by Two Marxian economists critique MMT. I want to stress that because people often do not realise it. And more broadly, both MMT and Marxism offer a challenge to the aggressive capitalism of the last four decades.However, there are crucial differences between us, which Nicolás and I brought out in our paper. They also go back a long time. The most fundamental difference has to do with what money is, and that is not a minor issue. People might think it is a bunch of academics disagreeing about ancient history or abstract ideas. Far from it. The bottom line is this: MMT argues, in the line of previous chartalist theories, that money is created outside the market, that it is the creation of the state, of some sort of a social authority. And, therefore, money in in the power of that authority.
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I want to stress that because people often do not realise it. And more broadly, both MMT and Marxism offer a challenge to the aggressive capitalism of the last four decades.However, there are crucial differences between us, which Nicolás and I brought out in our paper. They also go back a long time. The most fundamental difference has to do with what money is, and that is not a minor issue. People might think it is a bunch of academics disagreeing about ancient history or abstract ideas. Far from it. The bottom line is this: MMT argues, in the line of previous chartalist theories, that money is created outside the market, that it is the creation of the state, of some sort of a social authority. And, therefore, money in in the power of that authority. In contrast, Marxism argues that money is the creation of the market: it is an unplanned and unintended outcome of spontaneous market interactions. Money emerges when commodities interact, whether you like it or not.
Bill Mitchell’s Uphill Battle (Updated).