Debt: The First 5,000 Years – David Graeber

anautonomousagent — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 13:49:59 +0000

Debt: The First 5,000 Years, by David Graeber, is a fascinating and astounding look at the ubiquity of debt in human affairs. It replaces many “accepted” theories on the origins of money and debt and disproves the Myth of Barter by studying the anthropological record. From my own experience, economic theories and models are almost never based on actual historical observations, only upon assumptions about human behavior and interaction that I personally find naive. Just look at the Efficient Market Hypothesis or the idea that humans are rational decision makers — these ideas or their assumptions quickly fall apart with a simple analysis. For instance, as Chomsky points out, the advertising industry exists to create irrational decisions. People can lie and manipulate; they can be greedy or ascetic. It is nice to finally have a down-to-Earth study of actual historical accounts of human interactions without forcing the current paradigm on the past. Graeber’s book provides a wake-up call for people to see a more realistic view of the interactions of humans, debt, markets, government and money.

MMT- Modern Monetary Theory

anautonomousagent — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 18:46:00 +0000

I first learned about MMT or Modern Monetary Theory after reading an article by Cullen Roche. The article contains a link to a detailed description of MMT. The ideas presented in these articles provide a different perspective on capitalism and the economics of federal governments.

Found this visual model of MMT from this webpage

debt – An Autonomous Agent

Debt: The First 5,000 Years – David Graeber

MMT- Modern Monetary Theory