Blog - Page 10 of 17 - Philosophy of Money

Debt-free money: A brief reply to Randall Wray

16th February 2016

L. Randall Wray is exercised by my suggestion that he has engaged in semantic sleight-of-hand. To summarise my argument: it is an obvious fact that a ten dollar bill is not a debt - because the issuer owes the...

Accounting as religion: Buffett, Derrida, and MMT

Eric Lonergan

17th January 2016

Definitions of Money, Economic History, Theory & Other Problems

89

A number of my recent posts seem to have wound up some of the more sensitive ‘mainstream’ economists, who don't like the suggestion that the likes of Minsky deserve their own 'school’. Some philosophers of sc...

More on eclecticism

Eric Lonergan

15th January 2016

Economic History, Theory & Other Problems

“Experience has shown that Mother Nature is eclectic” - Paul Samuelson This recent blog on the merits of eclecticism in macroeconomics seems to have resonated. It follows a theme Dani Rodrik has advocate...

Paul Krugman is right – our models may be better than Larry’s instincts

Eric Lonergan

12th January 2016

Economic History, Finance & Asset Pricing, Money in Europe, Uncategorised

The debate between Larry Summers, Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman over models and confidence is summarised excellently by Martin Sandbu. On one point, Krugman is absolutely right: there was never any reason to be ...

The case for eclecticism

Eric Lonergan

9th January 2016

Economic History, Theory & Other Problems

5

Most macroeconomists have a mental model of how the economy works. I think there are five relevant mental frameworks: Keynesian. This is the approach that most people are taught in high school and un...

Sitting on cathedral steps

Eric Lonergan

24th December 2015

Definitions of Money, Theory & Other Problems

5

Confusion in economics often resides in methodology - an area where economists are weak, as Simon Wren-Lewis points out. When we engage in economic analysis it is often unclear whether we are referring to speci...

Democracy in Europe

Eric Lonergan

6th December 2015

Money in Europe, Theory & Other Problems

The ability to print money is a precondition of sovereignty. It is also a cornerstone of modern financial and economic systems. For all the talk of money being created by banks, in a panic it is clear that the ...

Negative interest rates don’t work

Eric Lonergan

27th November 2015

Definitions of Money, Monetary Policy, Theory & Other Problems

12

I have argued that economists should be very wary about advocating steeply negative nominal interest rates. This is a case of basing policy on models which assume what they need to prove. If we assume that cha...

Tobin & the end of banking

Eric Lonergan

9th October 2015

Definitions of Money, Finance & Asset Pricing, Monetary Policy, Theory & Other Problems

21

I'm writing about this subject with some trepidation. Many economists who have entered the fray have made fools of themselves; and many who triumphantly point out their errors usually go on to make some of thei...

The effects of negative interest rates. A brief reply to Miles Kimball

Eric Lonergan

3rd October 2015

Definitions of Money, Monetary Policy, Money in Europe

2

Miles Kimball has developed a very intriguing idea. He wants there to be an exchange rate between physical cash and electronic money (deposits) and a steeply negative interest rate on deposits to stimulate spen...

Debt-free money: A brief reply to Randall Wray

Accounting as religion: Buffett, Derrida, and MMT

More on eclecticism

Paul Krugman is right – our models may be better than Larry’s instincts

The case for eclecticism

Sitting on cathedral steps

Democracy in Europe

Negative interest rates don’t work

Tobin & the end of banking

The effects of negative interest rates. A brief reply to Miles Kimball

Reviews of Eric’s book

CNBC: market sell-off is ‘noise’

Monetary policy & babysitting: why rates are so low, and ‘what’s next?’