This document summarizes the key points of a session discussing connecting heterodox economics traditions and the contributions of Fred Lee. The session will honor Fred Lee's work, discuss defining heterodox economics and identifying heterodox economists, examine pluralism and sectarianism within heterodox economics, and address how Post Keynesian economics and Fred Lee's contributions furthered heterodox economics. Fred Lee advocated for a broad-tent approach to heterodox economics and connecting different traditions, though he and the author disagreed on markup pricing models.

1. Connecting
approaches in
heterodox economics
Marc Lavoie

2. Session abstract
• The session will honor the work of Fred Lee by discussing the
development of heterodox economics and the prospects for
connecting various heterodox approaches. The participants will
discuss their own experiences in connecting heterodox
traditions as well as the contributions of Fred Lee. (2) The
discussion will include defining heterodox economics and
how do we identify a heterodox economist. In addition we
will discuss (3) pluralism and sectarianism within heterodox
economics and to what extent connecting approaches is
possible and useful. The session will specifically address (4)
the case of Post Keynesian economics and (1) the
contributions of Fred Lee to Post Keynesian theory and to
the development of heterodox economics. The discussion
will be both forward-looking and historical.
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3. Fred Lee and I
• I may have first met Fred Lee at the Great Malvern conference,
back in 1992 or 1993, when he was asked to comment on my
book Foundations of Post-Keynesian Economic Analysis, which
for some obscure reason, he did not seem to like that much.
• Despite this, my first reaction was that Fred was an
extraordinarly funny and interesting character, telling fascinating
stories and anecdotes about economics.
• My knowledge of pricing theory, as described in my 1992 and
2014 books, owes a lot to his writings.
• I am proud to have edited a symposium with him, on the
defense and the future of heterodox and post-Keynesian
economics, for ROPE, and a 2013 book on the same topic. Our
collaboration went very smoothly.
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4. Fred Lee and the broad-tent approach
• Fred Lee has been an unrelenting advocate of the broad-tent
approach, and he has himself given quite a lot of his time to
organizations devoted to this broad-tent approach (ICARE, AHE, the
Heterodox newsletter).
• Ironically, our only academic disagreement, as far as I know, was on
the subject of whether markup pricing was acceptable or not in
heterodox macro models.
• While Lee (1985, p. 206) had claimed that 'mark up, full cost, and
target rate of return pricing are different forms of the same general
pricing procedures’, Lee (ROPE 1994) latter argued that pricing
models relying on the work of Andrews and of other Institutionalists
involve ‘the rejection of much of what passes as post-Keynesian
pricing theory’.
• By contrast, I argued (ROPE 1996) that there was a lot of overlap
between Andrews and modern-day Kaleckians, thus making a broad-tent
argument!
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5. Heterodox economics
• 1990-1992
• Non-orthodox economics
• Unorthodox economics
• Post-classical economics
• 1995
• Heterodox economics (in a French journal)
• 2004
• Heterodox economics (in articles and Introduction book)
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6. Dissenters in economics
Lee’s heretics (believers)
Heterodoxy Orthodoxy
Dissenters Mainstream
Lee’s blasphemers (non-believers)

7. Defining heterodox economics and
identifying heterodox economists
Paradigm
Presupposition Heterodox schools Orthodox schools
Epistemology/Ontology Realism Instrumentalism
Method Holism, organicism Individualism, atomicism
Rationality Reasonable rationality Hyper rationality
Optimizing agent
Economic core Production, growth,
income effects
Exchange, scarcity,
substitution effect
Political core Regulated, tamed,
markets
Unfettered market
optimism
Ideology; Mathematical formalism; Open systems; Equilibrium ???

8. Strands of post-Keynesianism
Hamouda and
Harcourt
(1988)
Arestis and
Sawyer (1993)
Arestis (1996) Lavoie (2011a,
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2014)
American PK Marshallians Marshallians Fundamentalists
Kaleckians Kaleckians Robinsonians Kaleckians
Sraffians Sraffians (Sraffians) Sraffians
Institutionalists Institutionalists Institutionalists
Kaldorians

9. Pluralism vs sectarianism or
broad-tent vs narrow-tent approach
• If one favours the pluralist PK approach or the broad-tent
approach, then the expression ‘Post Keynesian’ (without the
hyphen) must be forsaken, since this expression, as redefined by
Paul Davidson (2003-4 and 2005), has a very narrow meaning.
• (Davidson, 2003-4, p. 263) says that “Fundamental Keynesianism
– what I would call Post Keynesianism – is based on throwing
over the same classical axioms that Keynes discarded in the
general theory”
• At best, it only corresponds to strand 1 of post-Keynesian
economics as determined by Hamouda and Harcourt, the
Marshallian route, also called American Post Keynesianism.
• At worse, Post Keynesianism, so defined, besides excluding
Sraffians and Kaleckians, also excludes Eichner, Lee, Minsky,
Kregel….
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10. The dangers of sectarianism
• I have underlined the dangers of sectarianism in a 2005/2006
paper ‘Do Heterodox theories have anything in common?’.
• Tymoigne and Lee (2003-4, p. 285) have also argued that
‘broad heterodox community-building prevented Post
Keynesians from retreating into a self-contained group’.
• There are now fears among some PK economists that
advocates of the Modern Money Theory may be driven by a
narrow-tent approach.
• Scholars must be generous and confident enough to accept
criticisms without considering that the critic is an enemy.
• As Pasinetti (2007) recalls, despite having differences about
some details, one must never overlook all the beliefs and
essential elements that the various PK strands have in
common.
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