(https://twitter.com/edwardnh/status/1139509762956103680)
MUST WATCH: @wbmosler – The Father of MMT on Policy, Profits, and Politics – exclusive hour-long interview with me on @realvision
Theory vs. Practice: The Father of MMT on Policy, Profits, and Politics
The Interview · Featuring Warren Mosler
(https://www.realvision.com/theor-vs-practice-the-father-of-MMT-on-policy-profits-and-politics)
Published on: June 14th, 2019
Modern Monetary Theory has become a hot topic of discussion. But is it well understood? In this interview with Real Vision’s Ed Harrison, Warren Mosler, the founder of MMT, describes exactly what Modern Monetary Theory is, and how the framework can be utilized. Particularly interesting is Mosler’s ambivalence about the political furor enveloping MMT. He sees the economic framework as more descriptive of monetary operations than prescriptive of policy. Mosler also outlines why MMT’s operational bent made it attractive to finance professionals long before it became a politically-charged debate among academic economists and politicians. Filmed on May 29, 2019 in New York.
Ikus bideoa.
2019 eka. 14
1/ My take: If you want to understand where MMT came from and what it is and isn’t, this is as good a segment as any on the subject. It’s Warren Mosler, MMT’s ‘godfather’ in his own words, not someone else’s.
2/ Clearly there are nuances not discussed in the interview that are the subject of a lot of back and forth in the Twitterverse. But, a lot of that discussion is worthless IMO because of the priors of the participants, straw-manning arguments.
3/ Here, you get an unfiltered view. FOR ME, the most interesting part of this is that Mosler first developed MMT to make money — and that he did consistently make money using MMT as a operational framework. That’s the first litmus test of any economic ‘theory’
4/ The second litmus test for me is the eurozone, where MMT was early in assessing the flaws in the design. They have been spot on throughout. And that saga still is not done. Europe will face (existential) crisis in EVERY single downturn until the euro’s flaws are fixed.
5/ Going forward, the BIG question is policy. IF MMT became accepted as the framework through which to conduct standard macro fiscal policy, I think inflation would be a problem. That’s my own view.
6/ I am not at all convinced that governments can control inflation if everyone and his brother is asking for pet projects against which to deficit spend, with the understanding that the government can’t ever default.
For me, that’s where the rubber hits the road – when policymakers understand that fiscal policy constraints are much less limited. We’re not there yet. But, in the next downturn – with monetary policy stopped out – we will be. @wbmosler Thanks for the interview /END
ADDENDUM: P.S. – in the interview @wbmosler talks about his piece “Soft Currency Economics” (now available on Kindle https://www.amazon.com/Currency-Economics-Modern-Monetary-ebook/dp/B009XDGZLI/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1352305630&sr=1-1&keywords=soft+currency+economics …). You might start there, if you want to read up /1
I would also recommend my piece “MMT for Dummies” which tries to relate MMT back to various economists, showing its roots have a defined grounding in previous economic theory https://www.creditwritedowns.com/p/mmt-for-dummies … /2
(https://www.creditwritedowns.com/p/mmt-for-dummies)
Gehigarria:
