.

JEL. A10; A22; A23; B10; E10.

The currency boards of Trinidad (1906-1951) and Barbados (1938-1951)

Sidharth SAH SAH — 2025-03-10

We provide the first spreadsheet data series and legislative history of note issue by the Commissioners of Currency, in Trinidad, and the Board of Commissioners of Currency, in Barbados. The paper assesses how orthodox the operations of these two currency boards were, analyzing both the legislation and statistics from their balance sheets. The two boards’ operations are compared in their structure and level of orthodoxy. There is also some limited discussion of the effects of the boards on the colonies’ economies. The paper makes the various balance sheet data available in machine-readable form for the first time, in a companion spreadsheet workbook.

Keywords. Trinidad and Tobago; Barbados; Currency board.

JEL. A10; E59; N16.

From The Editor

EconSciences Editorial — 2025-03-10

From The Editor

Front Matter

EconSciences Library — 2025-03-10

Front Matter