In economic theory, time is conspicuous by its absence. This is what is posited by the book, which criticises the powerlessness of economists to provide adequate answers for the current state of instability, or even to grasp the ever-singular, ever-shifting reality of economics.
Setting neoclassical and Keynesian thinking against each other and rejecting the idea that a return to a balanced situation is the end of the story, the authors emphasise that economic phenomena are the stuff of uncertainty and irreversibility. They show how our perception of economic players is radically altered when time is factored in: entrepreneurs, the ones who initiate breakthroughs, are once again becoming arbitrators between the short- and the long-term; money and credit are seen as essential bridges to the future; the public authorities are called on to revive their regulatory functions.
Market economies are thus equipped with a new capacity for resilience that lies mainly in this – decisive – mastery of multiple clocks.
Buy the book (in French)