The following text reproduces my notes for my talk on the final night of the conference; I think there is a video of the entire panel that will be posted up on the conference site later.New Economic Perspectives
WHY ARE WE GATHERED HERE? Remarks Made at the 13th International Post Keynesian Conference
L. Randall Wray | Professor of Economics, Bard College
11 comments:
There must be a pretty good reason. Wray is far too young to retire.
He's staying on at the Levy Institute (in New York). He said that there is too much travel involved.
Sounds like Mosler fell out with Wray and UMKC too. Weird.
Thanks for info n Randy.
Tell us more about Mosler, please.
" The theme of this particular conference is standing on the shoulders of giants. "
This is weak.... and not even true....
" To many of our heterodox brethren, it just sounds immoral to say that the government cannot run out of money."
They are NOT your brothers...
The interpretation that I heard of the comments about Mosler was that he was not greatly impressed by some of the self-destructive attacks on MMT by some senior post-Keynesians. In particular, Palley's attacks were idiotic, and they ended up being quoted everywhere by people who wanted to debunk MMT without actually reading any of the source material.
However, that was just based on discussions with people who were not directly involved; it may be he skipped the conference because something else came up.
The conference coincided with Warren's 67th birthday, which he spent with friends in St. Croix. He seems to be kicking back a bit now, having divested himself of the bank and automobile company. He closed comments at this blog several years ago after having invested a lot of time daily in responding.
He has just completed his most recent project which was the design and production of a local ferry. It's now just waiting for Coast Guard approval.
I would read too much into his choice about where to spend his time. I assume he figures he has made his contribution to MMT and now it is time for others to run with it. Moreover, Randy recently retired from UMKC, too. I would say the old guard is now secure that the torch is being passed to a capable and enthusiastic crew.
Now they can take a bit of rest after their years of trading blows in the ring. A lot of opposition is designed consciously or subconsciously to deter opposition. They stuck it out, and some reinforcements have arrived.
" To many of our heterodox brethren, it just sounds immoral to say that the government cannot run out of money."
They are NOT your brothers...
This is important to understand... Heterodox is definition by negation (we are heterodox because we are not orthodox), does not mean anything else.
A lot of people who is captured by the 'gold standard' believe system and is anti-authority (closet libertarianism). There is a lot of people which has personal issues with the notion that governments can create by fiat and they will never be partners of MMT'ers.
Check for example Pettifor complains to Bill Mitchell a few months ago "but look at Zimbabwe", is dangerous and reinforces the narrative of the mainstream.
Meh. There'll be plenty of time for rest in the grave...
"He closed comments at this blog several years ago after having invested a lot of time daily in responding."
Those were the good times. It was the place to be if you were an MMT-er. Something interesting always seemed to come up in those days (Krugman mumbling about MMT etc.). He got a little sloppy at the end though, often he said go and read 7DIF when you really even didn't say anything that he didn't agree. There were a lot of people there and It was probably too much work for him.
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