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WHY THE JOB GUARANTEE IS SUPERIOR by Pavlina Tcherneva
A few weeks ago I called for a technocratic debate on the merits of the Jobs Guarantee (JG), relative to other fiscal policies. A number of bloggers took the charge but the debate was not immune to ideological biases, which proved the starting point of my piece that one cannot separate fact from theory or ideology (and by ideology I do not mean the derogatory use of the word, but that which signifies ‘ontology’ or a ‘world view’). What I didn’t expect is for friends and sympathizers to resurrect one particularly invidious charge we have long heard from MMT deniers, namely that MMT is pushing authoritarian policies.
Oh, boy. How did we even get here? I thought this was going to be a technocratic debate.
Let me deal with just a few issues here: 1) the seeming resurrection of status quo fiscal policies, 2) the merits of JG compared to other fiscal policies, 3) some additional real-world evidence on the benefits of direct job creation, and 4) offer a vision for a JG in a free and democratic society.
1) Why defend the status quo?
The criticism of JG boils down to unproven claims that it will impose hidden costs on firms and competition, have a negative impact on incentives to work, wealth creation and productivity, and will lead down the path to socialism. After all, great prosperity had been achieved under the old system, so why change it? 100 years ago the same arguments were made in opposition to 8-hour workdays, 5-day workweeks, child labor, mandated vacation and today they are made against paid family leave, living wages, etc. So there is nothing new in the critics’ claim that JG would reduce incentives, productivity or growth.
Indeed these are not arguments against the JG. They are arguments for the status quo. Those who support MMT, but not the JG, say that they favor more deficit spending in the form of pro-investment, pro-growth, pro-productivity policies, coupled with strong public infrastructure and education investment and income support to the poor and unemployed. But all of these policies are the status quo, even if proponents are demanding more funding for them. They are the status quo because they have been tried with generous funding at one point or another in the postwar era and have still failed to solve the most important problems of modern society like poverty, income inequality, short and long-term unemployment, instability, deteriorating incomes and on and on and on.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/pavlina-r-tcherneva-why-the-job-guarantee-is-superior-wonkish.html
A few weeks ago I called for a technocratic debate on the merits of the Jobs Guarantee (JG), relative to other fiscal policies. A number of bloggers took the charge but the debate was not immune to ideological biases, which proved the starting point of my piece that one cannot separate fact from theory or ideology (and by ideology I do not mean the derogatory use of the word, but that which signifies ‘ontology’ or a ‘world view’). What I didn’t expect is for friends and sympathizers to resurrect one particularly invidious charge we have long heard from MMT deniers, namely that MMT is pushing authoritarian policies.
Oh, boy. How did we even get here? I thought this was going to be a technocratic debate.
Let me deal with just a few issues here: 1) the seeming resurrection of status quo fiscal policies, 2) the merits of JG compared to other fiscal policies, 3) some additional real-world evidence on the benefits of direct job creation, and 4) offer a vision for a JG in a free and democratic society.
1) Why defend the status quo?
The criticism of JG boils down to unproven claims that it will impose hidden costs on firms and competition, have a negative impact on incentives to work, wealth creation and productivity, and will lead down the path to socialism. After all, great prosperity had been achieved under the old system, so why change it? 100 years ago the same arguments were made in opposition to 8-hour workdays, 5-day workweeks, child labor, mandated vacation and today they are made against paid family leave, living wages, etc. So there is nothing new in the critics’ claim that JG would reduce incentives, productivity or growth.
Indeed these are not arguments against the JG. They are arguments for the status quo. Those who support MMT, but not the JG, say that they favor more deficit spending in the form of pro-investment, pro-growth, pro-productivity policies, coupled with strong public infrastructure and education investment and income support to the poor and unemployed. But all of these policies are the status quo, even if proponents are demanding more funding for them. They are the status quo because they have been tried with generous funding at one point or another in the postwar era and have still failed to solve the most important problems of modern society like poverty, income inequality, short and long-term unemployment, instability, deteriorating incomes and on and on and on.
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/02/pavlina-r-tcherneva-why-the-job-guarantee-is-superior-wonkish.html
