The Modern Money Network (“MMN”) aims to bring accurate and accessible knowledge of monetary and financial systems to the broader public.

Our symposia bring together students, scholars, professionals and members of the public to discuss, debate and refine ideas about money. Our work combines insights from a range of fields, including law, political economy, finance, history, sociology, anthropology, technology and systems theory.

Our first two seminars, The Historical Evolution of Money and Debt and Governments Are Not Households, are a good introduction to the economic concepts our network promotes.

Learn

 Symposia

Conversations & debates between experts from a range of disciplines.

Topic Directory

Monetary & financial concepts explained, with annotated reading lists & other media.

 Publications

Bibliography of works relevant to the Modern Money Network’s research interests.

Network

Mission & Values

Why we exist, and what we care about.

Upcoming Events

Calendar of chapter meetings & symposia.

 Organization

How the MMN is structured & governed.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Community

Donate

Help keep us going.

What is money?

How does money work?

We approach macroeconomic issues as legal realists, asking two critical questions: What is money? and How does money work? Our symposia and learning materials promote the insight that the US Government, along with other governments with fiat currencies and floating exchange rates, cannot “go broke.” That is, such governments face price stability constraints, but not solvency constraints per se. Thus there is no macroeconomic reason for current austerity measures.

Modern Money for Public Purpose

We are committed to the creation and improvement of monetary and financial institutions governed by the public and directed in support of public purpose. We believe in the universal, enforceable and inalienable right of every person to participate in economic life in a manner consistent with basic principles of justice, fairness, equality and dignity.

Who We Are

Student-run and student-conceived, the Modern Money Network welcomes all who are curious about how money works, and how our monetary and financial systems can be improved. Our network includes students, scholars, lawyers, artists, & technologists.


Series

MMx

Local Events, Global Learning

About

The MMx initiative (inspired by the TEDx model) supports network participants and institutional affiliates to develop, organize, publicize and share local learning events, including seminars, debates, panels and reading groups.

Symposium

Guaranteed Income or Employment

Economic Rights for the 21st Century
Mar 8, 2013

A look at the social, political and economic justifications for the legal right to work or income, as well as historical examples of direct public employment programs.

Symposium

Rent-seeking, Instability and Fraud

Challenges for Financial Reform
Feb 26, 2013

This seminar will explore how financial sector innovation and regulatory structures affect inequality, macroeconomic fragility and white collar crime.

Symposium

Independence or Marriage?

Interactions Between Monetary and Fiscal Policy
Feb 8, 2013

This seminar examines the legal and operational relationship between central banks and treasury departments

Symposium

Money, Democracy and the Constitution

Revolutionary Experience in the United States
Jan 25, 2013

This seminar explores the relationship between money and the legal formation of the modern liberal capitalist state, with a particular emphasis on the pre-Revolutionary and early United States. In contrast to conventional economic narratives that cast money as lubrication for existing forms of exchange, this event highlights the legal and political origins of our modern monetary system, and traces the influence of those forces on the shape of the modern economy.

Symposium

Debt, Deficits or Unemployment

Identifying Real Threats to Growth
Nov 13, 2012

This seminar explores the intersection between the real and monetary (or nominal) economy. It addresses the relationship between money and economic growth, and explores popular misconceptions surrounding the “sustainability” of government deficits, national debt and trade deficits for developed and developing nations.

Symposium

Design Defects and Policy Failures

An Institutional Analysis of the Eurozone Crisis
Oct 5, 2012

This seminar offers a diagnosis of the current European debt crisis that traces its origins to inherent flaws in the legal and institutional design of the Eurozone.

Symposium

Governments Are Not Households

Implications of Monetary Sovereignty & Stock-Flow Consistent Accounting
Sep 25, 2012

This seminar will examine the legal and institutional structure of the current global monetary system, with a particular emphasis on the economic freedoms afforded to nations such as the U.S., U.K., Japan, Canada and Australia that use a non-convertible fiat currency with a floating exchange rate.

Symposium

The Historical Evolution of Money and Debt

Sep 11, 2012

This seminar will explore the social structures that have historically underpinned debt and money systems, and apply insights gleamed from them to our contemporary economic problems.

Series

Modern Money & Public Purpose

This seminar series introduces a new economic narrative, in which societies use their monetary systems in a democratic way to achieve full employment and promote public purpose.

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