Ann Pettifor: Debtonation

Extract from an article written for PEF Carney does not seem to be aware, but central bankers’ groupthink today unites once again around the “normalcy” of a single policy: financial globalisation, or unfettered financial capitalism. In other words, the deregulation and globalisation of markets in money, goods, services, property and labour is once again the dominant “policy”. And no central bank governor or Treasury politician or official deviates from it. The remedy for economic failures...

The BoE’s decision to raise the Bank Rate to 0.75% is a mistake. It is a mistake comparable to those made by Alan Greenspan’s Federal Reserve in the years between 2003 and 2006.  It is a mistake that must be understood in a wider context. Not just the political context – which promotes ‘monetary radicalism and fiscal conservatism’ – to quote David Cameron and George Osborne. But also in a wider monetary policy context.  As the governor of the Bank pointed out recently: ‘the Bank is the only...

On 19th July, 2018, I was stunned and honoured to receive the following from Professor Antonia Grunenberg of the Heinrich Boll Foundation, Bremen, Germany.  Berlin, July 19, 2018 Dear Mrs. Pettifor, it is my great pleasure to inform you in behalf of the international jury of  the „Hannah Arendt Prize for Political Thinking“ that you have been unanimously selected to be the winner of the prize in 2018. Die date of the ceremony is December 7, 2018. The jury pointed out that you, a...

I was interviewed by Martin Sandbu about the nature of money, in particular the importance of borrowers to the creation of money. A video was filmed at Bank Job, a wonderful charity dedicated to a) promoting understanding of money, b) cancelling the debts of the people of Walthamstow and c) using art to both advocate and fundraise. A link to their website is included here. Ann being interviewed by Daniel Edelstyn [embedded content] Related Posts

At the April Rethinking Economicsconference in Oslo  I pointed out that western politicians and economists are repeating policy errors of the 1930s. The pattern of a global financial crash, followed by austerity in Europe and the UK, led in those years to the rise of populism, authoritarianism and ultimately fascism. The scale of economic and political failures and missteps led in turn to a catastrophic world war. Today that pattern – of a global financial crash, austerity and a rise in...

On Friday, 13th April, 2018 I addressed the Rethinking Economics Conference…This is the You Tube link to the event… [embedded content] Related Posts

It is my view that the greatest weakness of economics is the habit of drawing, or encouraging politicians to draw, macroeconomic conclusions from microeconomic reasoning (“the government budget, like a household budget, must balance”). This weakness is endemic within the profession. It is caused by the deliberate neglect of macroeconomics, including shameful neglect of Keynes’s monetary theory and policies; and by the dominance of microeconomics. Such skewed dominance is not accidental....

I wrote this post on the 21st April, 2018, for PRIME. “There are a significant number of households that are in so deep that the slightest sign of rough weather could see them in over their heads,” said Jonathan Davidson, one of the FCA’s directors of supervision. Given these imbalances, the biggest danger facing the British economy is this: at their meeting in May the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England is very likely to raise rates – despite a warning from the governor...

On the 15th April, this year, I visited New Zealand at the invitation of the Institute of Directors, to address 600 CEOs at their annual meeting. This is an interview given to the journalist Rob Stock in which he asked about the possibility of another financial crisis. Related Posts

At the invitation of New Zealand’s Institute of Directors, I recently visited Auckland. I was there to address the IoD’s annual gathering of 600 CEOs..and on the side did this interview with NZ’s equivalent of the BBC, for a Sunday Talk Show with popular host, Wallace Chapman. It was good to be given fully 20 minutes to address a largely non-economist audience. Related Posts