A general theory of macrofinance: Towards a new paradigm

Abstract

The 2008 international financial crisis triggered retrospection on both theory and policy, reaching a macroeconomic consensus that the financial system plays an important role in the macro economy and macroeconomic theory must be restructured to incorporate endogenous financial factors. Reflecting on the inherent flaws of traditional mainstream economics, this paper puts forward a “macrofinance” proposition as a new paradigm for macro financial analysis. As a scientific methodology based on systematic logic, the major feature of the macrofinance framework is that we must analyze the financial system as a core part of a complete and endogenous analytical framework, instead of only focusing on the money or credit. The goal of “macrofinance” is to return to scientific economic methodologies by analyzing the inherent laws of modern financial systems to set up a comprehensive theoretical framework that unifies the financial sector with the real economy and combines theory and policy practice.

Keywords

• macrofinance
• financial system
• real economy
• methodology