Investment, National Income and Economic Policy

This carefully edited selection of Robert Eisner’s essays ties together his authoritative contributions to economic analysis and macroeconomic policy issues, particularly business, investment and tax policy. He offers a trenchant analysis of the fundamental issues of employment, investment and economic welfare in an advanced market economy, offering a challenge to the conventional wisdom on macroeconomic theory and policy.

Professor Eisner first examines the determinants of business investment and criticizes neoclassical theories on investment. He goes on to assess the role of tax incentives in investment and finds that tax policy is a flawed way of attempting to encourage investment. He also analyses national income accounting and offers some alternative measurements for calculating national product. Professor Eisner then examines the implications of war for the economy and explores the macroeconomic consequences of disarmament including its possible effects on unemployment. Lastly, he addresses the conflict between economic policy and principle; particularly concerning the environment, insurance and the theory of choice, academic freedom and the elderly.