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Minsky Crisis

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  • L. Randall Wray

Abstract

Stability is destabilizing. These three words concisely capture the insight that underlies Hyman Minsky's analysis of the economy's transformation over the entire postwar period. The basic thesis is that the dynamic forces of a capitalist economy are explosive and must be contained by institutional ceilings and floors. However, to the extent that these constraints achieve some semblance of stability, they will change behavior in such a way that the ceiling will be breached in an unsustainable speculative boom. If the inevitable crash is "cushioned" by the institutional floors, the risky behavior that caused the boom will be rewarded. Another boom will build, and the crash that follows will again test the safety net. Over time, the crises become increasingly frequent and severe, until finally "it" (a great depression with a debt deflation) becomes possible. Policy must adapt as the economy is transformed. The problem with the stabilizing institutions that were put in place in the early postwar period is that they no longer served the economy well by the 1980s. Further, they had been purposely degraded and even in some cases dismantled, often in the erroneous belief that "free" markets are self-regulating. Hence, the economy evolved over the postwar period in a manner that made it much more fragile. Minsky continually formulated and advocated policy to deal with these new developments. Unfortunately, his warnings were largely ignored by the profession and by policymakers—until it was too late.

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  • L. Randall Wray, 2011. "Minsky Crisis," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_659, Levy Economics Institute.
  • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_659
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Dimitri Papadimitriou & L. Randall Wray, 1998. "The Economic Contributions of Hyman Minsky: varieties of capitalism and institutional reform," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(2), pages 199-225.
    2. Yeva Nersisyan & L. Randall Wray, 2010. "The global financial crisis and the shift to shadow banking," European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, Edward Elgar Publishing, vol. 7(2), pages 377-400.
    3. Pavlina R. Tcherneva & L. Randall Wray, 2007. "Public Employment and Women: The Impact of Argentina’s Jefes Program on Female Heads of Poor Households," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_519, Levy Economics Institute.
    4. Indira Hirway, 2006. "Enhancing Livelihood Security through the National Employment Guarantee Act: Toward Effective Implementation of the Act," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_437, Levy Economics Institute.
    5. Hyman P. Minsky, 1957. "Central Banking and Money Market Changes," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 71(2), pages 171-187.
    6. Yeva Nersisyan & L. Randall Wray, 2010. "Transformation of the Financial System: Financialisation, Concentration and the Shift to Shadow Banking," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Daniela Tavasci & Jan Toporowski (ed.), Minsky, Crisis and Development, chapter 2, pages 32-49, Palgrave Macmillan.
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    Cited by:

    1. Costa Lima, B. & Grasselli, M.R. & Wang, X.-S. & Wu, J., 2014. "Destabilizing a stable crisis: Employment persistence and government intervention in macroeconomics," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 30-51.
    2. Sergio Cesaratto, 2012. "Neo-Kaleckian and Sraffian controversies on accumulation theory," Department of Economics University of Siena 650, Department of Economics, University of Siena.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Stability Is Destabilizing; Hyman Minsky; Money Manager Capitalism; Financial Instability Hypothesis; Global Financial Crisis; Self-Regulating Markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • B26 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Financial Economics
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy
    • E11 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Marxian; Sraffian; Kaleckian
    • E12 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Keynes; Keynesian; Post-Keynesian; Modern Monetary Theory
    • E44 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - Financial Markets and the Macroeconomy
    • G01 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Financial Crises
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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