ABSTRACT
Introduction Having completed a degree in Mathematics and Engineering at the University of Kyoto, Vela began his studies in Economics at the University of Lund in Sweden.1 Björn Thalberg became his first mentor in Economics. Vela became extremely well versed in the Swedish macroliterature from Wicksell through Lindahl, Myrdal, Ohlin and Lundberg. From Thalberg he also learned the dynamic multiplier-accelerator models of that day. Moving on to Cambridge, he first studied with Nicholas Kaldor and then Richard Goodwin became his friend and mentor. With this economics training added to the excellent mathematical skills and an engineer’s understanding of general systems that he had brought with him from Japan, no one could have been better prepared than Velupillai to contribute to the development of a genuine macroeconomic dynamics. In his mastery of the economics and the mathematics of business cycle models, as well as of the historical development of both, he is without equal.2 But in the intervening decades macroeconomics took a very different and less than straightforward course. It has changed direction about as many times as a hunted hare. The question is: Will the hare obey Dennis Robertson’s dictum and eventually come around pretty much to the same place?
