By Dan Kervick
Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) emphasizes the central role of governments in sovereign monetary systems. MMT co-developer Warren Mosler has described the US dollar system, for example, as a “simple public monopoly.” L. Randall Wray has written that, “In the United States, the dollar is our state money of account and high-powered money (HPM or coins, green paper money, and bank reserves) is our state monopolized currency.” Sometimes this crucial MMT claim is expressed more broadly by saying the US government is the monopoly supplier of “net financial assets” to the non-governmental sectors of the dollar economy.
