Stephanie Kelton, professor of economics and public policy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and Bloomberg contributing columnist, has been called a "prophetic economist" and a "rock star" of progressive economics. She is the founder and of the top-rated economic blog New Economic Perspectives, and a member of the TopWonks network of the nation's best thinkers. In 2016, Politico recognized her as one of the fifty people across the country most influencing the political debate. Kelton was chief economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (minority staff) and an advisor to Bernie Sanders's 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. Kelton is a regular commentator on national radio and television and speaks across the world at large gatherings of people interested in global finance, political economy and public policy. She has superb connections in all areas of print and broadcast national media. Her op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg.
"The Deficit Myth is a triumph. It is absorbing, compelling,
and--most important of all--empowering. Embracing a well-researched
framework that focuses on how real-world economies actually
operate, she lays out a realistic path to true economic prosperity.
It is an approach that focuses on Main Street and not Wall Street
and will permit us to not only revitalize the struggling middle
class, but address critical social problems like chronic
unemployment, poverty, health care, and climate change. We of
course face many binding constraints on our ability to act, but
Kelton argues that the intentional underemployment of our own
resources that results from the pervasive influence of deficit
myths should not be one. We have needed this book for a very long
time. Everyone should read it, and then reread it, before it is too
late to change course."
--John T. Harvey, professor of economics, Texas Christian
University
"The Deficit Myth is simply the most important book I've ever read.
Stephanie Kelton carefully articulates a message that obliterates
economic orthodoxy about public finance, which assumes that taxes
precede spending and deficits are bad. Kelton's work is on a par
with the genius of DaVinci and Copernicus, heretics who proved that
Earth revolves around the sun."--David Cay Johnston, recipient of
the Pulitzer Prize, an Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc.
Medal, and the George Polk Award
"A remarkable book both in content and timing. A 'must-read' that
is sure to influence many aspects of policymaking going
forward."
--Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor, Allianz
"A robust, well-reasoned, and highly readable walk through many
common misunderstandings. A 'must-read' for anyone who wants to
understand how government financing really works, and how it
interplays with economic policy."
--Frank Newman, former deputy secretary of the Treasury
"Clear and vigorously written book."--Foreign Affairs
"Clear! Compelling! Eye-opening and persuasive, The Deficit Myth is
an adventure in the world of budgets, jobs, trade, banking
and--above all--of money. With the great force of common sense,
Stephanie Kelton and the MMT team have broken through the closed
circles of so-called sound finance, a stale orthodoxy that has
weakened and impoverished us all. This book shows how they did it,
and it blazes a path forward, toward a better world built on better
ideas."--James K. Galbraith, The University of Texas at Austin
"In a world of epic, overlapping crises, Stephanie Kelton is an
indispensable source of moral clarity. Whether you're all in for
MMT, or merely MMT-curious, the truths that she teaches about
money, debt, and deficits give us the tools we desperately need to
build a safe future for all. Read it--then put it to use."--Naomi
Klein, author of On Fire: The Burning Case for a Green New Deal
"Kelton and her colleagues have brought a great many non-economists
into the economic conversation in a way that no other contemporary
branch of heterodox economics has been able to....[Sh]e's dead
right about a central political fact of our times: A large, active
public sector is more needed today than ever, and unfounded fears
of public debt are a big reason we haven't gotten it. Which means
her eloquent, accessible book is performing an important public
service."--The American Prospect
"Kelton certainly offers food for thought at a time when
governments are spending eye-watering sums to mitigate damage from
the coronavirus pandemic."
--Spear's Magazine
"Kelton writes clearly and directly, and does well to keep the lay
reader in mind throughout. This comprehensive, lucid explanation of
a much-buzzed about economic theory will resonate with
progressives."--Publishers Weekly
"Kelton's game-changing book on the myths around government
deficits is both theoretically rigorous and empirically
entertaining. It reminds us that money is not limited, only our
imagination of what to do with it. After you read it you will never
think of the public purse as a household economy again. Read
it!"
--Mariana Mazzucato, author of The Value of Everything: Making and
Taking in the Global Economy
"Kelton's mission in this powerful book is to free us from defunct
orthodox thinking about fiscal deficits rooted in the bygone era of
the gold standard. Her theoretical canvas is modern monetary
theory. At its core MMT offers a simple proposition: In a fiat
currency world, the finances of we the people ain't the same as a
summing up of our individual budget constraints, because we the
people can't go broke, only deficit-spend our collective self into
inflationary excesses. In the prevailing era of too-low inflation,
the macro policy implication should be obvious: We the people
presently have far more fiscal space than the deficit scold,
pay-for crowd preaches. Kelton is a gifted writer and teacher and I
confidently predict that The Deficit Myth, brilliantly written and
argued, will become the defining book on what MMT is--and what it
is not."--Paul Allen McCulley, retired managing director and chief
economist, PIMCO, and senior fellow, Cornell University Law
School
"She has succeeded in instigating a round of heretical questioning,
essential for a post-Covid-19 world, where the pantheon of economic
gods will have to be reconfigured."--The Guardian
"Stephanie Kelton convincingly overturns the conventional wisdom
that federal budget deficits are somehow bad for the nation.
...Kelton argues that our government's inability to provide for
citizens isn't due to a lack for money; instead, our leaders lack
political will."--Farhad Manjoo, The New York Times
"Stephanie Kelton is among the most prominent of the dozen or so
economists associated with MMT. Her new book The Deficit Myth is
intended to bring MMT to a broader audience. In addition to an
impassioned call for a bigger, more active public sector, The
Deficit Myth contains a number of distinct economic arguments."
--The American Prospect
"The big thing she gets right is in the way she structures her book
around our current beliefs. In addressing our current understanding
of how the world works - interpretations she identifies as myths -
Kelton leads us step-by-step towards a new understanding of how
federal spending works."--Inside Higher Education
"I really can't recommend it (or time with the kids, for that
matter) highly enough. It's one of those books that seems
counterintuitive until it suddenly clicks, after which it seems
obvious. And if it's broadly correct, which I think it is, then we
have a much larger world of political possibility than we
realize."--Matt Reed, Inside Higher Ed
"[A] provocative, engaging, and thoroughly readable new book on
modern monetary theory, economic policy, and job
creation...Kelton... does a masterful job of challenging
conventional wisdom with new facts, trends and data. You may not
end up agreeing with her, but Kelton most certainly will make you
think."--Larry Gennari, Boston Business Journal
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