This is the second part of my response to an article published by the German-language service Makroskop (March 20, 2018) – Modern Monetary Theory: Einwände eines wohlwollenden Zweiflers (Modern Monetary Theory – Questions from a Friendly Critic) – and written by Martin Höpner, who is a political scientist associated with the Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung (Max Planck Institute for Social Research – MPIfG) in Cologne. In this part we discuss bond yields and bond issuance. I...
Read More »Doing What the Market Can’t
By J.D. ALT What decides whether something is undertaken in America is the “market.” The way the market decides what is to be done is by determining whether people are willing to pay to benefit from the undertaking, how many people are willing to pay, how much they are willing to pay, and all this is then compared with the cost of the undertaking. If nobody is willing to pay for the benefit (no customers), the undertaking will not happen. If the number of people willing to pay,...
Read More »Bill Mitchell — My response to a German critic of MMT – Part 1
Makroskop is a relatively new media publication in Germany edited by Heiner Flassbeck and Paul Steinhardt. It brings some of the ideas from Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and other analysis to German-language readers. It is not entirely sympathetic to MMT, differing on the importance of exchange rates. But it is mostly sympathetic. I declined to be a regular contributor when invited at the time they were starting the publication not because I objected to their mission (which I laud) but...
Read More »Job Guarantee in the news
Amid a recent upsurge in support for a national job guarantee program, L. Randall Wray, Stephanie A. Kelton, Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Scott Fullwiler, and Flavia Dantas outline a new proposal for a federally funded program with decentralized administration. Their Public Service Employment (PSE) program would offer a job—paying a uniform living wage with a basic benefits package—to all who are ready and willing to work. In advance of an upcoming report detailing the economic impact of the PSE,...
Read More »Steve Roth — MMT and the Wealth of Nations, Revisited
I just had occasion, in replying to a correspondent, to reiterate much of the thinking in my recent MMT Conference presentation. I thought it might be a useful and apprehensible form for some readers, so I’m reproducing it here. I’ve also explained this at somewhat painful length here. AsymptosisMMT and the Wealth of Nations, RevisitedSteve Roth
Read More »Claire Connelly — Capitalism and the veil of ignorance
MMT.MediumCapitalism and the veil of ignorance Claire Connelly
Read More »Brian Romanchuk — Understanding Fiscal Sustainability Debates
I have encountered a number of discussions of fiscal sustainability over the past weeks. In particular, there have been debates between proponents of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and mainstream economists. This article does not attempt to settle the debate (although I am in the MMT camp, and obviously biased), rather frame the discussion. One of the problems with the debate is that the sides tend to talk past each other, as they have a quite different theoretical views, and this article...
Read More »Dollars & Sense — New Issue! [MMT]
Dollars & SenseNew Issue! Plus: Regional economic disparities and Hillary Clinton’s Unfortunate RemarksIncidentally, Stephanie Kelton announced on Twitter that she has a book deal and is also joining Bloomberg View as a columnist.
Read More »Bill Mitchell — Where do we get the funds from to pay our taxes and buy government debt?
Bill addresses a major objection to MMT.Note: I am reading the post from the RSS feed. I am getting a database error message in trying to connect with Bill's site. I have been (involuntarily) copied into a rather lengthy Twitter exchange in the last week or so where a person who says he is ‘all over MMT’ (meaning I presume, that he understands its basic principles and levels of abstraction and subtlety) has been arguing ad nauseum that Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) proponents are a laughing...
Read More »The Big Three
By J.D. ALT This essay was first published at www.realprogressivesusa.com There is a lot more riding on our understanding of modern fiat money than we typically consider or discuss. Human society is now confronted with three epoch-defining challenges and, in each case, the understanding and strategic use of modern fiat money holds out the ONLY real possibility for constructively engaging the them. The challenges are: Climate change & ecological collapse Assault on Democracy Mass...
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