Preface

Preface The project culminating in this book began with a conversation between Steven M. Fazzari and Thomas I. Palley about how the events of the Great Recession in 2008 and 2009 validated the economic analysis put forward by a group of Keynesian macroeconomists before the recession, in some cases well before. A group of these economists were then invited to a workshop in the summer of 2009 to discuss the remarkable economic events of the previous several years. The meeting was held at Washington University in St. Louis and organized by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy. Following this interesting discussion, the Weidenbaum Center commissioned the papers that became the chapters of this book, early drafts of which were discussed in detail at a second St. Louis workshop in the summer of 2010. The editors are grateful to the Weidenbaum Center for generous financial support throughout this project. Center Director Steven Smith offered helpful guidance as we developed the book manuscript. Center staff members Gloria Lucy, Chris Moseley, and Melinda Warren provided their typical competent and friendly help with arrangements for both of the St. Louis meetings and other administrative tasks as the book came together. Scott Parris and Kristin Purdy from the economics and finance group at Cambridge University Press provided quick responses to many queries during production of the book. The comments of three anonymous reviewers chosen by the Press significantly improved the manuscript. We thank Noah MacMillan for creative cover art. Finally, we are most grateful to the authors of the following chapters for their original and important insights, as well as the efforts they made to link their perspectives so that this book provides a coherent whole greater than the sum of its parts.