Monetary Policy in an Era of Capital Market Inflation

The theory of capital market inflation argues that the values of long- term securities markets are determined by a disequilibrium inflow of funds into those markets. The resulting over-capitalization of companies leads to increased fragility of banking and undermines monetary policy and stable relationships between short- and long-term interest rates, such as that postulated by Keynes in his theory of the speculative demand for money. Moreover, while the increased fragility of banking is an immediate effect, capital market inflation also creates an unstable Ponzi financing structure in the capital market as a whole.

"Methodology and Microeconomics in the Early Work of Hyman P. Minsky"

This paper reviews the recently published Ph.D. thesis of Hyman P. Minsky, summarizing its main contributions to methodology and microeconomics. These were aspects of economics with which Minsky is not usually associated, but which lie at the foundation of his later work. They include critical remarks on Cambridge economics. The paper then draws out some antecedents of Minsky's ideas in the work of Henry Simons, and highlights the Marshallian monetary analysis that he adopted.

An economic policy for the fifth long wave

The paper starts by reviewing a recent contribution on long-waves, in order to recall the essential points of a theory that, better than any other, is able to explain the long term development of capitalist economies. Considering that the present technological revolution in ICT is part of the broad phenomenon of a new long wave, it follows that the main focus of economic policy should be to support the diffusion of the new technological style and to favour the institutional changes required by such an objective. On the basis of a selective view of what is deemed crucial to foster the full implementation of the new long wave, four broad guidelines are suggested: (i) a Keynesian policy for demand; (ii) a policy to re-establish the primacy of productive capital through systematic concerted open market operations to regulate liquidity in the financial markets; (iii) a reconstruction of the employment relationship that, while taking into consideration the requirements of the new technological paradigm, preserves the essential features of the “European social model”; a targeted flexibility of labour, that contrasts with the all-out market flexibility that results from the neoclassical theory, is also suggested; (iv) a regime for intellectual property rights that avoids the drawbacks – both ethical and economic – of current US practices.long-waves

"'Enforced Indebtedness' and Capital Adequacy Requirements"

The capital adequacy requirements for banks, enshrined in international banking regulations, are based on a fallacy of composition--namely, the notion that an individual firm can choose the structure of its financial liabilities without affecting the financial liabilities of other firms. In practice, says author Jan Toporowski, capital adequacy regulations for banks are a way of forcing nonfinancial companies into debt. "Enforced indebtedness" then reduces the quality of credit in the economy. In an international context, the present system of capital adequacy regulation reinforces this indebtedness. Proposals for "dynamic provisioning" to increase capital requirements during an economic boom would simply accelerate the boom's collapse. Contingent commitments to lend to governments in the event of private-sector lending withdrawals, alongside lending to foreign private-sector borrowers, are a much more viable alternative.