Theory & Other Problems Archives - Philosophy of Money

Highs & lows of economics: Kilkenny, crypto, and inflation

13th November 2022

Austerity, Climate policy, Economic History, Monetary Policy, Theory & Other Problems

Economics keeps letting me down. The decade or so following the financial crisis spawned thousands of papers researching the financial system. I had a sinking feeling that none of it would help. Policy-making ...

QE is debt reduction

Eric Lonergan

17th January 2021

Helicopter Money, Monetary Policy, Theory & Other Problems

14

QE is not a liability transformation - it is debt reduction The remuneration of bank reserves has been a source of significant analytical confusion among economists. This arcane technicality matters far more t...

Marx has the last laugh

Eric Lonergan

26th July 2020

Economic History, Finance & Asset Pricing, Theory & Other Problems

2

I cannot think of a better interlocutor than Chris Dilow. He raises another set of interesting questions in his reply to my reply. I am in danger of completely forgetting our original divergence of thought, but...

Angrynomics: a reply to Chris Dillow

Eric Lonergan

25th July 2020

Economic History, Theory & Other Problems, Uncategorised

3

Chris Dillow writes perhaps the most interesting economics blog I know. Its scope is considerable, and despite his declaration of bias - he self-identifies as a ‘marxist’ - he is typically empirical. His recent...

The Prudence Principle: a new rule for fiscal policy

Eric Lonergan

23rd August 2019

Helicopter Money, Monetary Policy, Money in Europe, Theory & Other Problems

Should the government run a budget deficit or a budget surplus? What size should the deficit or surplus be? Devising a rule which allows the public to assess the integrity of government is a major challenge...

The most important social scientist since Keynes

Eric Lonergan

5th July 2019

Theory & Other Problems

2

Three validity claims The German social scientist, Jürgen Habermas, has just turned ninety. It is an odd reflection on our times that he is not renowned. In an age of academic specialisation this may reflect o...

A reply to Stephanie Kelton

Eric Lonergan

19th March 2019

Definitions of Money, Monetary Policy, Theory & Other Problems

21

The crux of the MMT debate This recent article by Stephanie Kelton is crystal clear and reveals the crux of the ‘MMT debate’. It’s all about central bank independence. Also listen to this INET interview wi...

Stock prices & r*

Eric Lonergan

28th February 2019

Finance & Asset Pricing, Monetary Policy, Theory & Other Problems

2

Economists pay insufficient attention to asset prices. Ask most economists what the relevance of the bond equity correlation is for fiscal policy and they will be baffled. You’ll be lucky if they know what you’...

Functional finance and fiscal rules – a synthesis (Part II)

Eric Lonergan

5th November 2018

Definitions of Money, Helicopter Money, Monetary Policy, Theory & Other Problems

16

Introduction A curious argument has broken out over the Labour’s proposed fiscal rule. Some advocates of functional finance, in particular, have been vociferous in their criticisms. There is scope for a consid...

MMT and fiscal rules (part I) – a prologue

Eric Lonergan

28th October 2018

Definitions of Money, Monetary Policy, Theory & Other Problems

11

When I explained the essential tenets of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) to Ben Bernanke, over dinner in Washington, he replied somewhat quizzically, “Isn’t that just economics?” In fact, on the accounting treatme...

Highs & lows of economics: Kilkenny, crypto, and inflation

QE is debt reduction

Marx has the last laugh

Angrynomics: a reply to Chris Dillow

The Prudence Principle: a new rule for fiscal policy

The most important social scientist since Keynes

A reply to Stephanie Kelton

Stock prices & r*

Functional finance and fiscal rules – a synthesis (Part II)

MMT and fiscal rules (part I) – a prologue

Reviews of Eric’s book

CNBC: market sell-off is ‘noise’

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