Wednesday, August 21, 2019

The mainstream media cover Modern Money Theory (MMT)

Robert J. Shiller NY Times: Modern Money Theory Makes Sense Up to a Point

Key conclusion: "We should not react automatically against new expenditures that increase the deficit. There do appear to be some urgent needs that might justify more debt for a while. But acknowledging this does not require a revolution in economic theory, and it does not license unlimited spending or carelessly adding debt upon debt."


Zach Helfand in The New Yorker: The Economist Who Believes the Government Should Just Print More Money

"[T]he basic principle of M.M.T. is seductively simple: governments don’t have to budget like households, worrying about debt, because, unlike households, they can simply print their own money. So M.M.T. proposes that the constraint on government spending shouldn’t be debt but inflation: How much new money can you pump into the economy before prices rise?"

...the biggest criticism is that it's politically impossible...you know, like that Keynesian "pump priming"...

Both articles say MMT is a darling of the political left, but Trump recently announced he's considering reducing payroll taxes, something straight out of MMT.

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