Harry Frankfurt, whose formal concept of “bullshit” is indispensable to both professional and everyday life, recently published an article for Bloomberg View arguing that (1) economic (income and wealth) inequality is, in and of itself, morally insignificant and (2) “egalitarianism” (being concerned about economic inequality in and of itself) is harmful. The article is an excerpt from a book he has coming out at the end of the month….Multiplier Effect
Is Economic Inequality Immoral?
Michael Stephens
If a cohort practices self-denial and thrift in order to save/invest, vs. another cohort that spends profligately and hence has no savings, then the cohort that saves is going to be "greater than" the cohort that doesnt save in Picketty terms...
ReplyDeleteI dont see how "morality" plays into this other than the savers would probably think they are more 'moral' than the spendthrifts...
Some of us save and invest, sometimes successfully ... who cares?
This ideological line of reasoning is not going to get us anywhere and hasnt...
"In other words, it is poverty, or, more broadly, the condition of not having “enough,” that is morally significant, rather than monetary inequality per se:"
ReplyDeleteEmpirical data clearly shows that inequality harms society, and that income doesn't matter beyond a certain subsistence level. Frankfurt has it backwards.
If we all lived in a tent and went to the bathroom behind a bush, like the Native Americans did, that does not cause unhappiness or social conflict. But if I live in a tent and go to the bathroom behind a bush while my neighbor lives in a mansion, that does cause unhappiness and social conflict.
The focus on poverty rather than inequality is also a weakness of MMT.
"The focus on poverty rather than inequality is also a weakness of MMT."
ReplyDeleteGod knows where you get this stuff from.
Inequality in MMT is corrected by fixing the root cause - a faulty distribution and production system. Strong unions and making sure everybody has a job while pegging down the banks.
If you're going to get wealthy in MMT, you're going to have to do something to earn it.
"God knows where you get this stuff from." From reading the MMT literature, Neil. :-)
ReplyDelete"Inequality in MMT is corrected by fixing the root cause - a faulty distribution and production system. Strong unions and making sure everybody has a job while pegging down the banks.
What will the Gini be one year after MMT assumes control of govt?
Union companies cannot compete with China, Mexico, etc.. Workers cannot organize without regulations to protect them. No MMT plan for those things.
"If you're going to get wealthy in MMT, you're going to have to do something to earn it."So Warren Mosler would be poor in a MMT world?
MMT shows how different policy approaches are possible fiscally while simultaneously addressing growth, employment and price level. Different policy approaches are possible based on MMT as an operational description and macro theory.
ReplyDeleteFor example, functional finance is about being results-oriented rather than adhering to a conception of what constitutes sound finance.
Being result-oriented implies setting objectives and priorities and elaborating efficient means for achieving objectives using available resources.
Objectives are political choices although generally speaking economists are in agreement that the central trifecta is growth, employment and price level. Conventional economists consider this trifecta to be a trilemma, whereas MMT purports to show all three objectives can be achieved simultaneously using the sectoral balance approach, functional finance, automatic stabilization and a JG, without relying on central bank monetary policy.
Most of us here are probably most interested in a progressive policy approach that addresses social issues through economic free of moralizing about sound finance, as well as other myths. But that is not the only alternative that MMT supports.
The articulation of a progressive program and explicating how it is possible economically and financially based on MMT is the task for progressive MMT proponents to undertake.