Daily Archives: January 16, 2013

Understanding the Permanent Floor—An Important Inconsistency in Neoclassical Monetary Economics

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Scott Fullwiler | 156 comments

I’ve written numerous times already about how a deficit “financed” by bonds vs. “money” doesn’t matter in terms of inflationary effect. Notwithstanding my views there (which are not discussed in this post), the point of this post will be to explore the neoclassical paradigm on this matter, since this is at the core of the recent debate between Steve Randy Waldman (see here, here, and here) and Paul Krugman (see here and here) on the so-called “permanent floor.” (It might be of interest to some that I explained how a “permanent floor” would work back in 2004.)

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156 Comments

Posted in Scott Fullwiler

Tagged krugman, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, neoclassical inconsistencies, permanent floor, QE, Waldman

Some One Penny Bets

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Devin Smith | 63 comments

By James Stuart

This post is not about the TDC, although I am a big fan. This is about putting into the MMT conversation a different point of view about Obama. Most MMTers seem to think that the President is a Trojan Horse – attractive on the outside; dangerous, even lethal on the inside. I have a different perspective. What I often do now, when I disagree with someone, instead of arguing, I make one penny bets. The bets need to be about something definite and measurable. If I win, my position on the issue may not be proven, but it is at least partially vindicated.

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63 Comments

Posted in Guest Blogger

Tagged deficit ceiling, MMT, Modern Monetary Theory, obama, republicans, sequestration

MMT Movie: Economics for Dummiez

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Devin Smith | 16 comments

By Donna D’Souza (Trixie)

16 Comments

Posted in Guest Blogger

Tagged MMT, Modern Monetary Theory

German growth goes negative but Merkel’s press becomes more glowing

Posted on January 16, 2013 by Devin Smith | 9 comments

By William K. Black

It is good to be Angela Merkel. Growth in Germany goes sharply negative in the last quarter of 2012 and press reports emphasize how sound the German economy is because it is a net exporter. This article analyses how the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times presented the news about Germany’s economy. I show that the presentation reveals more about the pathologies of our major media than about the pathologies of Germany and the Eurozone.

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