This primer outlines why the Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) is the most effective and equitable approach for the UK economy. It explains why interest rates should be permanently set to zero, how banking reform can create a more stable and fair financial system, and why clear, enforceable, and accountable loan regulation is essential for long-term prosperity.
An economics, investment, trading and policy blog with a focus on Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). We seek the truth, avoid the mainstream and are virulently anti-neoliberalism.
Sunday, February 23, 2025
Zero Interest Rate Policy (ZIRP) Primer — NeilW
The Introduction of the Euro–A Catalyst for Eurozone Economic Decline? The Effects of the Euro: An Analysis from a Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Perspective — Jim Byrne
“…whenever I am studying European data I think how stupid the European Monetary Union (EMU) is from a modern monetary theory (MMT) perspective.“ MMT Economist Bill Mitchell
The Effects of the Euro: An Analysis from a Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Perspective.
Jim Byrne - MMT101.ORG
Friday, February 21, 2025
You Know Nothing About Economics—But there is no shame in that — Thomas Swan
Saturday, February 15, 2025
The Rise of the Modern Monetary System: An Integration of the Credit and State Money Approaches— L. Randall Wray
This working paper integrates the credit money approach (associated with Post Keynesian endogenous money theory) with the state money approach (associated with Modern Money Theory) by drawing on Wray’s 1990 book (Money and Credit in Capitalist Economies: The Endogenous Money Approach, Edward Elgar), his 1998 book (Understanding Modern Money: the Key to Full Employment and Price Stability, Edward Elgar), and his 2004 edited book (Credit and State Theories of Money: The Contributions of A. Mitchell Innes, Edward Elgar). New sources and interpretation of the history of money make it clear that there is no contradiction between state money and private credit money—each played a role in the creation of the modern monetary system. Indeed, today’s system was created by bringing state money into the private money giro, thereby strengthening both.
The Rise of the Modern Monetary System: An Integration of the Credit and State Money Approaches
L. Randall Wray | Professor of Economics, Bard College
Episode 11 (S2) of the Smith Family Manga is now available–intergenerational tensions arise within the Smith household — Bill Mitchell
Today (February 13, 2025), MMTed releases Episode 11 in the Second Season of our Manga series – The Smith Family and their Adventures with Money. Have a bit of fun with it while learning Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and circulate it to those who you think will benefit....
Bill Mitchell | Professor in Economics and Director of the Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE), at University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Tuesday, February 11, 2025
Saturday, February 8, 2025
Trump's Executive Order to Rename Debt and Deficits — Stephanie Kelton
The Lens
Trump's Executive Order to Rename Debt and Deficits
Stephanie Kelton | Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Stony Brook University, formerly Democrats' chief economist on the staff of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, and an economic adviser to the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Bessent says he and Trump focusing on 10-year Treasury yields—not Fed policy
This is 100% pure BS…. They surely want the Fed to lower the rates… don’t believe it…
Bloomberg: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says he and Trump are focusing on 10-year Treasury yields—not Fed policyhttps://t.co/rIUuEBHUAK pic.twitter.com/quBnoYdwsg
— Lance Lambert (@NewsLambert) February 6, 2025
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
The US Needs a Sovereign Wealth Fund Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle — Stephanie Kelton
It was 2020, and Trump was responding to a question about a $6.2 trillion fiscal package (emergency COVID spending plus day-to-day operations). The reporter might have been confused about where the money was coming from, but Trump wasn’t. “The beautiful thing about our country is…we can handle that easily because of who we are—what we are—it’s our money…it’s our currency,” he explained.…Understanding what it means to issue a sovereign currency is at the core of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). If you’re new to MMT, click this link and watch Professor L. Randall Wray explain. The bottom line is that a currency-issuing government, like the United States, never has to worry about “finding the money.” As Wray explains, the money gets spent into existence when Congress authorizes a budget and the payments are made. (Incidentally, it works that way in the UK and in other countries with sovereign currencies as well.)
If you’ve been following MMT for a while, you’ve probably heard Warren Mosler refer to the U.S. as the “scorekeeper” for the US$. His point is that we shouldn’t think of a currency-issuing government as “having” or “not having” any dollars. The scorekeeper maintains the spreadsheet by crediting and debiting bank accounts as the government spends (adds) and taxes (subtracts) dollars from the various “players” in the game. When there’s a Congressional appropriation for $6.2 trillion, the government creates $6.2 trillion. It literally spends the money into existence. That’s the power of a sovereign currency.
It’s hard to see why anyone who understands how a sovereign currency works would be pushing a sovereign wealth fund. Even if it became “one of the biggest funds” in the world, as Trump envisions, it wouldn’t give the federal government any spending power it doesn’t already have.
The US Needs a Sovereign Wealth Fund Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle
Stephanie Kelton | Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Stony Brook University, formerly Democrats' chief economist on the staff of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee, and an economic adviser to the 2016 presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders
Sunday, February 2, 2025
Your 4-Step Guide to Understanding the 2008 Financial Crash & Subsequent Recession From a Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Perspective — Jim Byrne
Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are once again talking about rolling back banking regulations to kick-start growth. This article is a timely reminder of why those regulations exist.MMT101.ORG - Learn Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)
Your 4-Step Guide to Understanding the 2008 Financial Crash & Subsequent Recession — From a Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Perspective
Jim Byrne | MMT Scotland
Canada response to tariffs
Where was this play in the Art degree Keynesian free market fundamentalism playbook? I thought the Canada people were just supposed to add the tariff onto the price of the products? Instead they are removing the products from inventories… going to create a glut of these products in the US and US prices are going to fall to get rid of it … no “inflation!”… 🤔
Canada’s biggest province said it will remove American products from its government-run liquor stores as part of its response to President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian imports https://t.co/a2sCx4ajuE
— Bloomberg Economics (@economics) February 2, 2025
Fed on tariffs
LOL … then according to Art degree monetarists they should reduce the rate to figure of speech “counter the headwinds!”.. which is what Trump wants them to do in the first place…
We read the transcripts of the Fed's 2019 meetings so you don't have to, and here's the main takeaway: The headwinds they felt from Trump's tariffs were strong https://t.co/57LOVFGjbn
— Bloomberg Economics (@economics) February 2, 2025
Saturday, February 1, 2025
2025 Fiscal
Looks like DOGE/Elon trying to reduce top line by $1T by September… US GDP $27T/yr…. So no multiple that’s a direct 3.7% …
I guess they think they’re only reducing govt spending on unnecessary regulatory activities or something… climate nutter stuff etc… maybe the “Argentina model”… 🤔
Reducing the federal deficit from $2T to $1T in FY2026 requires cutting an average of ~$4B/day in projected 2026 spending from now to Sept 30.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 31, 2025
That would still result in a ~$1T deficit, but economic growth should be able to match that number, which would mean no inflation in…
He seems to understand the Art degree figure of speech “money!” as rather a scientific abstraction:
The real economy is not money, it is goods & services.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 31, 2025
Money is simply an abstract representation of real things. https://t.co/mmOHBdTmkr