Beyond Barter: Lectures In Monetary Economics After 'Rethinking'

The conventional macroeconomic theory of the late twentieth and early twenty-first century, based on the assumption that the working of complex monetary economy could be analysed on the same principles as those of barter exchange, has demonstrably failed.This book provides a thorough rethinking of the nature of a monetary economy.It builds upon a complete theory of the domestic and international monetary macro-economy, and of macroeconomic policy for the modern age.Central to the analysis is the idea that a successful market economy requires an endogenous supply of money via the banking system.Therefore to achieve macroeconomic stability, the book proposes the targeting of real interest rates under a regime of flexible exchange rates or 'fixed but adjustable exchange rates' as the main goal of monetary policy, along with a range of innovative fiscal and trade policies to promote economic growth, and thereby achieve full employment and a fair distribution of income.