A (very) oblique history of MMT, Part III: (Blogs, Mitchell etc.)

"What happened to get the ideas out was the development of blogs.So Bill developed a blog...This is how the ideas got out. It wasn't through academics. It wasn't through the conferences—those are almost a complete bust. It was the blogs.L. Randall Wray (11 min mark generally, 14 min mark for these qts) A (Very) Oblique … Continue reading A (very) oblique history of MMT, Part III: (Blogs, Mitchell etc.) →

A (very) oblique history of MMT, Part II: (Co-Authors, Mosler etc)

Thinking about it – it is nothing short of astounding that three scholars almost single-handedly (triple-handedly?) eventually upended the massive “Great Vampire Squid” (to steal Taibbi's line) that is neoclassical economics in our universities, central banks, and government.

A (Very) Oblique History of MMT (Wray, Institutional Econ, & other ramblings): Part I

As MMT has “taken off” its founders and others have begun to preserve and reflect on its history (1). That history will be well covered as it will prove to be central to (genuine) macroeconomic history one day. Leaving that to others, I enjoy thinking about subtle influences, intellectual links and lineages, that go less … Continue reading A (Very) Oblique History of MMT (Wray, Institutional Econ, & other ramblings): Part I →

Airplane crashes aren’t “hyperlandings”: Notes on Zimbabwe

“IF THERE IS FIRST NO COLLAPSE IN PRODUCTION, NO ELITE MINORITY, AND/OR NO FOREIGN DENOMINATED DEBT, YOU GET NO HYPERINFLATION. JUST SOME OTHER TYPE OF TRANSITION OR STATE FAILURE.”

AUSTERITY IN A TIME OF PLENTY: The “domestic default” boogeyman = More bad statistics from Reinhart & Rogoff

According to Reinhart and Rogoff the danger is both outright (de jure default) and de facto default from inflation and financial repression. However, like their discredited “growth” paper, the “default” argument is also based the on the improper use of statistics.

THE RHETORIC OF GRAEBER’S “MYTH OF BARTER” (& the likely early role of commodity-exchange in credit- & State-money development)

Let's look into the actual ethnography.
Humphrey's primary ethnographic research for the paper Graeber cites as definitive was based on her research of the Lhomi of the Arun Valley in northern Nepal near the Tibetan border.
Of the Lohmi, Humphrey writes (1985, pp.54-55): "Before the virtual closure of the Tibetan border by the early 1970's which followed the Chinese invasion, the Lhomi engaged in three kinds of barter." These are: