Frank Plumpton Ramsey: The economic phenomenon, who died prematurely

Abstract

Although F. P. Ramsey (1903–1930) died aged nearly 27, he managed to publish a few pioneering works in mathematics, logic and philosophy. But this article deals with his work in the field of general economic theory only. We can identify four topics in his three economic contributions. By all means these four Ramsey´s topics were ahead of his time, and have influenced the economics decades later. Ramsey´s first article contributes to the expected utility theory, in other words the decision problem under uncertainty. The second one contributes to the taxes theory and monetary policy theory. In the third one he built a new and unique methodological approach to economic modelling, which is the aim of this article. So called Ramsey´s model lies traditionally within the field of economic growth but under some modifications also within the field of public finance, supply-side economics and new classical macroeconomics. Ramsey´s model is the main ingredient of contemporary analysis of short- and long-run effects of macroeconomic stabilization policy.