This book provides a timely and engaging treatment of Hyman Minsky's approach to economics, which is enjoying a renewed appreciation because of its prescient analysis of the slow but sure transformation of the capitalist economy in the post-war period. Many have called the global financial crisis that began in the United States in 2007 a 'Minsky crisis', and these collected contributions demonstrate precisely why both academic economists as well as policy makers have turned to Minsky for guidance. The book brings together the foremost Minsky scholars to provide a comprehensive overview of his approach, with extensions to bring the analysis up to date. With the 2008 republication of his seminal books John Maynard Keynes (1975) and Stabilizing an Unstable Economy (1986), Minsky's ideas saw an unprecedented resurgence. This companion exemplifies this resurgence by emphasizing that economists have discovered Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis and have widely applied it to the course of events in the US from 2004 until the real estate market went bust. The book also argues that many commentators have recently begun to employ Minsky's hedge, speculative and Ponzi classification scheme to analyze the evolution of mortgage markets. Many of Minsky's favorite themes - 'stability is destabilizing', the role of the 'Big Government' and 'Big Bank' in constraining endogenous instability, banker's rationality, money non-neutrality, creative destruction and innovation by financial institutions - are taken up in the chapters commissioned especially for this volume. Using the introductory chapter as a springboard, the work here delves deeply into Minsky's ideas and how they have impacted thought today. The scope and comprehensive analyses found in this companion will appeal particularly to economists and post-Keynesian economists, institutionalists and upper-level scholars of economics and finance. Contributors: T. Assenza, M. Auerback, R.J. Barbera, R. Bellofiore, D. Delli Gatti, S. Dow, G.A. Dymski, P. Ferri, D.K. Foley, J.K. Galbraith, M. Gallegati, J. Halevi, J. Kregel, P. McCulley, E. Nasica, D.B. Papadimitriou, R.W. Parenteau, M. Passarella, D.M. Sastre, M. Shubik, E. Tymoigne, C.L. Weise, L.R. Wray

In 1913 and 1914, A. Mitchell Innes published a pair of articles that stand as two of the best pieces written in the twentieth century on the nature of money. Only recently rediscovered, these articles are reprinted and analyzed here for the first time. In addition, five new contributions analyze and extend the approach of Innes in a number of directions by including historical, anthropological, sociological, archeological, and economic analyses of the nature of money. The original articles by Innes contained two quite different approaches to money - what might be called the credit approach (later developed in a much less satisfactory manner by J.A. Schumpeter) and the state money approach (also called Chartalist and adopted by J.M. Keynes and by G.F. Knapp). This volume shows how the credit and state money approaches can be integrated to shed light on the origins of money, but more importantly, how they can be used to understand the way the modern money system operates. In addition to the articles by Innes, the volume contains chapters by John Henry, Geoffrey Ingham, Michael Hudson, Geoffrey Gardiner, and L. Randall Wray. An introduction by L. Randall Wray and Stephanie Bell provides an overview and a short biography of Innes. This authoritative collection of papers is a must-read for economists, policymakers and students interested in the history of economic thought, monetary policy and economic theory.

In this innovative and very practical book, L. Randall Wray argues that full employment and price stability are not the incompatible goals that current economic theory and policy assume. Indeed, he advances a policy that would generate true, full employment while simultaneously ensuring an even greater degree of price stability than has been achieved in the 1990s. Wray's clearly written argument incorporates incisive historical analysis, modern monetary theory, and an examination of policy alternatives that rises above the doctrinal debates among monetarists, supply-siders and Keynesians over natural or non-inflationary rates of unemployment. Understanding Modern Money proclaims that a labor buffer stock program would guarantee full employment and increase labor productivity and economic growth, while reducing inflationary pressures. Wray's analysis shows that, contrary to popular belief, the dangers of a government budget deficit are largely imaginary. He outlines a program in which the government acts as employer of last resort, thereby providing employment and training to the otherwise unemployed, and stabilizing the wage scale which acts as a brake on inflation. This permits greater price stability without requiring conventional methods such as wage and price controls or countercyclical monetary policy. This ground-breaking book offers important new ways of thinking for policymakers, students, and general readers interested in economics, employment policies, and monetary theory.

Money is mysterious. We love it, we hate it, but few people can tell you what the heck it really is. Wouldn't it be good to get out of the fog? This book will help you understand both the way money works and how to leverage its power. The authors take you on an illuminating journey from your piggy bank to the Federal Reserve with no pesky jargon or complex math. Once you see money clearly, life will never be the same. You'll know what really goes on in banks and what the cash in your wallet represents. You'll know how government really spends and why it can’t run out of money. You'll know what money can actually do — and how we can make it work for us.

This book provides a timely and engaging treatment of Hyman Minsky's approach to economics, which is enjoying a renewed appreciation because of its prescient analysis of the slow but sure transformation of the capitalist economy in the post-war period. Many have called the global financial crisis that began in the United States in 2007 a 'Minsky crisis', and these collected contributions demonstrate precisely why both academic economists as well as policy makers have turned to Minsky for guidance. The book brings together the foremost Minsky scholars to provide a comprehensive overview of his approach, with extensions to bring the analysis up to date. With the 2008 republication of his seminal books John Maynard Keynes (1975) and Stabilizing an Unstable Economy (1986), Minsky's ideas saw an unprecedented resurgence. This companion exemplifies this resurgence by emphasizing that economists have discovered Minsky's Financial Instability Hypothesis and have widely applied it to the course of events in the US from 2004 until the real estate market went bust. The book also argues that many commentators have recently begun to employ Minsky's hedge, speculative and Ponzi classification scheme to analyze the evolution of mortgage markets. Many of Minsky's favorite themes - 'stability is destabilizing', the role of the 'Big Government' and 'Big Bank' in constraining endogenous instability, banker's rationality, money non-neutrality, creative destruction and innovation by financial institutions - are taken up in the chapters commissioned especially for this volume. Using the introductory chapter as a springboard, the work here delves deeply into Minsky's ideas and how they have impacted thought today. The scope and comprehensive analyses found in this companion will appeal particularly to economists and post-Keynesian economists, institutionalists and upper-level scholars of economics and finance. Contributors: T. Assenza, M. Auerback, R.J. Barbera, R. Bellofiore, D. Delli Gatti, S. Dow, G.A. Dymski, P. Ferri, D.K. Foley, J.K. Galbraith, M. Gallegati, J. Halevi, J. Kregel, P. McCulley, E. Nasica, D.B. Papadimitriou, R.W. Parenteau, M. Passarella, D.M. Sastre, M. Shubik, E. Tymoigne, C.L. Weise, L.R. Wray

Original articles by leading scholars of post Keynesian economics make up this authoritative collection. Current topics of the greatest interest are covered, such as: perspectives on current economic policy; post Keynesian approaches to monetary theory and policy; economic development, growth and inflation; Kaleckian perspectives on distribution; economic methodology; and history of heterodox economic theory. The contributors explore a variety of prevailing issues including: wage bargaining and monetary policy in the EMU; the meaning of money in the internet age; stability conditions for small open economies; and economic policies of sustainable development in countries transitioning to a market economy. Other enduring matters are examined through the lens of economic theorists - Kaleckian dynamics and evolutionary life cycles; a comparison between Keynes's and Hayek's economic theories; and an analysis of the power of the firm based on the work of Joan Robinson, to name a few. Students and scholars of post Keynesian economics and those with an interest in other heterodox schools of thought will find this enlightening volume a valuable addition to their reading.

The book studies the trends that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, as well as the unfolding of the crisis, in order to provide policy recommendations to improve financial stability. The book starts with changes in monetary policy and income distribution from the 1970s. These changes profoundly modified the foundations of economic growth in the US by destroying the commitment banking model and by decreasing the earning power of households whose consumption has been at the core of the growth process.

The main themes of the book are the changes in the financial structure and income distribution, the collapse of the Ponzi process in 2007, and actual and prospective policy responses. The objective is to show that Minskya (TM)s approach can be used to understand the making and unfolding of the crisis and to draw some policy implications to improve financial stability.

Money, Financial Instability and Stabilization Policy consists of original articles by leading Post Keynesians, Kaleckians and other heterodox economists from the developed and developing world. Post Keynesian literature has long been associated with the study of money, financial markets and financial instability. Indeed, this is perhaps the area to which Post Keynesians have made the greatest contributions. The authors to this volume present an overview of the latest research on monetary theory and policy, financial markets, and financial instability coming out of the Post Keynesian school of thought. They provide an indication of the wide-ranging interests and of the truly international scope of Post Keynesian research. The first half of the volume is theoretical, while the second half includes papers that are either empirical or more focused on specific concerns. This book will find an appreciative audience in economists generally as well as Post Keynesian, other heterodox economists and macroeconomists specifically.

Perhaps no economist was more vindicated by the global financial crisis than Hyman P. Minsky (1919-96). Although a handful of economists raised alarms as early as 2000, Minsky's warnings began a half-century earlier, with writings that set out a compelling theory of financial instability. Yet even today he remains largely outside mainstream economics; few people have a good grasp of his writings, and fewer still understand their full importance. Why Minsky Matters makes the maverick economist's critically valuable insights accessible to general readers for the first time. L. Randall Wray shows that by understanding Minsky we will not only see the next crisis coming but we might be able to act quickly enough to prevent it. As Wray explains, Minsky's most important idea is that "stability is destabilizing": to the degree that the economy achieves what looks to be robust and stable growth, it is setting up the conditions in which a crash becomes ever more likely. Before the financial crisis, mainstream economists pointed to much evidence that the economy was more stable, but their predictions were completely wrong because they disregarded Minsky's insight. Wray also introduces Minsky's significant work on money and banking, poverty and unemployment, and the evolution of capitalism, as well as his proposals for reforming the financial system and promoting economic stability. A much-needed introduction to an economist whose ideas are more relevant than ever, Why Minsky Matters is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why economic crises are becoming more frequent and severe--and what we can do about it.

The book studies the trends that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, as well as the unfolding of the crisis, in order to provide policy recommendations to improve financial stability. The book starts with changes in monetary policy and income distribution from the 1970s. These changes profoundly modified the foundations of economic growth in the US by destroying the commitment banking model and by decreasing the earning power of households whose consumption has been at the core of the growth process. The main themes of the book are the changes in the financial structure and income distribution, the collapse of the Ponzi process in 2007, and actual and prospective policy responses. The objective is to show that Minsky's approach can be used to understand the making and unfolding of the crisis and to draw some policy implications to improve financial stability.

In this substantial new collection, esteemed Post-Keynesian scholars reassess the relevance of Keynes's The General Theory to a broad array of topic areas, ranging from the environment, investment finance, exchange rates, and socialism, as well as inquiries into general Post-Keynesian theory. In response to the current economic crisis, many people looking for new solutions are excitedly re-discovering the Post-Keynesian tradition of money modeling and theory. This book offers a broad array of recent Post-Keynesian scholarship, providing a good contextual understanding of the current state of the field from which innovative money solutions are springing. Topics covered here include: Keynes and heterodox economics, the founding fathers of Post-Keynesian economics, Keynesian models, Keynesian policy, and the modern development and extensions of Keynesian economics. Academics and practitioners eager for a solid heterodox approach to economics and money theory, the environment, finance, and political science will find the book an invaluable addition to their collection.

This second edition explores how money 'works' in the modern economy and synthesises the key principles of Modern Money Theory, exploring macro accounting, currency regimes and exchange rates in both the USA and developing nations.

This second edition explores how money 'works' in the modern economy and synthesises the key principles of Modern Money Theory, exploring macro accounting, currency regimes and exchange rates in both the USA and developing nations.

This groundbreaking new core textbook encourages students to take a more critical approach to the prevalent assumptions around the subject of macroeconomics, by comparing and contrasting heterodox and orthodox approaches to theory and policy. The first such textbook to develop a heterodox model from the ground up, it is based on the principles of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) as derived from the theories of Keynes, Kalecki, Veblen, Marx, and Minsky, amongst others. The internationally-respected author team offer appropriate fiscal and monetary policy recommendations, explaining how the poor economic performance of most of the wealthy capitalist countries over recent decades could have been avoided, and delivering a well-reasoned practical and philosophical argument for the heterodox MMT approach being advocated. The book is suitable for both introductory and intermediate courses, offering a thorough overview of the basics and valuable historical context, while covering everything needed for more advanced courses. Issues are explained conceptually, with the more technical, mathematical material in chapter appendices, offering greater flexibility of use. Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsburyonlineresources.com/mitchell-macroeconomics. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost.