“现代货币理论”政府发行货币支出思想分析

Understanding Modern Money Theory:An Analysis of the Opinion of Sovereign Governments Spending by Issuing Money

"现代货币理论"特指的是后凯恩斯学派的货币理论,它的核心思想是"政府发行货币支出",即政府可以通过发行货币进行支出。该理论认为,政府之所以要发行货币支出是因为赤字财政,赤字财政之所以必要是因为:只有政府部门赤字,私人部门才能有盈余;政府要实现充分就业的政策目标。政府之所以能够发行货币支出,是因为政府可以发行货币,拥有主权货币的政府不存在财政约束。然而实际上,并非只有政府部门赤字,私人部门才有盈余;政府部门没有赤字,私人部门也可以有盈余。另外,虽然政府部门和私人部门的某些行为会导致流动性的变化,但决定货币净发行的主体是中央银行。如果政府发行货币支出,那么将不可避免地涉及中央银行独立性、发行货币支出的方式、发行货币支出的后果等问题,遗憾的是现代货币理论对这些重要问题并没有提供一个清晰的分析结构。

The core idea of the Modern Money Theory(MMT)proposed by the post-Keynesian School is that a sovereign government can finance its spending by issuing money.According to MMT,a government issues money because of deficit financing.There are two reasons for deficit financing:firstly,only with a government in deficit can the private sector record a surplus;secondly,the government has the policy goal of full employment.MMT believes that a government can finance its spending by issuing money because it owns its sovereign currency and is not subject to fiscal restraints.However,MMT’s opinion that the private sector has surplus only when the government is in deficit is invalid.As a matter of fact,the private sector can have surplus even if the government is not in deficit.In addition,even though certain behaviors of the government and the private sector could result in fluctuations in liquidity,it is still the central bank that determines the net issuance of money.When a government finances its spending by issuing money,it will inevitably induce questions like how it does this,what implications this has,and issues such as central bank independence.Unfortunately,MMT has failed to provide a clear framework for analyzing and understanding these important issues.