Monthly Archives: April 2020

Standard Money Theory and the Coronavirus

By J.D. ALT

The theme and illustrations of this essay are from the new book “Paying Ourselves to Save the Planet.”

It might seem, as we observe the U.S. government “instantly” generating $2 trillion new dollars for direct payments and grants to people and businesses, that the coronavirus pandemic has shed a new light on the authenticity (and necessity) of modern money theory (MMT). But that light, if it is being shed at all, is illuminating instead the dramatic limitations of the “standard money theory” we insist on applying to the exigencies of an unfolding modern society (including, but not limited to, how to deal with pandemics).

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