Covid-19: Has the Time Come for Mainstream Macroeconomics to Rehabilitate Money Printing?

Document type :

Compte-rendu et recension critique d'ouvrage

Title :

Covid-19: Has the Time Come for Mainstream Macroeconomics to Rehabilitate Money Printing?

Author(s) :

Arquié, Axelle [Auteur]
Hericourt, Jérôme [Auteur]
Lille économie management - UMR 9221 [LEM]
Tripier, Fabien [Auteur]

Publication date :

2020-04

HAL domain(s) :

Sciences de l'Homme et Société
Sciences de l'Homme et Société/Economies et finances

English abstract : [en]

The scale of public expenditure to be incurred in the Covid-19 health crisis is raising heated debates about the appropriate funding. Long rejected by mainstream macroeconomics due to its possible inflationary consequences, ...
Show more >The scale of public expenditure to be incurred in the Covid-19 health crisis is raising heated debates about the appropriate funding. Long rejected by mainstream macroeconomics due to its possible inflationary consequences, monetization is currently undergoing a surprising rehabilitation. Defined as the financing of public expenditure by money issuance -without the government ever reimbursing the central bank, monetization appears as an attractive solution in a context where the burden of public debt could become particularly problematic due both to the persistent threat of secular stagnation and the massive Covid-19 shock. This policy brief offers some theoretical insights into this debate opposing monetization and issuance of additional public debt. We first clarify what is happening to current debt and how its sustainability can be assessed, before examining how current mainstream macroeconomics can be used to rehabilitate monetization of public spending. In conclusion, we draw attention to the particular democratic challenges implied by such a policy in the Euro area context, in terms of balance of powers between European institutions.Show less >

Language :

Anglais

Popular science :

Non

Collections :

Lille Économie Management (LEM) - UMR 9221

Source :

Harvested from HAL