A Great Leap Forward

L. Randall Wray is a professor of Economics at Bard College and Senior Scholar at the Levy Economics Institute. Wray taught at the University of Missouri–Kansas City from 1999 to 2016 and at the University of Denver from 1987 to 1999, and has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Paris and Rome (La Sapienza), as well as holding a variety of visiting positions in China, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Mexico, and Italy. From 1994 to 1995 he was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Bologna, and he has recently completed a Fulbright Specialist Grant at the Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia. He has had a number of funded research grants from the Ford Foundation, from the Asian Development Bank, and from the Institute for New Economic Thinking. He holds a BA from the University of the Pacific and an MA and a Ph.D. from Washington University, where he was a student of Minsky. His recent publications include: A Great Leap Forward: Heterodox Economic Policy for the 21st Century; Macroeconomics; “MMT and Two Paths to Big Deficits”, Challenge; “Cranks and heretics: the importance of an analytical framework” Cambridge Journal of Economics; Why Minsky Matters: An Introduction to the Work of a Maverick Economist; and Modern Money Theory: A Primer on Macroeconomics for Sovereign Monetary Systems. His books have been published in many languages, including Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, and Japanese.

• 1. The Trouble with Financialization 2. The Road to Social Progress3. Tackling Poverty Inequality. The Road to Full Employment and Price Stability4. Money and the Public Purpose

"Presents progressive policy recommendations for the twenty-first century based in modern money theory (MMT), promoting the argument that finance has become an excessive and detrimental influence on the economy. Examines characteristics of the current stage of capitalism and the precariousness of the financial sector. Reviews policies for enhancing social and economic security and supplying basic wants and needs. Analyzes problems that have contributed to rising inequality, joblessness, and poverty. Explains the need for government to play a larger and more beneficial role in financing the development of the economy." --Journal of Economic Literature