Eric Tymoigne and L. Randall Wray — MMT 101: A Reply to Critics Part 1

This is Part 1 of a six part series in which we deal with critics of MMT. As readers of this blog know, our critics continually raise the same old tired critiques of MMT. They scapegoat MMT by attributing to us claims we’ve never made. They take our words out of context to build up a strawman that they attempt to destroy. No matter how many times we respond to a particular critique, another critic tries to use it again. Warren Mosler used to use the analogy of the “Bop a Gopher” game at the arcades: you bop one and another pops up.

While we know that it’s a Sisyphean task to disabuse the critics of their cherished and wrong-headed arguments, we thought it would be useful for those who come to MMT with less prejudice to have at hand responses to five categories of critiques. Today we will provide an introduction to the series. Each of the next five posts will deal with one of the critiques. We’ll also append a list of the references used for this entire series.

For those who want to skip to the chase, you can go to Levy Institute to download the full working paper on which this series is based. Those who prefer bite-sized pieces can wait for the posts. As we go along we’ll respond to comments and will make adjustments to clarify the argument.

For long-time readers of NEP, none of this will be particularly difficult. It will, however, be long. Perseverance will be required. We mean to be as thorough as we can be. Bopping gophers requires diligence.

New Economic Perspectives
MMT 101: A Reply to Critics Part 1
Eric Tymoigne and L. Randall Wray