What's Wrong with Modern Money Theory?, 1st ed. 2019 A Policy Critique

This Palgrave Pivot assesses the validity of Modern Money Theory?s approach to macroeconomic policy, specifically monetary and fiscal policy. Whereas other papers have focused primarily on theoretical and doctrinal issues, this book focuses primarily on an analysis of MMT?s policy approach. Though drawing on academic literature, this book?s approach is empirical and policy-based, making it accessible to scholars and the public alike. It addresses a burning question in the policy and politics of the US and elsewhere where MMT is gaining a policy foothold, especially among progressive activists and politicians: Is MMT, in fact, a good guide for progressive macroeconomic policy? The main focus of this book is to explain why the answer to this question is no.

1.- Introduction: Strange Bedfellows and the Rise of Modern Money Theory.- 2. MMT Basics and the Sustainability of Money Financed Deficits.- 3. Institutional Specificity and the Limited Policy Relevance of Modern Money Theory.- 4. The Role of the Dollar as an International Currency and Its Limits in a Multi-Key Currency World.- 5. MMT as “America First” Monetary Policy and Its Costs.- 6. The Mystery of the Missing Minsky:  Financial Instability as a Constraint on MMT Macroeconomic Policy.- 7. An MMT Free Lunch Mirage Can Lead to Perverse Outcomes: Fight Your Friends, Spare Your Enemies.- 8. Conclusion: Contours of a Progressive Macroeconomic Policy.

Gerald A. Epstein is Professor of Economics and a founding Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA. Epstein has written articles on numerous topics including financial crisis and regulation, alternative approaches to central banking for employment generation and poverty reduction, capital account regulations and the political economy of central banking and financial institutions. Epstein has worked with numerous UN agencies including the ILO, UNDESA, UNDP, and UNCTAD on the topics of macroeconomics and monetary policy in developing countries. His most recent edited volumes are: The Handbook of The Political Economy of Financial Crises, (co-edited with Martin Wolfson) and The Political Economy of International Finance in an Age of Inequality: Soft Currencies, Hard Landings. In recent years he has been the recipient of two INET grants, one to study the “social efficiency” of thefinancial system and a second to look at the distributional impacts of quantitative easing. He has also won the Samuel F. Conti Faculty Fellowship Award from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.