Modern Money Theory and the facts of experience

Abstract

This paper discusses Modern Money Theory (MMT) with a particular focus on the role of the state in its monetary system and the nature of money. It addresses the main differences between the orthodox, heterodox and MMT approaches to monetary theory while reconciling endogenous money theory with the state money approach. By emphasising the symmetry between how banks create money as they finance private spending and how the government creates money when it finances its own spending, we clarify some of the misconceptions surrounding MMT while showing that it is more consistent with the facts of experience. Furthermore, we argue that MMT’s insistence that government spending or lending must precede bond sales is consistent with the Keynesian emphasis on effective demand as the driving force behind income and saving. We delve into MMT’s implications for monetary and fiscal policy, with a particular focus on the eurozone. We conclude our paper by discussing two proposals of ‘monetary cranks’: narrow banking and government issue of debt-free money. This allows us to re-emphasise MMT’s views on the nature of money.