- The document discusses classical macroeconomics, including its history and key concepts. It describes classical economists' views that markets naturally achieve full employment and that government intervention is unnecessary or harmful. - Classical economists believed that flexible prices and wages, "Say's law" of markets, and savings-investment equality ensured stable output and employment. They saw unemployment as voluntary or temporary structural issues rather than economy-wide problems. - The document outlines classical views on monetary and fiscal policy, aggregate supply and demand, and criticisms of their approach that emerged with the Great Depression when classical theories could not explain widespread unemployment.

1. ECM-32023
ADVANCED MACRO ECONOMICS
SOUTH EASTERN UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE

2. CLASSICAL MACRO ECONOMICS
What is macro economics?
History of the Classical theory of macroeconomics.
Developers of the classical economics.
Concepts of the classical economists.
Criticism of the classical economists.
Conclusion.

3. What is macro economics?
Macroeconomics is a branch of economics dealing
with the performance, structure,
Behavior and decision-making of the whole economy.
This includes a national, regional or global economy.
With microeconomics, macroeconomics is one of the
two
Most general fields in economics.

4. Classical theory of
economicsA theory of economics especially directed toward macroeconomics,
based on the unrestricted working of markets and the pursuit of
individual self interests.
Classical economics relies on three key assumptions- flexible prices,
say’s law,
and saving investment equality-in the analysis of macroeconomics.
Classical economics can trace its roots to Adam Smith in 1776. in the
wealth of nation
Adam smith presented a comprehensive analysis of economic phenomena
based
on the notions of free markets and actions guided by individual self
interests in a
Laissez fair environment.
Classical economics came of age during after industrialization.

6. Developers of the classical economics
Adam Smith( Scottish philosopher)
Alfred Marshall(British economist)
Arthur Cecil Pigou (British economist)
David Ricardo (British economist)
Harriet Martineau (British author)
John Elliott Cairns (British economist)
Nassau William senior (British economist)
Robert Torrens (British economist and politician)

7. CONCEPT OF CLASSICAL ECONOMISTS
Once upon a time in a land far, far away…….
There were a group of people called the classical economists.
In classical land, they believed,
•Full employment is the norm.
•Laissez-fair “let it be”
•Vertical aggregate supply curve.
•Stable aggregate demand.
•Real output depends upon
I. Say’s law
II. Responsive, flexible, prices and wages.

8. Say’s Law:
According to say’s law, when an economy produces a certain level of real
It also generates the income needed to purchase that level of real GDP.
In other words, the economy is always capable of demanding all of the ou
That its workers and firms choose to produce. Hence, the economy Is alw
Capable of achieving the natural level of real GDP.
David Ricardo:
The market is perfect and self sustaining.
Government intervention can only be a detriment to the economy.
The market automatically adjust to “booms” and busts.

9. Classical economists’ view of these following tit
Macro is aggregated Micro:
Classical economists conceived of the macroeconomic as no more than
aggregated microeconomics. Thus, what we now conceive of as aggregate
supply
was simply the sum of each firm’s production decision. Similarly,
aggregate demand was
the sum of all individual demand curves.Gerard Debreu, in his 1957 book, Theory of Value proved the existence of a g
competitive equilibrium. That is, if all markets are perfectly competitive,
all firms maximize profits, and all individuals maximize utility, there is a set
at which all markets will be in equilibrium.

10. Focus on the Supply Side:
Classical economics focused on the supply side of the economy.
Specifically, Jean Baptiste Say’s Law dominated classical economic thought:
creates its own demand. Say meant that production creates income
that provides enough purchasing power to purchase all the goods being
produced, no more and no less.
The Labor Market:
The classical view of the economy begins with the labor market.
Profit maximizing firms hire labor up to the point where the marginal reven
or the additional revenue gained from one extra unit of labor, equals the wa
(In real terms, the real demand for labor is its marginal productivity.
The real demand equals the real wage, that is,
the nominal wage divided by the price level.)

11. The Product Market:
Equilibrium employment thus served as the source of aggregate supply.
Given the equilibrium level of employment, the aggregate production fun
determines the equilibrium left of output.
Thrift & Enterprise determine the Composition of GDP:
Thrift can be thought of as economic agents’ propensity to save, and is bas
their willingness to defer present for future consumption. Enterprise can b
of as their propensity to invest, which is dependent on the availability of in
opportunities or the rate of return on capital. Thrift and enterprise are fixe
short run; changes in either and have no effect on the level of GDP,
only on its composition.

12. The Classical Dichotomy Segments the Economy into
Real & Financial Sides:
The Classical analysis of the macro-economy led to what is now known a
classical dichotomy. The economy has two sides, real and financial.
The real side includes the real variables in the economy, including outpu
and employment, while the financial side includes all nominal
factors of the economy, such as the aggregate price level and nominal in
The notion of a dichotomy means that nominal factors only influence
financial side of the economy, never the real side. As we noted above,
real variables are determined entirely on the supply side of the
economy: employment is determined in the labor market,
and output is determined by the aggregate production function.

13. Quantity Theory of Money:
The Classical view of aggregate demand was the Quantity Theory of Mon
The Quantity Theory is, based on the equation of exchange: MV = PQ,
where M is the supply of money, V is the velocity of money (the average n
times a dollar is spent in a year), P is the aggregate price level and Q is re
The equation of exchange is an identity, but the Classical reinterpreted it
behavioral relationship as follows: Let M represent money demand (MD).
Then MD=(1/V)PQ or MD=kPQ where k=1/V.
This means that the demand for money, MD is proportional to nominal
GDP (PxQ) or income. An increase in real income (Q) means that people
spend more, so they need to hold more money, which means the deman
money increases. Also, if the price level increases the demand for money
similarly increases, because people must carry more cash to have equiva
purchasing power.

14. Economy-wide Unemployment isn’t likely:
In classical thought, the labor market determines employment.
At the equilibrium wage rate, everyone who wants a job will have one.
Unemployment was believed to be caused by people choosing not to work
for low wages. Unemployment occurring in one sector of the economy
was the result of a change in consumer demand away from that sector’s
products towards another sector’s products. The result should be lower wa
in the former sector and rising wages in the latter. Over time, labor should
migrate from the former to the latter. Unemployment then is a sector prob
and exists when people choose not to work for low wages or when they
choose not to migrate.
Widespread unemployment simply should not occur, according to classical t
If it did, the cause must be “sticky” wages—wages that don’t adjust downw
due to market imperfections such as unions. Labor unions interfere with t
economy’s movement towards full employment because they push up wage
and make workers less willing to relocate for new work.
Over time though, unemployment should disappear.

15. Classical Views on Fiscal Policy:
Classical economists conceived of fiscal policy in much more limited
terms than it is viewed today. The notion of discretionary policy was
not widely accepted, since the only responsible fiscal policy was a
balanced budget. Thus, expansionary fiscal policy, for example increa
government spending without increasing taxes to stimulate the econo
was not generally considered by policy makers.
According to the above sub-title of the economics, classical economists’ vie
visible.

16. Classical economists Keynesian concept
 Wages and prices are
fully flexible in order to
clear markets rapidly.
 Economy operates at full
employment most of the
time.
 Aggregate supply curve
is vertical.
 Minimal government
intervention reflecting
distrust of government
and belief in its
inefficiency.
 Prices and wages
downwardly inflexible.
 Laissez fair is subject to
recession and
widespread
unemployment.
 Horizontal aggregate
supply curve to full
employment.
 Active government policy
is needed to stabilize the
economy.

17. Conclusions
The Classical school was the primary school of thought in economics
until the 1930's and the time of the Great Depression.
The shortcomings of the Classical school became extremely evident
when its practitioners were unable to explain the extraordinary decline
in economic activity and increase in unemployment during the 1930s.
The Classical were mostly criticized for being unable to see the importance
of the short-run changes that were taking place.
Their models which held many variables fixed and focused on the supply
side of the economy could not give a viable answer for what was happening.
This brought about a great deal of criticism from many analysts and cast the
entire economics discipline in a bad light, much like what happened after the
Great Recession of 2007-09.