Suchergebnisse

Introduction; Theoretical foundations; Substance and purposes of economic activity; Money and credit; Debts and balance sheets; The creation of bank deposits; The creation of central bank deposits; The instruments of a central bank (monetary policy); The creation of sovereign securities (fiscal policy); The sustainability of the financial; The sustainability of the financial system; Inflation and deflation; Analysis; A macroeconomic model; Europe before the euro; The situation with the euro; Reform; How do we restore demand?; The future : with or without the euro?; Conclusion; Further readings; Index

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.

Intro -- Inhaltsverzeichnis -- Hinweis zum Urheberrecht -- Impressum -- Vorwort -- Danksagung -- Einleitung: Die Wirtschaft als Mittel zum Zweck -- Einen Schritt zurück - Unser Geldsystem verstehen -- 1 Was ist Geld und woher kommt es? -- 1.1 Das Wesen des Geldes: Ausdruck einer Schuldbeziehung -- 1.2 Die Akzeptanz des Geldes -- 1.3 Auf der Spur des Geldes: Das Geldsystem und dessen Akteure -- 1.4 Wie tätigt ein Staat seine Ausgaben? -- 1.5 Der indirekte Weg: Umweg über Banken -- 1.6 Der direkte Weg: Standleitung zur Zentralbank -- 1.7 Die konsolidierte Staatsbilanz -- 1.8 Bankkredite: Die Quelle des Giralgeldes -- 1.9 Warum werben Banken um meine Ersparnisse? -- 1.10 Staatliche und private Geldschöpfung: Eine Differenzierung -- 2 Der Staat ist kein Haushalt: Die Bedeutung des Währungsmonopols -- 2.1 Staatliche Währung als Steuergutschrift -- 2.2 Die Haushaltsanalogie entlarvt -- 2.3 Steuern finanzieren nicht die Ausgaben des Währungsherausgebers -- 2.4 Defizite und Schulden: Eine Einordnung aus neuem Blickwinkel -- 3 Das Spektrum monetärer Souveränität und das fatale Design der Eurozone -- 3.1 Das Spektrum monetärer Souveränität -- 3.2 Die Eurozone: Zum Scheitern designt -- 3.3 Die Zukunft der Eurozone -- 4 Inflation: Kein Grund zur Hysterie -- 4.1 Was genau ist »Inflation«? -- 4.2 Das Preisniveau und der Einfluss des Staates -- 4.3 Inflation ist primär ein Verteilungskonflikt -- 4.4 Woher kommt die Inflation? -- 4.5 Zur Vermeidung und Bekämpfung von Inflation -- 5 Steuern als wichtiges Tool - aber nicht zur Finanzierung -- 5.1 Die vier wirtschaftspolitischen Funktionen von Steuern -- 5.2 Jede Steuer bedeutet Opportunitätskosten -- 6 Staatsanleihen als unnötiges Tool - auch zur Finanzierung -- 6.1 Staatsanleihen als Tool zur Zinssteuerung -- 6.2 Altes Denken, erschwerte Geldpolitik und reale Kosten.

This paper investigates how the concept of public purpose is used in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). As a common denominator among political scientists, the idea of public purpose is that economic actions should aim at benefiting the majority of the society. However, the concept is to be considered as an ideal of a vague nature, which is highly dependent on societal context and, hence, subject to change over time. MMT stresses that government spending plans should be designed to pursue a certain socio-economic mandate and not to meet any particular financial outcome. The concept of public purpose is heavily used in this theoretical body of thought and often referred to in the context of policy proposals as the ideas of universal job guarantee and banking reform proposals show. MMT scholars use the concept as a pragmatic benchmark against which policies can be assessed. With regards to the definition of public propose, MMT scholars agree that it is dependent on the social-cultural context. Nevertheless, MMT scholars view universal access to material means of survival as universally applicable and in that sense as the lowest possible common denominator.

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.

This paper investigates how the concept of public purpose is used in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). As a common denominator among political scientists, the idea of public purpose is that economic actions should aim at benefiting the majority of the society. However, the concept is to be considered as an ideal of a vague nature, which is highly dependent on societal context and, hence, subject to change over time. MMT stresses that government spending plans should be designed to pursue a certain socio-economic mandate and not to meet any particular financial outcome. The concept of public purpose is heavily used in this theoretical body of thought and often referred to in the context of policy proposals as the ideas of universal job guarantee and banking reform proposals show. MMT scholars use the concept as a pragmatic benchmark against which policies can be assessed. With regards to the definition of public purpose, MMT scholars agree that it is dependent on the socio-cultural context. Nevertheless, MMT scholars view universal access to material means of survival as universally applicable and in that sense as the lowest possible common denominator.