The Fall and Rise of Keynesian Economics* ALAN S. BLINDER Princeton Universiry Keynesian economics came under much criticism in the 1970s This paper argues that the decline in Keynesian economics and the rise in, notably, new classical economics in this period related to their respective theoretical appeal rather than their ability to explain recognized, and with the development of sound microeconomic /Introduction we now call new classical economics. By about According to T.S. Kuhn's The S 1980, it was hard to find an American academic Scientific Revolutions(1962 macroeconomist under the age of 40 who professed science' requires an agreed-upon etical to be a Keynesian. That was an astonishing framework or 'paradig ntellectual turnabout in less than a decade, an work to solve paradigm change w e might surmise that the data of the 1970s had and unequivocal rejection of . He would look for some anom ent that did to lid to Newton succ e in Section dancy as inst back to theory wa observation and, in tive ideology over a Kuhnian menon that non nomin but with existent ur. The first and evaluate t define especially in the Unite What it Means to be a Keynesian The word 'Keynesian' means many things to *lam grateful to Ben Bemanke, John Campbell, Stephe Goldfeld, John Seater, Steven Sheffrin an ISee Blinder (1979)and Blinder (1987a), Chapter for helpful comments on an earlier draft 278