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How to Pay for the Green New Deal

Author

Listed:
  • Yeva Nersisyan
  • L. Randall Wray

Abstract

This paper follows the methodology developed by J. M. Keynes in his How to Pay for the War pamphlet to estimate the "costs" of the Green New Deal (GND) in terms of resource requirements. Instead of simply adding up estimates of the government spending that would be required, we assess resource availability that can be devoted to implementing GND projects. This includes mobilizing unutilized and underutilized resources, as well as shifting resources from current destructive and inefficient uses to GND projects. We argue that financial affordability cannot be an issue for the sovereign US government. Rather, the problem will be inflation if sufficient resources cannot be diverted to the GND. And if inflation is likely, we need to put in place anti-inflationary measures, such as well-targeted taxes, wage and price controls, rationing, and voluntary saving. Following Keynes, we recommend deferred consumption as our first choice should inflation pressures arise. We conclude that it is likely that the GND can be phased in without inflation, but if price pressures do appear, deferring a small amount of consumption will be sufficient to attenuate them.

Suggested Citation

  • Yeva Nersisyan & L. Randall Wray, 2019. "How to Pay for the Green New Deal," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_931, Levy Economics Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_931
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Papanicolas, Irene & Woskie, Liana R. & Jha, Ashish K., 2018. "Health care spending in the United States and other high-income countries," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87362, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Geoffrey Heal, 2017. "Reflections—What Would It Take to Reduce U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions 80 Percent by 2050?," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 11(2), pages 319-335.
    3. Flavia Dantas & L. Randall Wray, 2017. "Full Employment: Are We There Yet?," Economics Public Policy Brief Archive ppb_142, Levy Economics Institute.
    4. Pavlina R. Tcherneva, 2018. "The Job Guarantee: Design, Jobs, and Implementation," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_902, Levy Economics Institute.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Guillaume l'Oeillet, 2022. "Modern Monetary Theory: wrong ideas, real limits and blind spots. An overview of the critics [La Théorie Monétaire Moderne : idées fausses, vraies limites et angles morts. Un tour d’horizon des cri," Post-Print hal-03854814, HAL.
    2. Susan Schroeder, 2021. "A Kaleckian wealth tax to support a Green New Deal," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 32(2), pages 190-208, June.
    3. Dirk Ehnst, 2022. "Modern Monetary Theory: The Right Compass for Decision-Making," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics;Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), vol. 57(2), pages 128-134, March.
    4. Santiago J. Gahn, 2020. "Is there a decreasing trend in capacity utilisation in the US economy? Some new evidence," Working Papers PKWP2006, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    5. L. Randall Wray, 2020. "Sovereign Currency and Non‐Sovereign Budgets: The Modern Money Theory Approach," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 26-48, September.
    6. Brown, Donal & Brisbois, Marie-Claire & Lacey-Barnacle, Max & Foxon, Tim & Copeland, Claire & Mininni, Giulia, 2023. "The Green New Deal: Historical insights and local prospects in the United Kingdom (UK)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    7. L. Randall Wray, 2019. "Fiscal Reform to Benefit State and Local Governments: The Modern Money Theory Approach," Economics Working Paper Archive wp_936, Levy Economics Institute.
    8. Murau, Steffen & Haas, Armin & Guter-Sandu, Andrei, 2022. "Monetary Architecture and the Green Transition," SocArXiv sw5tu, Center for Open Science.
    9. Jackson Mejia & Brian C. Albrecht, 2022. "On price stability with a job guarantee," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(4), pages 568-584, October.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Green New Deal; Keynes; How to Pay for the War; Modern Money Theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
    • E0 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General
    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment
    • E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
    • E6 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook
    • H6 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt
    • Q0 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General

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