by Kristoffer Mousten Hansen and Peter C. Earle
The American Institute for Economic Research
The road to hell, an old adage holds, is paved with good intentions. And it may be that the route to successfully implementing objectionable policies is forged by simply not naming them. It should come as no surprise that crises accelerate the adoption, or at least the consideration, of what were once borderline proposals. But it will be a surprise to most that the introduction of such policies is underway, albeit via silent and seemingly innocuous policy elements.
Stealth MMT
In an effort to offset the results of pandemic policies––not the effects of a virus, to be clear, but the effects of nonpharmaceutical interventions––the monetary and fiscal measures adopted by the federal government have been unprecedented. The massive jump in the money supply over the past year leaves little doubt that the spirit of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is reigning in Washington, D.C., even if it is not yet official doctrine.