The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy

A New York Times Bestseller

A “clear and vigorously written book” (Foreign Affairs), from the leading thinker of modern monetary theory, that delivers a bold new understanding for how to build a prosperous society

Stephanie Kelton's brilliant exploration of modern monetary theory (MMT) dramatically changes our understanding of how we can best deal with crucial issues ranging from poverty and inequality to creating jobs, expanding health care coverage, climate change, and building resilient infrastructure. Any ambitious proposal, however, inevitably runs into the buzz saw of how to find the money to pay for it, rooted in myths about deficits that are hobbling us as a country.

Kelton busts through the myths that prevent us from taking action: that the federal government should budget like a household, that deficits will harm the next generation, crowd out private investment, and undermine long-term growth, and that entitlements are propelling us toward a grave fiscal crisis.

MMT, as Kelton shows, shifts the terrain from narrow budgetary questions to one of broader economic and social benefits. With its important new ways of understanding money, taxes, and the critical role of deficit spending, MMT redefines how to responsibly use our resources so that we can maximize our potential as a society. MMT gives us the power to imagine a new politics and a new economy and move from a narrative of scarcity to one of opportunity.

Stephanie Kelton is professor of economics and public policy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Named by POLITICO as one of the fifty people most influencing the policy debate in America, she was chief economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (minority staff) and an advisor to Bernie Sanders’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. She writes The Lens newsletter on Substack.