Author

Randall Wray 74 posts 0 comments

L. Randall Wray is a professor of economics and research director of the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. His current research focuses on providing a critique of orthodox monetary policy, and the development of an alternative approach. He also publishes extensively in the areas of full employment policy and the monetary theory of production. Wray received a B.A. from the University of the Pacific and an M.A. and a Ph.D. from Washington University, where he was a student of Hyman Minsky.

Monetary System

The Gold Standard and Fiat Currency: Metalism vs. Nominalism, Part One

Randall Wray Aug 22, 2011

“Taxes drive money”—these “money things” are accepted because there are taxes “backing them up”, not because they have embodied gold. As promised, this week I will begin try to dispel the view that coins used to be commodity monies.

Monetary System

Paul Krugman Still Gets MMT Wrong

Randall Wray Aug 17, 2011

I appreciate the role that Krugman plays. Like many of you, I enjoy reading his blogs and more often than not, I agree with him. He is almost the lone, sane, voice in a position of authority who argues against the standard deficit…

Monetary System

Alternative Exchange Rate Regimes

Randall Wray Aug 15, 2011

Previous Modern Money primer blog posts were quite general and apply to all countries that use a domestic currency. It does not matter whether these currencies are pegged to a foreign currency or to a precious metal, or whether they are…

Monetary System

What About Currency Revulsion?

Randall Wray Jul 31, 2011

The normal case—let us say, in the US or the UK or Japan—is that anything for sale is for sale in the domestic currency. These sovereign governments never find that they cannot buy something by issuing their own currency. However, the…

Monetary System

Taxes Drive Money

Randall Wray Jul 25, 2011

When the government issues a currency used as the money of account and accepts that currency in tax payment, it is not necessary to “back” the currency with precious metal or enforce legal tender laws. Taxes drive money.

Monetary System

Why would anyone accept a ‘fiat’ currency?

Randall Wray Jul 18, 2011

There is, and historically has been, some confusion surrounding sovereign currency. So, many policy makers and economists have had trouble understanding why the private sector would accept currency issued by government as it makes…

Monetary System

What is a sovereign currency?

Randall Wray Jul 11, 2011

This post explains both the wellspring and the significance of currency sovereignty, something that Eurozone countries gave up to join the single currency.

Political Economy

Can Greece Survive?

Randall Wray Jun 27, 2011

Randall Wray takes a bearish view of the Greek situation, the capital position of European banks and the future of the Euro.

Monetary System

Goldilocks, the Crash, and the Perfect Fiscal Storm

Randall Wray Jun 22, 2011

Randall Wray revisits the Clintonian Goldilocks economy to find the seeds of the Global Financial Crisis, using the sectoral balance approach.

Political Economy

Should Irish Voters Follow the Example Set by Icelandic Voters?

Randall Wray May 5, 2011

Voters in Iceland have rejected their government’s attempt to foist on them the costs of bailing out foreign creditors. Should voters in Ireland too?