Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. The Biden Administration and the Copernican Turn -- Chapter 3. The paper currency of Virginia (1760s) and its lessons -- Chapter 4. Modern Money Theory as Part of Economics -- Chapter 5. What is economic policy? -- Chapter 6. Economic policies based on MMT -- Chapter 7. Outlook.
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Der Wirtschaftskreislauf -- Die Geldschöpfung der Banken und der Zentralbank(en) -- Die Geldschöpfung des Staates -- Die Geldpolitik des Eurosystems -- Der Konjunkturzyklus -- Wirtschaftspolitik -- Beschäftigung und Arbeitsbeziehungen -- Inflation und Deflation.
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Abstract The German debt brake forces the German government to target a very specific public deficit to GDP ratio. A ruling of the German constitutional court has drawn attention to the debt brake, as it is to be enforced more tightly than the federal German government previously thought. In this article, the author argues that the debt brake should be abolished. It does not do what it is supposed to do – the sustainability of public debt depends on the European Central Bank's Dealer of Last Resort function and nothing else. As a side effect, the debt brake curtails government spending at a time of close to zero net public investment and huge requirements for more public spending.
In his letter to US President Franklin D. Roosevelt Keynes (1933) wrote about "the technique of recovery itself". An increase in output is brought about by an increase in purchasing power, Keynes argues, which can come from three sectors: households, firms and government. Using the IS/MY macroeconomic model developed by Ehnts (2014), which features sectoral balances and endogenous money, the situation of some euro zone members is examined with a focus on the three techniques of recovery: increases in debt of the respective sectors as defined by Keynes. A fourth technique, an increase in spending by the rest of the world, is added. The conclusion is that the policy recommendation given by Keynes in his letter also holds for the euro zone at present: a rise in debt-financed government expenditure. Some reform at the institutional level in Europe would enable "the technique of recovery" to work via the TARGET2 payment system, which is organized along Keynes' International Clearing Union proposal and a solid foundation to build on.
In this paper, the focus lies on the way the German government spends, how it spends and what the connection between finance ministry and central bank is. The institutions involved in the process are identified and discussed. As a member of the Eurozone, Germany's national central bank is not allowed to buy sovereign securities on its own account. The German government uses taxes and revenues from sovereign security issues to finance its spending, continuing the institutional framework that existed during the era of the deutsch mark. This description confirms the idea that 'the state spends first' also in the Eurozone and that it makes sense to consolidate central bank and government(s) even when a government is not issuing a sovereign currency.
This paper presents the idea of the Job Guarantee (JG), which is a logical extension of the paradigm of a tax-driven fiat currency. The JG involves the government offering a public purpose-oriented job with a fixed hourly wage and job benefits to anyone willing to work. The JG as a bottom-up approach is locally administered but federally funded. As the analytical lens of MMT reveals, a monetarily sovereign government is always able to provide the spending required. Macroeconomically, the JG works as an automatic countercyclical stabilizer and an excellent tool for aggregated demand management, ensuring the economy is continuously operating at full capacity. On top, the JG uses an employed buffer stock approach as a superior means to maintain price stability. Next to its favourable macroeconomic impacts, the JG offers many social benefits, particularly related to continuous employment, working conditions in the private sector, power relations in the labour market and democracy. While the JG and Universal Basic Income (UBI) are often discussed as comparable, competing policy proposals, the JG addresses more macroeconomic and social issues than the UBI does. This paper concludes that the JG qualifies for being the single most effective policy in order to drive the economy towards continuous full employment and price stability while realizing additional social benefits.