If book sales are any guide, then Modern Monetary Theory is gaining traction.
The unorthodox doctrine, which says governments have spare capacity to borrow and spend, has won attention on Wall Street and enemies (as well as a few friends) in Washington. Now, it’s trying to break into academia. And it’s off to a good start.
The first MMT textbook, a 600-page volume titled “Macroeconomics’’ and aimed at college students, has sold out of its initial print run, according to publisher Macmillan –- about two months after the launch party in London. Macmillan didn’t specify how many copies it printed. But it said more are on the way.
“I knew there was pent-up demand,’’ said Bill Mitchell, one of the book’s authors and an economist at the University of Newcastle, Australia, in an interview. His co-writers are Randall Wray, of Bard College in New York state, and Martin Watts, also of Newcastle.
Margins to Mainstream
MMT argues that governments in control of their own currencies, like the U.S. and Japan, aren’t constrained in the ways standard economics says they are. They may risk stoking inflation or running out of resources if they spend too much -- but they can’t go broke.
What you need to know about Modern Monetary Theory
The doctrine was developed over about three decades by Mitchell, Wray and a handful of others –- and largely ignored for most of that time. But this year, it has burst into the mainstream.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez played a big part in its breakout, when she invoked MMT as a way to help pay for a Green New Deal. The New York congresswoman has even popped up on social media holding a copy of the new book.
The goal is for universities and colleges to integrate the textbook into economic theory classes, said Philip Rees, a marketing manager at Macmillan.
“We took a bit of a risk, as a mainstream publisher,’’ he said in an interview in March. “The heterodox approach to economics, that’s maybe 10% of academics.’’ But, with contenders for next year’s U.S. presidential election promising radical new approaches, “the timing, we feel, is perfect.’’