4 ms·

A lot of MMT is just restating things Keynesians and Austrians already know and pretending it's some brilliant idea. For instance, they think it's a big breakth

A lot of MMT is just restating things Keynesians and Austrians already know and pretending it's some brilliant idea. For instance, they think it's a big breakthrough that the government can pay down debt by issuing more currency. We already know the government can do this, and we also know why it's a bad idea.

CPLX 8y ago
> we also know why it's a bad idea Do tell.
- holymacaral 8y ago
  Countries can and have defaulted on debts issued in their own currencies. If you printed your way out of debt that would be a default in all but name. You would cause a collapse of credit and a collapse in confidence in the currency itself.
  - CPLX 8y ago
    > Countries can and have defaulted on debts issued in their own currencies. Really? How? > If you printed your way out of debt that would be a default in all but name. Oh, right, actually they don't. So in fact it is actually impossible to default on debt in your own currency and you're admitting as much. > You would cause a collapse of credit and a collapse in confidence in the currency itself. Right. And a reduction of value of a currency is also called inflation. Which is pretty well accounted for within the discussion.
    - mikhailfranco 8y ago
      https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/rogoff/files/forgotten_history_of_domestic_debt.pdf https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/rogoff/files/forgotten_his...
      - CPLX 8y ago
        I quickly read, digested, and mentally analyzed the 52 page whitepaper you posted, and am ready to resume the argument from the exact same point of view.
      - jhundal 8y ago
        This paper was discredited. It could not be replicated using publicly available data and it was eventually found that there were large scale computational errors: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22223190 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22223190
      - mikhailfranco 8y ago
        Sorry, posted the wrong Reinhart paper, should be this one of course: https://www.nber.org/papers/w15815.pdf https://www.nber.org/papers/w15815.pdf
bryanlarsen 8y ago
MMT supporters would agree with that statement, AFAICT. Some claim that their theories are more clearly descended from Keynes than conventional economics do. "why it's a bad idea" aka, inflation. Which MMT spends a lot of effort modelling.
- throw0101a 8y ago
  > Some claim that their theories are more clearly descended from Keynes than conventional economics do. The conventionals recognize this too: > With everything else going on, I really don’t want to spend time arguing with the Modern Monetary Theory people; after all, we agree on basic policy issues right now, and they are never likely to have as much destructive influence as the deficit scolds. But the MMT people think they have an argument with conventional Keynesians like me, and as long as they’re out there claiming that standard macroeconomics is all wrong, I guess we need to respond. * https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/opinion/running-on-mmt-wonkish.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/opinion/running-on-mmt-wo...

CPLX 8y ago

> we also know why it's a bad idea Do tell.

holymacaral 8y ago
Countries can and have defaulted on debts issued in their own currencies. If you printed your way out of debt that would be a default in all but name. You would cause a collapse of credit and a collapse in confidence in the currency itself.
- CPLX 8y ago
  > Countries can and have defaulted on debts issued in their own currencies. Really? How? > If you printed your way out of debt that would be a default in all but name. Oh, right, actually they don't. So in fact it is actually impossible to default on debt in your own currency and you're admitting as much. > You would cause a collapse of credit and a collapse in confidence in the currency itself. Right. And a reduction of value of a currency is also called inflation. Which is pretty well accounted for within the discussion.
  - mikhailfranco 8y ago
    https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/rogoff/files/forgotten_history_of_domestic_debt.pdf https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/rogoff/files/forgotten_his...
    - CPLX 8y ago
      I quickly read, digested, and mentally analyzed the 52 page whitepaper you posted, and am ready to resume the argument from the exact same point of view.
    - jhundal 8y ago
      This paper was discredited. It could not be replicated using publicly available data and it was eventually found that there were large scale computational errors: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22223190 https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22223190
    - mikhailfranco 8y ago
      Sorry, posted the wrong Reinhart paper, should be this one of course: https://www.nber.org/papers/w15815.pdf https://www.nber.org/papers/w15815.pdf

bryanlarsen 8y ago

MMT supporters would agree with that statement, AFAICT. Some claim that their theories are more clearly descended from Keynes than conventional economics do. "why it's a bad idea" aka, inflation. Which MMT spends a lot of effort modelling.

throw0101a 8y ago
> Some claim that their theories are more clearly descended from Keynes than conventional economics do. The conventionals recognize this too: > With everything else going on, I really don’t want to spend time arguing with the Modern Monetary Theory people; after all, we agree on basic policy issues right now, and they are never likely to have as much destructive influence as the deficit scolds. But the MMT people think they have an argument with conventional Keynesians like me, and as long as they’re out there claiming that standard macroeconomics is all wrong, I guess we need to respond. * https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/opinion/running-on-mmt-wonkish.html https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/opinion/running-on-mmt-wo...