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From the State Theory of Money to Modern Money Theory: An Alternative to Economic Orthodoxy

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  • L. Randall Wray

Abstract

This paper explores the intellectual history of the state, or chartalist, approach to money, from the early developers (Georg Friedrich Knapp and A. Mitchell Innes) through Joseph Schumpeter, John Maynard Keynes, and Abba Lerner, and on to modern exponents Hyman Minsky, Charles Goodhart, and Geoffrey Ingham. This literature became the foundation for Modern Money Theory (MMT). In the MMT approach, the state (or any other authority able to impose an obligation) imposes a liability in the form of a generalized, social, legal unit of account--a money--used for measuring the obligation. This approach does not require the preexistence of markets; indeed, it almost certainly predates them. Once the authorities can levy such obligations, they can name what fulfills any obligation by denominating those things that can be delivered; in other words, by pricing them. MMT thus links obligatory payments like taxes to the money of account as well as the currency. This leads to a revised view of money and sovereign finance. The paper concludes with an analysis of the policy options available to a modern government that issues its own currency.

Suggested Citation

  • L. Randall Wray, 2014. "From the State Theory of Money to Modern Money Theory: An Alternative to Economic Orthodoxy," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_792, Levy Economics Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_792
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. L. Randall Wray (ed.), 2004. "Credit and State Theories of Money," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3204.
    2. Warren Mosler, 1995. "Soft Currency Economics," Macroeconomics 9502007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. L. R. Wray, 1990. "Money and Credit in Capitalist Economies," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 474.
    4. Knapp, Georg Friedrich, 1924. "The State Theory of Money," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number knapp1924.
    5. Charles Goodhart, 1989. "Money, Information and Uncertainty: 2nd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262071223, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Martin Watts & Timothy Sharpe & James Juniper, 2014. "Reformation or exodus: Assessing the future of the Euro," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 25(3), pages 465-483, September.
    2. Beshenov, Sergey & Rozmainsky, Ivan, 2015. "Hyman Minsky's financial instability hypothesis and the Greek debt crisis," Russian Journal of Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(4), pages 419-438.
    3. Lakomski-Laguerre, Odile & Desmedt, Ludovic, 2015. "L’alternative monétaire Bitcoin : une perspective institutionnaliste," Revue de la Régulation - Capitalisme, institutions, pouvoirs, Association Recherche et Régulation, vol. 18.
    4. Jan Czekaj, 2018. "Unused methods of shaping the monetary base (Niewykorzystane metody ksztaltowania bazy monetarnej)," Research Reports, University of Warsaw, Faculty of Management, vol. 1(26), pages 68-75.
    5. Frasser, Cristian & Guzmán, Gabriel, 2020. "What do we call money? An appraisal of the money or non-money view," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 16(1), pages 25-40, February.
    6. Goksel TIRYAKI & Mubariz HASANOV, 2022. "Do Credits Affect Money Supply and Deposits, or Vice Versa, or Interconnected?," Journal of BRSA Banking and Financial Markets, Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency, vol. 16(2), pages 217-245.
    7. Jacob Assa, 2017. "Leveraged Growth: Endogenous Money and Speculative Credit in a Stock-flow Consistent Measure of Output," Working Papers 1727, New School for Social Research, Department of Economics.
    8. Tae-Hee Jo, 2016. "What If There Are No Conventional Price Mechanisms?," Journal of Economic Issues, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 327-344, April.
    9. Jorge MEIRA COSTA, 2018. "Participatory Budgeting (Portugal) as a marshalling legal process to formally and democratically defining European Monetary System and Policy," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 279-295, June.
    10. Arslan Razmi, 2023. "MMT and policy assignment in an open economy context: Simplicity is useful, oversimplification not so much," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(2), pages 328-350, May.
    11. Françoise Drumetz & Christian Pfister, 2021. "The Meaning of MMT," Working papers 833, Banque de France.
    12. Françoise Drumetz & Christian Pfister, 2021. "Modern Monetary Theory: A Wrong Compass for Decision-Making," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 56(6), pages 355-361, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Modern Money Theory; Chartalism; State Money; Knapp; Innes; Schumpeter; Keynes; Minsky; Goodhart; Ingham; Sovereign Currency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925
    • B3 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals
    • B15 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary
    • B22 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Macroeconomics
    • B25 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Austrian; Stockholm School
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
    • E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General
    • E62 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - Fiscal Policy; Modern Monetary Theory
    • H5 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies
    • H60 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - General
    • N1 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations

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