Economics

How Governments Are Trying to Spend Their Way Out of the Coronavirus Shock

Modern Monetary Theory may be having its moment, thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Jerome Powell
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

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By Stephanie Flanders and Scott Lanman

April 9, 2020 at 8:00 AM UTC

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For years, a small band of economists has promoted Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)—a view of the economy which says governments don’t have to worry about running large deficits. With nations now set to borrow trillions of dollars dealing with the effects of Covid-19, host Stephanie Flanders asks one prominent MMT adherent, Stephanie Kelton, whether we are all Modern Monetary Theorists now.