Book review: The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy by Stephanie Kelton

In The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy, Stephanie Kelton dispels six key myths that have shaped the conventional understanding of deficits as inherently bad, instead arguing that deficits can strengthen economies and lead to faster growth. This book is a triumph, writes Professor Hans G. Despain, shifting normative grounds of government spending away from the false and unproductive idea that deficits are irresponsible and ruinous towards the productive political activity of deciding which spending programmes should be prioritised

Book review: Boom and bust: a global history of financial bubbles by William Quinn and John D. Turner

In Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles, William Quinn and John D. Turner take readers on a 300-year tour through the history of the world’s most significant financial bubbles, aiming to improve understanding of why bubbles happen, their destructive and sometimes beneficial consequences, and potential policy measures to help prevent them. Hans G. Despain praises the book as a well-written, entertaining and accessible read that is particularly impressive in providing an analytical framework for theorists, policymakers and investors

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationMaurice Dobb (1900-1976) was a political economist at Cambridge University from 1924-1976. Dobb made numerous contributions in the fields of economics, history, politics, sociology, and philosophy of science. In spite of his impressive contributions and accomplishments there has been a relative neglect of his work, especially a comprehensive study of his work as a whole. This dissertation is a contribution toward a more comprehensive understanding of the political economy of Maurice Dobb. An institutional interpretation of Maurice Dobb is employed. In the first chapter of the dissertation Dobb's overarching contributions to social science are enunciated and his economic histories analyzed. In Chapter 2 it is shown that Dobb's economic histories initiated the emergence of a school of economic history which now constitutes a unique approach to history, or a separate tradition of historians. Several of the contributing economic historians of this tradition are outlined and scrutinized. Chapter 3 unfolds the political economy of Maurice Dobb. Emphasis is placed upon his institutional approach to political economy, his critique of mainstream neoclassical economic theory, and Dobb's theory of capitalist economic crisis. In Chapter 4 Dobb's methodology and philosophical underpinnings are examined and delineated. Finally in Chapter 5 several conclusions from this study are summarized