Tag Archives: JG

I’ve been thinking about the job guarantee as it is envisaged by proponents of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). My focus has been on various quantity effects of the policy that can be considered using the standard income-expenditure model as a base (for preliminary posts along these lines, see here and here.) Since the income-expenditure model takes the general price level as given, it does not directly shed light on the aspects of a job guarantee that would pertain to price stability. To...

Bill excoriates the UBI.Bill Mitchell – billy blogThe plaintive, I just want to do my art!Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia

I have written about the concept of dynamic efficiency before. The most recent blog post on this theme was – The ‘truth sandwich’ and the impacts of neoliberalism (June 19, 2018) – which examined how social mobility across generations has been declining as a result of the decades of entrenched unemployment driven by neoliberal austerity biases. I also outlined the proposition in this blog post – US labour market reality debunks mainstream view about structural impediments (January 15,...

Summers comes out for a job guarantee and offers some qualifying comments. Overall positive.Maybe not an exactly a VSP endorsement of MMT or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but close enough to be considered a big win for the up-and-comers.It is a wake-up call to establishment Democratic policymakers as well as encouraging progressives.Larry SummersA jobs guarantee — progressives’ latest big ideaLawrence H. Summers | Charles W. Eliot University Professor and President Emeritus at Harvard...

MMT economists advocate that the central government – the federal government in the U.S. – can and should employ every person who desires to work but cannot find work in the private sector at a living wage. This living wage, the MMT supporters point out, would function as a minimum wage, since no person would work for a private employer who offers a wage lower than the wage the government offers. Assuming such a reform could be implemented under the capitalist system, if your search for...

Must-read.  Its' a very positive article, but unfortunately, the job guarantee is not presented in terms of the basic issue — the choice between a buffer stock of employed or buffer stock of unemployed, and how the former is superior using efficiency and effectiveness as criteria. The other key issue is how the JG is an integral aspect of policy formulation that promises to reconcile the trifecta of growth, employment and price stability, previous thought to be impossible without...

Some useful history as background, but still no addressing the basic issue directly — buffer stock of employed or buffer stock of unemployed. Absent a truly socialistic system, this is the key issue to address. The rest is detail. Based on efficiency and effectiveness, a full employment economy is optimal. Redefinition of "full employment" to include millions of people out of work or not working full time when they desire a full time job is a lame excuse for a buffer stock of...

About what one would expect from Bloomberg.BloombergLeading Democrats Are Backing One of the Most Radical Economic Plans in Years Katia Dmitrieva with assistance by Sahil Kapur, and Jordan Yadoo

Let's be clear. What is really at issue is whether a buffer stock of employed is sociao-economically superior to a buffer stock of unemployed Efficiency A buffer stock of employed is far more efficient in that it employs available resources that would otherwise be idle (wasted). In addition, the funds that go toward supporting the out of work ignore the productive capacity of the unemployed. As the right is so find of pointing out, this incentivized unemployment. Effectiveness A...

Must-read. What we have there, then, are two different conceptions of a JG. On the one hand, it might be a policy which helps capitalism function better (Keynes). But on the other, it might be a form of transitional demand – a policy which whilst fulfilling human needs is one that cannot actually be sustainably adopted by capitalism and is instead a stepping stone towards socialism (Marx). I’m honestly not sure which it is. I would not put it in terms of capitalism and socialism but...