Touching from a distance: toward a common conception of equilibrium in Post Keynesian economics

Abstract

This paper discusses Victoria Chick’s concepts of provisional equilibrium and long run equilibrium of action. Attention is paid to the relationship between these concepts and other strands of thinking in Post Keynesian theory, as well as the relationship of the two concepts to one another. With respect to the latter, it is argued that a long run equilibrium of action is provisional, while provisional equilibrium outcomes in a Post Keynesian system can and should be thought of as depending on a long run equilibrium of action. As such, Chick’s writings can be regarded as the source of a consistent vision of both short- and long-term equilibrium in Post Keynesian theory, this vision, in turn, being consistent with her preferred open-systems ontology.