IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecaffa/v46y2026i1p76-98.html

Modern Monetary Theory: The Bolshevik experiment

Author

Listed:
  • Nikolay Nenovsky
  • Kevin Dowd

Abstract

In this article we present the monetary theory, known as the ‘Theory of the Emission Economy’, most fully formulated over a century ago by the Russian economist S. A. Falkner (1890–1938). It is strikingly reminiscent of Modern Monetary Theory. The Theory of the Emission Economy was put into practice soon after the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution and ended in an inflationary catastrophe. Lenin himself, who at first shared its basic ideas, was eventually forced to support a monetary stabilisation based on the introduction of gold coins, the chervonets, that was completed in early 1924, and which ultimately resolved the monetary crisis along conventional monetary lines. This disastrous Bolshevik monetary experiment stands as a clear warning to modern MMT advocates who seek to implement it in a contemporary setting.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolay Nenovsky & Kevin Dowd, 2026. "Modern Monetary Theory: The Bolshevik experiment," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 76-98, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecaffa:v:46:y:2026:i:1:p:76-98
    DOI: 10.1111/ecaf.70028
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecaf.70028
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecaf.70028?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecaffa:v:46:y:2026:i:1:p:76-98. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0265-0665 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.