Second edition available here.
This edition available online here
Book contents
1 The Basics of Macroeconomic Accounting
1.1 The basics of accounting for stocks and flows
1.2 MMT, sectoral balances, and behavior
1.3 Government budget deficits are largely nondiscretionary: the case of the Great Recession of 2007
1.4 Accounting for real versus financial
1.5 Recent US sectoral balances: Goldilocks and the global crash
1.6 Stocks, flows, and balance sheet: a bathtub analogy
2 Spending by Issuer of Domestic Currency
2.1 What is a sovereign currency?
2.2 What backs up currency and why would anyone accept it?
2.3 Taxes drive money
2.4 What if the population refuses to accept the domestic currency?
2.5 Keeping track of stocks and flows: the money of account
2.6 Returning to real versus nominal stocks and flows
2.7 Sustainability conditions
3 The Domestic Monetary System: Banking and Central Banking
3.1 IOUs denominated in the national currency: government and private
3.2 Clearing and the pyramid of liabilities
3.3 Central bank operations in crisis: lender of last resort
3.4 Balance sheets of banks, monetary creation by banks, and interbank settlement
3.5 Exogenous interest rates and quantitative easing
3.6 The technical details of central bank and treasury coordination: the case of the Fed
3.7 Treasury debt operations
4 Fiscal Operations in a Nation That Issues Its Own Currency
4.1 Introductory principles
4.2 Effects of sovereign government budget deficits on saving, reserves, and interest rates
4.3 Government budget deficits and the “two-step” process of saving
4.4 What if foreigners hold government bonds?
4.5 Currency solvency and the special case of the US Dollar
4.6 Sovereign currency and government policy in the open economy
4.7 What about a country that adopts a foreign currency?
5 Modern Money Theory and Alternative Exchange Rate Regimes
5.1 The gold standard and fixed exchange rates
5.2 Floating exchange rates
5.3 Commodity money coins? metalism versus nominalism, from Mesopotamia to Rome
5.4 Commodity money coins? metalism versus nominalism, after Rome
5.5 Exchange rate regimes and sovereign defaults
5.6 The Euro: the set-up of a nonsovereign currency
5.7 The crisis of the Euro
5.8 Endgame for the Euro?
5.9 Currency regimes and policy space: conclusion
6 Monetary and Fiscal Policy for Sovereign Currencies: What Should Government Do?
6.1 Just because government can afford to spend does not mean government ought to spend
6.2 The “free” market and the public purpose
6.3 Functional finance
6.4 Functional finance versus the government budget constraint
6.5 The debate about debt limits (US case)
6.6 A budget stance for economic stability and growth
6.7 Functional finance and exchange rate regimes
6.8 Functional finance and developing nations
6.9 Exports are a cost, imports are a benefit: a functional finance approach
7 Policy for Full Employment and Price Stability
7.1 Functional finance and full employment
7.2 The JG/ELR for a developing nation
7.3 Program manageability
7.4 The JG/ELR and real world experience
7.5 Conclusions on full employment policy
7.6 MMT for Austrians: can a libertarian support the JG?
7.7 Inflation and the consumer price index
7.8 Alternative explanations of hyperinflation
7.9 Real-world hyperinflations
7.10 Conclusions on hyperinflation
7.11 Conclusion: MMT and policy
8 What Is Money? Conclusions on the Nature of Money
8.1 Is money a physical thing?
8.2 Propositions on the nature of money
8.3 Money is debt
8.4 Liquidity and default risks on money IOUs
8.5 Why are banks special?
Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography
Index