Stephanie Kelton | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Stephanie Bell (1969-10-10)October 10, 1969 (age 56) |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | California State University, Sacramento (BA,BS) Christ's College, Cambridge (MPhil) New School (PhD) |
| Academic work | |
| School or tradition | Modern monetary theory |
| Institutions | Stony Brook University |
| Notable ideas | Modern monetary theory |
Stephanie A Kelton (néeBell; born October 10, 1969) is an Americanheterodox economist and academic, and a leading proponent ofmodern monetary theory.[1] She served as an advisor toBernie Sanders's 2016presidential campaign and worked for theSenate Budget Committee under his chairmanship. She is also the author ofThe Deficit Myth,[2] aNew York Times bestseller,[3] on the subject of modern monetary theory.
Kelton is a professor atStony Brook University[4] and a senior fellow at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at theNew School for Social Research.[5] She was formerly a professor at theUniversity of Missouri–Kansas City.[6]
Kelton is also founder and editor-in-chief of the blog New Economic Perspectives. She was named one ofPolitico's 50 "thinkers, doers, and visionaries transforming American politics in 2016".[7][8]Fast Company later placed Kelton on its list of most creative people in business.[9] In 2019, she joined the board ofMatriarch PAC.[10]
Kelton is the daughter of Jerald and Marlene Bell. She is married to Paul Kelton, and they have two children.[11]
Kelton studiedbusiness finance andeconomics atCalifornia State University, Sacramento,[12] and earned a B.S. and a B.A. in 1995. She received aRotary scholarship to study economics at theUniversity of Cambridge, receiving herMaster's degree in 1997. On a fellowship fromChrist's College, Cambridge, Kelton then spent a year at theLevy Economics Institute ofBard College. She obtained aPh.D. in economics fromThe New School for Social Research in 2001 with her dissertation, "Public Policy and Government Finance: A Comparative Analysis Under Different Monetary Systems".[13]
Kelton is a professor of public policy and economics atStony Brook University and was formerly the chair of the economics department at theUniversity of Missouri–Kansas City. She was a research scholar at the UMKC Center for Full Employment and Price Stability[14] and theLevy Economics Institute inupstate New York.[15]
Kelton was editor-in-chief of theNew Economic Perspectivesblog.[16]
On December 26, 2014, Kelton was designated Chief Economist for the Democratic Minority Staff of theSenate Budget Committee, a post she held in 2015 and early 2016, when she left that position to become an economic advisor toBernie Sanders'spresidential campaign.[17]
On May 25, 2017,Stony Brook University announced that Kelton would join the university "This fall as a professor in the forthcoming Center for the Study of Inequality and Social Justice."[18] She joined Stony Brook at the same time as her husband, Paul, who was appointed the first Robert David Lion Gardiner Chair inAmerican history, at the College of Arts and Sciences.[18]
In 2019, Kelton was invited to be the Geoff Harcourt Visiting Professor at theUniversity of Adelaide.[19]
Kelton's primary research interests includemonetary theory,employment policy, history of economic monetary thought,social security,public finance,fiscal policy,financial accounting,international finance, and European monetary integration.[6][20] She has been a notable proponent of and researcher inmodern monetary theory, publishing several papers and editing books in the field,[21] and a supporter of the proposal for ajob guarantee.
Kelton publishes formally as well as in the popular press and appears onmass media. She has been a frequent guest on television and radio, includingMSNBC'sUp with Chris Hayes[22] andNPR'sOn Point.[23] Kelton has had opinion pieces published inThe Los Angeles Times andThe New York Times. "How We Think About the Deficit Is Mostly Wrong" appeared inThe New York Times.[24] Kelton wrote the article "Congress can give every American a pony (if it breeds enough ponies)", which appeared inThe Los Angeles Times.[25]
Kelton'sThe Deficit Myth[2] appeared onThe New York Times bestseller list for nonfiction in June 2020.[26] "It is an introduction toModern Monetary Theory (MMT), an economic school of thought that is growing in popularity. It seeks to explain why for countries with monetary sovereignty the federal budget is fundamentally different from a household budget, and why deficits are generally good for the economy. Instead of focusing on self-imposed budget constraints, Kelton suggests we should use inflation and real resource limits as the measuring stick for public spending."[27]
FormerYale University economics professor andUnder Secretary of State for Economic AffairsRichard N. Cooper calledThe Deficit Myth a "clear and vigorously written book" in a review forForeign Affairs, and wrote that "U.S. congressional fiscal action in response to the pandemic, as well as new programs launched by the Federal Reserve, suggests that the author is at least partly right in her assessment of the spending power of governments."[28]
Nichols College economics professor Hans G. Despain[29] called the book a "triumph" in theLondon School of Economics Review of Books, writing that the book "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.[30]
In theReview of Political Economy, David M. Fields credited Kelton with "lucid prose and a razor-sharp wit" and called the book a "wonderful contribution to the project of building a critical and progressive social science".[31]
Stanford University economistJohn H. Cochrane gave the book a negative review,[32] saying that Kelton's "implications don't lead to her desired conclusions ... her logic, facts and language turn into pretzels". Cochrane called Kelton's analysis ofinflation biased,[32] and said the book cited "no articles in major peer-reviewed journals, monographs with explicit models and evidence, or any of the other trappings of economic discourse".[32]
New York University economist Alberto Bisin also panned the book, writing, "it's not that the public-spending agenda proposed in the book wouldn't be worthwhile, or that monetization is never a useful tool of monetary policy. ... These are all issues currently studied and debated in (mainstream) academic and policy circles. But MMT, as exposed in the book, appears to be a very poor attempt at supporting this political agenda, with no coherent theoretical support."[33]
FormerEuropean Central Bank chief economistOtmar Issing gave the book a negative review in an article criticizing modern monetary theory.[34]
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