N.B. There should be a Part 2 of this interview, but I am unable to find it.
Some of my posts on MMT and the history of money are below:
“The History of Modern Monetary Theory,” January 3, 2012.
“The Origin of Money and Coinage in Western Civilisation: The Case of Ancient Greece,” April 5, 2013.
“Randall Wray on MMT and the US Economic Crisis,” May 24, 2012.
Great interview. I've always wanted to learn more about the history of money, and I think Randall Wray provides some interesting points. I'm aware of some of his papers on the history of money, but do you know of any other sources that I could possibly look at? I'm coming in to this subject with no background and I would like to learn some more details.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I do have some issues with the last part of the interview, as Wray makes no distinction between good and bad deflation. Although describing the Great Depression as deflationary in the sense that it was bad deflation is correct, I think his point that deflation is always "devastating" for modern capitalist economies is far too general. I think there is a distinction between good and bad deflation.
In the former case, falling prices may be caused by aggregate supply (possibly driven by technology advances) increasing more rapidly than aggregate demand. In the latter case, declines in aggregate demand outpace any expansion in aggregate supply.
For example in the period of 1870-1896, there were periods of deflation met with positive economic growth in many countries, including the US.
But Wray doesn't really explain this distinction (grant it, this was a short interview).
See the full playlist here
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O03xa40oDPI&list=PLgcM72HHp0MOXIjA_C9eTPrtgMQJZZF_7