Convergence towards the normal rate of capacity utilization in neo-Kaleckian models: the role of non-capacity creating autonomous expenditures

International audienceNeo-Kaleckian models of growth and distribution have been highly popular among heterodox economists. Two drawbacks of these models have, however, been underlined in the literature: first, the models do not usually converge to their normal rate of capacity utilization; second, the models do not include the Harrodian principle of dynamic instability. Some Sraffian economists have long been arguing that the presence of non-capacity creating autonomous expenditures provides a mechanism that brings back the model to normal rates of capacity utilization, while safeguarding the main Keynesian message and without going back to classical conclusions. The present article provides a very simple proof of this, showing within a neo-Kaleckian model that the Harrodian principle of dynamic instability gets tamed by the presence of autonomous consumer expenditures