Modern Monetary Theory

By L. Randall Wray Deficit hawks raise three objections to persistent federal government budget deficits: a) they pose a solvency risk that could force to government default on its debt; b) they pose an inflation, or even a hyperinflation,…

It seems that a lot of analysts have caught onto the MMT framework popularized by the late economist Wynne Godley and made topical in this downturn by Rob Parenteau of the Richebacher Letter. We have seen Martin Wolf use Godley and…

By L. Randall Wray, Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Research Director with the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability and Senior Research Scholar at The Levy Economics Institute. In recent months,…

Paul Krugman wrote a post today regarding MMT called "I Would Do Anything For Stimulus, But I Won’t Do That (Wonkish)." The gist of Krugman's post was to refute Modern Monetary Theory's view on money and deficits. Krugman writes:…

This is just in from PIMCO's Paul McCulley, who seems to have caught on to the Wynne Godley sectoral balances approach to viewing the macro economy (hat tip Scott).  He says: Double-entry bookkeeping was a great invention. It is a…

I fully support deficit spending as a means to prevent a debt deflationary spiral in a deep downturn.  However, there are limits to what stimulus can actually do. Stimulus is no panacea for an unbalanced economy. In particular, when…

Just as a point of fact, it bears noting that government debt is a government liability in much the same way that bank notes are. what is the functional difference for the federal government between Treasury securities and bank notes?…

Must-read: The paradox of public thrift FT.com - Edward Chancellor - The dreadful potential of frugality The Usual Fare Black Flight is the New Worry for Detroit - WSJ.com Sieben Menschen: Staatsziel sparen - so fühlt sich…

US corporate profit margins reached a half-century peak with the housing bubble. As in most recessions, margins fell. But, this time they fell precipitously, only to snap back to near that 50-year peak. The chart above from David…

Marshall Auerback presents us with a perspective on how deficit hawks want to cut social programs but leave defense spending untouched while completely overlooking the fiscal cost of bailouts (originally published at New Deal 2.0). Harold…