Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Merijn Knibbe — Fighting FIRE with fire? According to Richard Wood we indeed do need more ‘debt free’ money


Radical proposals for the EZ. Basically an admission that the EZ has failed as currency union in that the euro is not doing its job of carrying the economy and needs a rescue from outside. The EZ has to get its act together economically and financially in terms of the euro, or it will come apart politically.
For MMT-ers: Woods himself already gives the apt Keynes/Lerner/Friedman/Buiter/Bernanke references. Yes, Friedman and Bernanke too. To be complete: one of the main arguments of Wood is that we are, at the moment, confusing two very important discussions and kinds of policy, one being about the apt size of the government and the other about the level of government debt and deficits. It’s all about priorities: banks or households, dignity or trash can cuisine.
Real-World Economics Review Blog
Fighting FIRE with fire? According to Richard Wood we indeed do need more ‘debt free’ money
Merijn Knibbe | Wageningen University, Netherland
(h/t David in the comments)

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Debt-free fiat is indeed possible IF*:

1) The monetary sovereign never borrows.
2) The monetary sovereign never runs a budget surplus but sometimes run budget deficits.

Then, debt-free fiat equal to the sum total of those budget deficits would accumulate in the economy. Perhaps that total should then be called "National Equity."


*Ignoring any existing National Debt.