1939–1958: Was Kaldor an Endogenist?

The place of monetary theory within Kaldor's contributions to economic theory has certainly received a considerable amount of attention. Recently, however, it has been implied that Kaldor introduced endogenous money as early as 1939, while conventional wisdom associates this concept with Kaldor's later contributions. This paper addresses this issue. It is argued that while Kaldor's views changed little from 1939 to 1958—the year when he presented his report to the Radcliffe Committee—they did not amount to a theory of money endogeneity. Rather, it is argued that his views were a variation on a monetarist theme, rather than its abandonment. His early views are then contrasted with his later theory, thereby emphasizing the important evolution in his approach to monetary theory.