Two from Chris Dillow

In my previous post, I used a rhetorical device which I think leftists should copy. This is that we should use conventional, orthodox economics to reach radical conclusions.

The point here is that we don’t persuade people by telling them that their worldview is wrong and by demanding that they change the ideas of a lifetime. We are more likely to succeed by showing them that their ideas are consistent with things they might not have considered.

Here are some examples of what I mean.

- Fiscal policy. We don’t need MMT to argue for a significant fiscal loosening. Simple maths tells us that we can run big deficits and still see government debt fall as a share of GDP when real interest rates are negative, as they now are. And as Simon [Wren-Lewis] has said for years, the idea that we should use fiscal expansion when nominal interest rates are near zero is orthodox economics....

We already see this is the retort that MMT offers nothing really new and that "we it knew it all the time."

Stumbling and Mumbling
CONSERVATIVE ARGUMENTS FOR RADICAL IDEAS

WAGES VS SOCIAL VALUE
Chris Dillow | Investors Chronicle