To start at the end of Positive Money’s latest article “It is promising that MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) is gaining traction in every corner. We greatly enjoyed attending both [MMT] events and have only warm expectations about working together to design a better, healthier, fairer economy.” “Positive Money (PoMo) has long advocated using public money… Read more
Category:
Economics
Economics Theory
The IMF have suddenly discovered both the price of everything and the value of nothing
The FT has reported that the IMF says that “Cash-strapped governments could find a huge new source of revenues if they managed their assets more professionally” Those presumably will be the ones that the IMF was previously in favour of not just managing, but privatising. “The potential receipts, equivalent to an average of 3 per… Read more
To which questions is Brexit the answer?
After our ‘democratic’ vote in favour of Brexit, I am still struggling to understand the question to which Brexit provides the answer. I can think of two possibilities: One is to stop freedom of movement. That wasn’t on the ballot paper but the media speaks as if it it was. That means goodbye to the… Read more
Boom in shadow banking is a stability problem
The FT is pointing out that the European Central Bank (ECB) is worried about the shadow banking boom (intermittent paywall) in Europe. Ten years after the world was rocked by an unprecedented banking crisis, policymakers are sounding the alarm about the spread of risk out of the now more regulated banks and into the “shadows”… Read more
Weimar and discovering the case against austerity
Having recently been criticised by someone who considers that the history of the Weimar Republic means that the government can never print money, and that governments should more properly follow the advice of sober bankers, I countered that the Reichstag was actually private at the time so it was not the government printing the money… Read more
Is the UK really a Services Export Superpower?
I had understood that whereas the UK has for many years had a very large trade defect in goods, this was made up for by the excellence in the UK services export sector. Indeed league tables generally put the UK as second only to the US in terms of services exports.The 2015 World Atlas for… Read more
The next financial meltdown …
Another Radio 4 programme “The next financial meltdown” should have been of interest – and it was, vaguely. But none of the high profile people included – and most were certainly intelligent – seem to know where money comes from. Or even if, perhaps, they do, they do not acknowledge it. The best commentary came… Read more
Bankrupt Legislation
An interesting programme last night on Radio 4 about bankruptcy – something to which I have been close for about 5 years or so of my life. What disaster befell me? Just a corrupt solicitor, who unfortunately deceived me. He went to jail in due course – and I doubt he enjoyed it as he… Read more
Positive Money edges towards Modern Monetary Theory
A recent article by Positive Money seems to indicate that they are gradually edging towards a view of money that takes on board Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). They quote with approval, the Bank of England: “Saving does not finance investment, financing does.” and then continue: Here lies the real overlap between the MMT and Positive… Read more
The ‘co-operative’ eyes have it
Since Thatcher gained power we have always been told how it is competition that ensures the survival of the fittest and this is the way that societies advance. I’m not sure that Darwinian advances were ever actually widely thought to operate on this level, as it was more of a system indicating long term progress… Read more