#155 Phil Armstrong: Why Mainstream Economists Think Unemployment Is Good

The MMT Podcast with Patricia Pino & Christian Reilly

Patrica and Christian talk to economist and co-author of the just-published “Modern Monetary Theory - Key Insights, Leading Thinkers” Dr Phil Armstrong about why mainstream economists think unemployment is good, why Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer’s proposals to make the UK more prosperous by starving it of investment might be misguided, and what useful economics might look like.

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Order “Modern Monetary Theory - Key Insights, Leading Thinkers” here: https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/modern-monetary-theory-9781802208085.html

For an intro to MMT:

Our first three episodes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41742417

Episode 126 - Dirk Ehnts: How Banks Create Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62603318

All our episodes in chronological order: https://www.patreon.com/posts/43111643

All our episodes with Phil Armstrong: https://www.patreon.com/posts/42072846

Phil Armstrong on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PhilArmstrong58

Relevant to this episode:

"The Natural Rate of Interest Is Zero” by Mathew Forstater and Warren Mosler: http://moslereconomics.com/wp-content/graphs/2009/07/natural-rate-is-zero.PDF

Quick MMT reads:

Warren’s Mosler’s MMT white paper: http://moslereconomics.com/mmt-white-paper/

Steven Hail’s quick MMT explainer: https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-modern-monetary-theory-72095

On government debt: “Some Numbers Are Big. Let Me Help You Get Over It”: https://christreilly.com/2020/02/17/some-numbers-are-big-let-me-help-you-get-over-it/

For a short, non-technical, free ebook explaining MMT, download MMT founder Warren Mosler’s “7 Deadly Innocent Frauds Of Economic Policy” here: http://moslereconomics.com/wp-content/powerpoints/7DIF.pdf

Episodes on monetary operations:

Episode 20 - Warren Mosler: The MMT Money Story (part 1): https://www.patreon.com/posts/28004824

Episode 126 - Dirk Ehnts: How Banks Create Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/62603318

Episode 13 - Steven Hail: Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Banking, But Were Afraid To Ask: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41790887

Episode 43 - Sam Levey: Understanding Endogenous Money: https://www.patreon.com/posts/35073683

Episode 84 - Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson: An Accounting Model Of The UK Exchequer (Part 1): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46352183

Episode 86 - Andrew Berkeley, Richard Tye & Neil Wilson: An Accounting Model Of The UK Exchequer (Part 2): https://www.patreon.com/posts/46865929

Episodes on inflation:

Episode 7: Steven Hail: Inflation, Price Shocks and Other Misunderstandings: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41780508

Episode 65 - Phil Armstrong: Understanding Inflation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/40672678

Episode 104 - John T Harvey: Inflation, Stagflation & Healing The Nation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/52207835

Episode 123 - Warren Mosler: Understanding The Price Level And Inflation: https://www.patreon.com/posts/59856379

Episode 128 - L. Randall Wray & Yeva Nersisyan: What’s Causing Accelerating Inflation? Pandemic Or Policy Response?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/63776558

More on government bonds (and “vigilantes”):

Episode 30 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 1):https://www.patreon.com/posts/29621245

Episode 31 - Steven Hail: Understanding Government Bonds (Part 2): https://www.patreon.com/posts/29829500

Episode 143 - Paul Sheard: What Is Quantitative Easing?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71589989?pr=true

Episode 147 - Dirk Ehnts: Do Markets Control Our Politics?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-147-dirk-72906421

Episode 144 - Warren Mosler: The Natural Rate Of Interest Is Zero: https://www.patreon.com/posts/71966513

Episode 145 - John T Harvey: What Determines Currency Prices?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/72283811?pr=true

Job Guarantee episodes:

Episode 4 - Fadhel Kaboub: What is the Job Guarantee?: https://www.patreon.com/posts/41742701

Episode 47 - Pavlina Tcherneva: Building Resilience - The Case For A Job Guarantee: https://www.patreon.com/posts/36034543

Episode 148 - Pavlina Tcherneva: Why The Job Guarantee Is Core To Modern Monetary Theory: https://www.patreon.com/posts/episode-148-why-73211346

Pavlina Tcherneva’s Job Guarantee FAQ page: https://pavlina-tcherneva.net/job-guarantee-faq/

MMT events and courses in 2023

Tickets to the very first SCOTONOMICS festival (online or in-person, Dundee, Scotland 24th-26th March) are available here: https://scotonomics.scot/live-events/

Information about Professor Bill Mitchell’s MMTed project (free public online courses in MMT) here: http://www.mmted.org/

Details of Modern Money Lab’s online graduate and postgraduate courses in MMT are here: https://modernmoneylab.org.au/

A list of MMT-informed campaigns and organisations worldwide: https://www.patreon.com/posts/47900757

We are working towards full transcripts, but in the meantime, closed captions for all episodes are available on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEp_nGVTuMfBun2wiG-c0Ew/videos

Show notes: https://www.patreon.com/posts/77409078?pr=true