IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mes/postke/v40y2017i2p239-259.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Framing Modern Monetary Theory

Author

Listed:
  • Louisa Connors
  • William Mitchell

Abstract

This article argues that Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has struggled to gain traction in wider economic and political debates due to: (1) An incomplete understanding of key macroeconomic terms among economic commentators, especially journalists, and the wider community (lack of education); and (2) The deployment of key macroeconomic terms (incorrectly) in the context of pervasive cultural metaphors to support policy interventions that effectively benefit a privileged few at the expense of the majority. We provide a conceptual basis for understanding how the language we use constrains our thinking and we examine some of the key metaphors used to reinforce the flawed message of orthodox economics. We examine key ideas of modern monetary theory—an apolitical model of macroeconomic operations—and propose effective ways of expressing those key ideas in a progressive social and economic framework.

Suggested Citation

  • Louisa Connors & William Mitchell, 2017. "Framing Modern Monetary Theory," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 239-259, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:mes:postke:v:40:y:2017:i:2:p:239-259
    DOI: 10.1080/01603477.2016.1262746
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/01603477.2016.1262746
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/01603477.2016.1262746?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. L. Randall Wray, 1998. "Understanding Modern Money," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1668.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Karl Oton Rudolf & Samer Ajour El Zein & Nicola Jackman Lansdowne, 2021. "Bitcoin as an Investment and Hedge Alternative. A DCC MGARCH Model Analysis," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-22, August.
    2. Vladimir A. Mau, 2020. "Economics and politics in Russia: On the eve of an acute crisis," Russian Journal of Economics, ARPHA Platform, vol. 6(2), pages 91-113, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. L. Randall Wray, 2011. "Waiting for the Next Crash: The Minskyan Lessons We Failed to Learn," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_120, Levy Economics Institute.
    2. Brett Fiebiger & Scott Fullwiler & Stephanie Kelton & L. Randall Wray, 2012. "Modern Monetary Theory: A Debate," Working Papers wp279, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    3. L. Randall Wray, 2013. "The Euro Crisis and the Job Guarantee: A Proposal for Ireland," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Michael J. Murray & Mathew Forstater (ed.), The Job Guarantee, chapter 7, pages 161-177, Palgrave Macmillan.
    4. Stephanie Bell, 1999. "Functional Finance: What, Why, and How?," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_287, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. Pavlina R. Tcherneva, 2008. "The Return of Fiscal Policy: Can the New Developments in the New Economic Consensus Be Reconciled with the Post-Keynesian View?," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_539, Levy Economics Institute.
    6. Phil Armstrong, 2020. "Can Heterodox Economics Make a Difference?," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 19964.
    7. Eladio Febrero & Maria-Angeles Cadarso, 2006. "Pay-As-You-Go versus funded systems. Some critical considerations," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 335-357.
    8. Hernando Matallana, 2009. "The Struggle Over the Real Wage In the Monetary Production Economy," Documentos CEDE 5271, Universidad de los Andes, Facultad de Economía, CEDE.
    9. Philip Lawn (ed.), 2013. "Globalisation, Economic Transition and the Environment," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15053.
    10. Parada, Jairo & Albor, Cristina, 2011. "La Financiación del Déficit del Gobierno Central: Sus Costos Económicos y la Independencia Del Banco Central en Colombia desde 1991 [National Government Deficit Financing:Economic Costs and Central," MPRA Paper 52985, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 06 Oct 2011.
    11. Marc-Andre Pigeon & L. Randall Wray, "undated". "Down and Out in the United States, An Inside Look at the Out of the Labor Force Population," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_54, Levy Economics Institute.
    12. Zdravka Todorova, 2013. "Connecting social provisioning and functional finance in a post-Keynesian–Institutional analysis of the public sector," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 10(1), pages 61-75.
    13. L. Randall Wray, 2008. "Banking, Finance and Money: A Social Economics Approach," Chapters, in: John B. Davis & Wilfred Dolfsma (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Social Economics, chapter 27, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Parada, Jairo, 2016. "Economia Pluralista para Enfrentar Crisis Contemporanea [Pluralist Economics to Confront Recent Crisis]," MPRA Paper 72224, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 May 2016.
    15. Mathew Forstater, 2005. "The Case for an Environmentally Sustainable Jobs Program," Economics Policy Note Archive 05-1, Levy Economics Institute.
    16. Widerquist Karl, 2017. "The Cost of Basic Income: Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations," Basic Income Studies, De Gruyter, vol. 12(2), pages 1-13, December.
    17. Thomas Cate (ed.), 2012. "Keynes’s General Theory," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 3855.
    18. Sébastien Charles, 2008. "Teaching Minsky's financial instability hypothesis: a manageable suggestion," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 125-138, September.
    19. Alla Semenova & L. Randall Wray, 2015. "The Rise of Money and Class Society: The Contributions of John F. Henry," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_832, Levy Economics Institute.
    20. Strachman, Eduardo, 2016. "Notas sobre Mecanismos de Transmissão da Política Monetária [Some Notes on the Monetary Policy Transmission Mechanisms]," MPRA Paper 72856, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    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:mes:postke:v:40:y:2017:i:2:p:239-259. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/MPKE20 .

    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.