The Deficit Myth
Modern Monetary Theory and How to Build a Better Economy
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- €5.49
Publisher Description
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER
'Essential' Guardian
'Stephanie Kelton is an indispensable source of moral clarity ... the truths that she teaches about money, debt, and deficits give us the tools we desperately need to build a safe future for all' Naomi Klein
'Game-changing . . . Read it!' Mariana Mazzucato
'A rock star in her field' The Times
'This book is going to be influential' Financial Times
'Convincingly overturns conventional wisdom' New York Times
Supporting the economy, paying for healthcare, creating new jobs, preventing a climate apocalypse: how can we pay for it all? Leading economic thinker Stephanie Kelton, shows how misguided that question is, and how a radical new approach can maximise our potential as a society. Everything that we've been led to believe about deficits and the role of money and government spending is wrong. Rather than asking the self-defeating question of how to pay for the crucial improvements our society needs, Kelton guides us to ask: which deficits actually matter?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Kelton, a professor of economics at SUNY Stony Brook, debuts with an accessible introduction to modern monetary theory (MMT) and its implications for public policy. According to MMT, the American government, as monopoly issuer of the U.S. dollar, can print and spend money as it sees fit, without undue concern for runaway inflation or ballooning national debt. Lawmakers and economists who maintain that the government should operate like a household (by balancing tax revenue and spending), Kelton writes, mistake the real usage of taxes (not to fund public services, but rather to create demand for currency), and employ the "deficit myth" mainly to avoid funding projects to which they're politically opposed. She also undercuts common notions about unemployment and inflation, and argues that a new, MMT-based economy could help to mitigate climate change and eliminate trade wars. By placing a greater emphasis on "full employment," Kelton writes, the government could spend money to create meaningful jobs while also providing health care and better public education. Kelton writes clearly and directly, and does well to keep the lay reader in mind throughout. This comprehensive, lucid explanation of a much-buzzed about economic theory will resonate with progressives.
Customer Reviews
BRILLIANT!
This is an absolute gem. It changed my understanding of National debt. MMT is the greatest invention of all time. If we are able to achieve what the author prescribed, we would inhabit a more egalitarian society.