Founded in 1968, The Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) is an interdisciplinary membership organization of academics and of activists. Its mission is to promote the study, development and application of radical political economic analysis to social problems. Concretely, this involves a continuing critique of both the capitalist system, and of all forms of exploitation and oppression. URPE’s mission also includes, coming out of this critique, helping to construct a progressive social policy, and a human-centered radical alternative to capitalism.

Ernest Mandel, a heterodox Marxist economist, shows here how a political economist can analyse systems such as the Soviet Union.

Economic theory must distinguish between publicly owned and privately owned property if it is to account for the effect of institutions on the behavior of individuals. Careful study of the theories of Marxists and the real-world experience in the Soviet economy offer important lessons and insight for economic modeling and the ongoing development of theory. In this course, Marxist/Leninist theory and Soviet reality will be studied with an open mind, and with the goal of taking lessons from the case study. To what extent was the Soviet economy an accurate expression of Marxist theory? If Marxism were tried somewhere else would the results be the same?

This paper attempts to clarify how the European economic crisis from 2007 onwards can be understood from the perspective of a Marxian monetary theory of value that emphasizes intrinsic, structural flaws regarding capitalist reproduction. Chapter two provides an empirical description of the European economic crisis, which to some extent already reflects the structural theoretical framework presented in chapter three. Regarding the theoretical framework Michael Heinrich's interpretation of 'the' Marxian monetary theory of value will be presented. Heinrich identifies connections between production and realization, between profit and interest rate as well as between industrial and fictitious capital, which represent contradictory tendencies for which capitalism does not have simple balancing processes. In the context of a discussion of 'structural logical aspects' of Marx's Critique of the Political Economy, explanatory deficits of Heinrich's approach are analyzed. In the following, it is argued that Fred Moseley's view of these 'structural logical aspects' allows empirical 'applications' of Marxian monetary theories of value. It is concluded that a Marxian monetary theory of value, with the characteristics of expansive capital accumulation and its limitations, facilitates a structural analysis of the European economic crisis from 2007 onwards. In this line of argument, expansive production patterns are expressed, among other things, in global restructuring processes, while consumption limitations are mitigated by expansive financial markets and shifts in ex-port destinations.

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is a school of monetary and macroeconomic thought that focuses on the analysis of the monetary and credit system, and in particular on the question of credit creation by the state.

Exploring Economics, an open-access e-learning platform, giving you the opportunity to discover & study a variety of economic theories, topics, and methods.

After completing the module, participants should have gained a basic understanding of the economic school of thought referred to as "Modern Monetary Theory" and should be able to analyze the monetary processes at play in the economy and evaluate fiscal and monetary policy decisions from an MMT-perspective.

Since 2007, central banks of industrialized countries have counteracted financial instability, recession, and deflationary risks with unprecedented monetary policy operations. While generally regarded as successful, these measures also led to an exceptional increase in the size of central bank balance sheets. The book first introduces the subject by explaining monetary policy operations in normal times, including the key instruments (open market operations, standing facilities, reserve requirements, and the collateral framework).

This book is about history of monetary economic thought. From the 18th century with Hume and Smith to the early 20th, the author explains the different schools of thought regarding the monetary theories and policies and specially the central banking theory.

Modern Monetary Theory and Practice: An Introductory Text is an introductory textbook for university-level macroeconomics students. It is based on the principles of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).

This video by the Khan Academy presents the difference between monetary policy and fiscal policy and how they affect aggregate demand. The video especially elaborates on the basic explanation on how expansionary monetary policy increases aggregate demand via the market for money and the AD-AS model.

Although money plays a key role in our lives, the workings of our monetary system are a mystery to most of us. ‘The Waterworks of Money’ by cartographer Carlijn Kingma is an attempt to demystify the world of big finance. It visualizes the flow of money through our society, its hidden power made manifest. If you see money as water, our monetary system is the irrigation system that waters the economy. The better the flow, the more prosperous society will be. Just as water makes crops thrive, so money sets the economy in motion. Or at least that’s the idea. In reality, inequality is growing in many countries and people are dealing with a ‘cost of living crisis’. Meanwhile, the progress with making our economies sustainable is stalling, and financial instability remains an ongoing threat. These problems cannot be seen in isolation from the architecture of our money system. If we truly want to tackle them, we will have to address the design flaws of our current money system. For more info check: https://www.waterworksofmoney.com or https://www.carlijnkingma.com For the Dutch version of the animation check: https://www.ftm.nl/waterwerk Current exhibitions: 'The Future of Money' at Kunstmuseum Den Haag, 14 April, 2023 - 8 September 2023. 'Plumbing The System' at the Dutch Pavilion of the Venice Biennale, 20 May 2023 - 26 November 2023 The second animation video of this series will be released in September 2023. The Waterworks of Money is a collaboration of cartographer Carlijn Kingma, investigative financial journalist Thomas Bollen, and professor New Finance Martijn van der Linden. Kingma spent 2300 drawing hours, based on in-depth research and interviews with more than 100 experts –ranging from central bank governors and board members of pension funds and banks to politicians and monetary activists. The structure of our monetary system is not a natural phenomenon. We can choose to change its architecture. Designing the money system– and the laws and institutions that govern it–is ultimately a democratic task, and not a commercial or technocratic one. In practice, however, there is a major obstacle impeding the democratic process: financial illiteracy. By making finance and money needlessly complex, economists, bankers and tax specialists have turned most of us into ‘financial illiterates’. Everyone who doesn’t speak their financial jargon is excluded from the democratic debate on how our monetary system should work. The Waterworks of Money bypasses the financial jargon. It is an attempt to boost systemic financial literacy. Only if ordinary citizens develop their own vocabulary to participate in the debate about their financial future, can they tell their politicians which kind of ‘financial irrigation system’ they want. Authors: Carlijn Kingma, Thomas Bollen, Martijn Jeroen van der Linden Animation: Tiepes, Christian Schinkel, Cathleen van den Akker Narrator: Loveday Smith Translation: Erica Moore Voice recording: Huub Krom Music and sound: Rob Peters Photography: Studio OPPA Partners: Follow the Money, De Haagse Hogeschool, Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie, Brave New Works, Rabobank, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, Rijksmuseum Twenthe

In diesem Beitrag diskutiert Ingo Stützle die Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) kritisch aus einer an Marx orientierten Ökonomiekritik. Dabei wird argumentiert, dass die MMT zwar wichtige Fragen aufwirft, aber weder einen adäquaten Begriff von Geld noch von Kapitalismus hat, was mitunter zu Fehlschlüssen führt. Dabei ist der wesentliche Punkt, dass die MMT auf der Basis eines falschen Verständnisses von Geld die notwendige Begrenztheit staatlicher Verfügungs- und Gestaltungsmacht im Kapitalismus nicht versteht.

This book provides a new methodological approach to money and macroeconomics. Realizing that the abstract equilibrium models lacked descriptions of fundamental issues of a modern monetary economy, the focus of this book lies on the (stylized) balance sheets of the main actors. Money, after all, is born on the balance sheets of the central bank or commercial bank.

Post-Colonialisms Today researcher Chafik Ben Rouine looks to Tunisia’s post-independence central banking method to provide insight on what progressive monetary policy can look like.

Die Modern Monetary Theory (kurz: MMT, dt: moderne Geldtheorie) ist eine geldtheoretische und makroökonomische Denkschule, bei der es hauptsächlich um die Analyse des Geld- und Kreditsystems und insbesondere um die Frage der Kreditschöpfung geht.

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.

Nathan Tankus created this series to introduce people outside of the inner financial circles of professionals, journalists and policymakers to the basic mechanisms and dynamics of monetary policy.

John Christensen from the Tax Justice Network addresses the Modern Monetary Theory idea that governments don't need tax revenues if they want to spend money. Doing so, he sums up the main points made by MMT proponents and their critics, and shows how MMT can be reconciled with another progressive economic narrative: "Modern Tax Theory". While MMT made valuable contributions to the policy debate on fiscal policy, it misrepresents the importance of taxation as a political matter and as a way to generate public revenues. This is where MMT steps in.

Peter Bofinger argues that the Modern Monetary Theory gives theoretical justification for bold answers to the corona crisis.

In "The Money Problem, "Morgan Ricks argues for a reform of the American monetary system. Taking up foundational questions of monetary policy, he asks: how would we construct a monetary system if we were starting from scratch? What are the characteristics of a monetary instrument?

In this overview paper, Laura Porak reviews the history of industrial policy in the European Union before the background of a Cultural Political Economy approach.

Ökonomische Ungleichheiten und große Unterschiede in den Lebensbedingungen sind für die Europäische Union (EU) eine wachsende politische Herausforderung. Die Unterschiede in den Einkommen führen zu verstärkter Arbeitsmigration sowie zu Lohn- und Sozialdumping – und sie treiben den Standortwettbewerb zwischen den Mitgliedstaaten an. Hierbei geht es oft um ökonomische Indikatoren, das heißt um Messgrößen, die über die jeweilige wirtschaftliche Situation oder Struktur der Länder Auskunft geben; Fragen der Lebensqualität und des gesellschaftlichen Wohlergehens erhalten unter diesem Blickwinkel innerhalb der EU hingegen kaum Aufmerksamkeit.

This is an important contribution both to advancing theoretical and empirical understandings of African monetary sovereignty and to putting problems and possibilities relating to African monetary sovereignty on the political agenda This is of utmost importance given that these issues have largely not received much attention in contemporary discussions of …

Welche Finanzregulierungen gab und gibt es in der Europäischen Union seit der Finanzkrise? Der Vortrag gibt einen Überblick über verschiedene Regulierungen, diskutiert das Problem „too big to fail“, den Einheitlichen Bankenaufsichtsmechanismus und Interessenskonflikte zwischen der Europäischen Zentralbank und der Europäischen Bankenaufsichtsbehörde.

Die kontraktive Geldpolitik umfasst alle Maßnahmen, welche das Geldangebot, das heißt die Höhe des sich im Umlauf befindlichen Geldes, verringert. In den meisten Ländern wird die Geldpolitik von einer Zentralbank oder einem Finanzministerium durchgeführt. Die Geldpolitik der Europäischen Union regelt die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB).

Cédric Durand locates the Russian War on Ukraine in relation to Russian Economic Development and Political Economy after the collapse of the soviet union.

In dem Papier wird erläutert, wie es zu den starken Monopolisierungstendenzen auf digitalen Märkten kommt und welche Auswirkungen diese auf Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft und Politik haben. Im Anschluss wird auf den aktuellen Regulierungsversuch der Europäischen Union eingegangen und in Auseinandersetzung damit, die Frage behandelt, wie eine wirksame Regulierung von Digitalkonzernen gestaltet werden könnte.

From the perspective of mainstream theory the effectiveness of monetary policy in bringing down inflation depends on two very important equations the aggregate demand equation and the infamous Phillips Curve Without these it becomes more difficult or rather impossible for central banks to carry out monetary policy and obtain the …

Central banks have once again proven to be the first line of defense in crisis-ridden times. With their far reaching actions they prevented the world from experiencing a collapse of financial markets on top of the severe health and economic crisis caused by Covid-19.

As part of the 2019/2020 Exploring Economics Experience, one of our supporters Prof. Steve Keen gave a presentation to our editorial team. Read more

This essay analyses how the role of central banks changed since the global financial crisis, and how this directional change was accelerated by the outbreak of Covid-19.