Karl Polanyi's influence on Arthur Okun and other keynesian economists ; Sobre la influencia de Karl Polanyi en Arthur Okun y otros economistas keynesianos
This article examines the influence of the author of The Great Transformation (1944) on Arthur Okun. Polanyi's explicit influence on Okun is reflected in his discussion on the desirability of limiting the role of the market in a democratic society and guaranteeing a minimum level of welfare for the entire population inEquality and Efficiency: the Big Tradeoff. It is also argued that Okun's distinction inPrices and Quantities: A Macroeconomic Analysis, between auction markets and customer markets, is strongly reminiscent of Polanyi's similar classification inTrade and Market, andThe Livelihood of Man, because of the importance Okun assigns to fairness as an explanatory factor of price rigidity, which refers to the embedded character of exchanges as proposed by Polanyi. The importance of fairness in the explanation of price (and wage) rigidity is later taken up by other Keynesian and behavioral economists such as George Akerlof, and Daniel Kahneman, Jack Knetsch and Richard Thaler, largely under the influence of Okun. ; Palabras clave: Historia del pensamiento económico, keynesianismo, fundamentos microeconómicos de la macroeconomía, economía conductual