Stephanie A Kelton (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Bell; born October 10, 1969) is an American
heterodox economist
Heterodox economics is any economic thought or theory that contrasts with orthodox schools of economic thought, or that may be beyond neoclassical economics.Frederic S. Lee, 2008. "heterodox economics," ''The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics' ...
and academic, and a leading proponent of
Modern Monetary Theory
Modern Monetary Theory or Modern Money Theory (MMT) is a heterodox
*
*
*
*
*
* macroeconomic theory that describes currency as a public monopoly and unemployment as evidence that a currency monopolist is overly restricting the supply ...
. She is a professor at
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...
and a Senior Fellow at the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the
New School for Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...
. She was formerly a professor at the
University of Missouri–Kansas City
The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) is a public research university in Kansas City, Missouri. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and one of only two member universities with a medical school. As of 2020, the university ...
.
She also served as an advisor to
Bernie Sanders's 2016
presidential campaign
President most commonly refers to:
* President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
.
Kelton is founder and editor-in-chief of the blog New Economic Perspectives. She was named one of ''
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
''
's 50 "thinkers, doers, and visionaries transforming American politics in 2016". ''
Fast Company
''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year.
History
''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...
'' later placed Kelton on its list of Most Creative People in Business. In fall 2019, she joined the board of Matriarch PAC.
Family
Kelton is the daughter of Jerald and Marlene Bell. She is married to Paul Kelton, and they have two children.
Education
Kelton studied
business finance
Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, the capital structure of corporations, the actions that managers take to increase the value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and analysis used to all ...
and
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...
at
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento (CSUS, Sacramento State, or informally Sac State) is a public university in Sacramento, California. Founded in 1947 as Sacramento State College, it is the eleventh oldest school in the 23-campus California ...
, and earned a B.S. and a B.A. in 1995. She received a
Rotary scholarship to study economics at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, receiving her
Master's degree
A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice. in 1997. On a fellowship from
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college includes the Master, the Fellows of the College, and about 450 undergraduate and 170 graduate students. The college was founded by William Byngham in 1437 as ...
, Kelton then spent a year at the
Levy Economics Institute
Founded in 1986 as the Jerome Levy Economics Institute, the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy think tank. The purpose of its research and other activities is to enable scholars and leaders in busi ...
of
Bard College
Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark.
Founded in 1860, ...
. She obtained a
Ph.D. in economics from
The New School for Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSS ...
in 2001 with her dissertation, "Public Policy and Government Finance: A Comparative Analysis Under Different Monetary Systems."
Employment
Kelton is a professor of public policy and economics at
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...
and was formerly the chair of the economics department at the
University of Missouri–Kansas City
The University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC) is a public research university in Kansas City, Missouri. UMKC is part of the University of Missouri System and one of only two member universities with a medical school. As of 2020, the university ...
. She was a research scholar at the UMKC Center for Full Employment and Price Stability and the
Levy Economics Institute
Founded in 1986 as the Jerome Levy Economics Institute, the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy think tank. The purpose of its research and other activities is to enable scholars and leaders in busi ...
in
upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York (state), New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upsta ...
.
Kelton is editor-in-chief of the ''New Economic Perspectives''
blog
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in Reverse ...
.
On December 26, 2014, Kelton was designated Chief Economist for the Democratic Minority Staff of the
Senate Budget Committee
The United States Senate Committee on the Budget was established by the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. It is responsible for drafting Congress's annual budget plan and monitoring action on the budget for the Federal G ...
, a post she held in 2015 and early 2016, when she left that position to become an economic advisor to the
Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 20 ...
campaign.
On May 25, 2017,
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...
announced that Kelton would join the university "This fall as a professor in the forthcoming Center for the Study of Inequality and Social Justice."
["] She joined Stony Brook at the same time as her husband Paul, who was appointed the first Robert David Lion Gardiner Chair in
American history
The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densel ...
, at the College of Arts and Sciences.
[
In 2019, Kelton was invited to be the Geoff Harcourt Visiting Professor at the ]University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
.
Research
Kelton's primary research interests include monetary theory
Monetary economics is the branch of economics that studies the different competing theories of money: it provides a framework for analyzing money and considers its functions (such as medium of exchange, store of value and unit of account), and it ...
, employment policy, history of economic monetary thought, social security
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
, public finance
Public finance is the study of the role of the government in the economy. It is the branch of economics that assesses the government revenue and government expenditure of the public authorities and the adjustment of one or the other to achiev ...
, fiscal policy
In economics and political science, fiscal policy is the use of government revenue collection ( taxes or tax cuts) and expenditure to influence a country's economy. The use of government revenue expenditures to influence macroeconomic variabl ...
, financial accounting
Financial accounting is the field of accounting concerned with the summary, analysis and reporting of financial transactions related to a business. This involves the preparation of financial statements available for public use. Stockholders, ...
, international finance
International finance (also referred to as international monetary economics or international macroeconomics) is the branch of financial economics broadly concerned with monetary and macroeconomic interrelations between two or more countries. Inter ...
, and European monetary integration.[ She has been a notable proponent of and researcher in ]Modern Monetary Theory
Modern Monetary Theory or Modern Money Theory (MMT) is a heterodox
*
*
*
*
*
* macroeconomic theory that describes currency as a public monopoly and unemployment as evidence that a currency monopolist is overly restricting the supply ...
, publishing several papers and editing books in the field, and a supporter of the proposal for a Job Guarantee
A job guarantee is an economic policy proposal that aims to provide a sustainable solution to inflation and unemployment. Its aim is to create full employment and price stability by having the state promise to hire unemployed workers as an emp ...
.
In the media
Kelton publishes formally as well as in the popular press and appears on mass media
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Broadcast media transmit informati ...
. She has been a frequent guest on television and radio, including MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
's ''Up with Chris Hayes
''Up'', branded in its final incarnation as ''Up with David Gura'', was a news and opinion television program that aired weekends on MSNBC. The program debuted September 17, 2011, as ''Up with Chris Hayes'', and was hosted by Hayes until March 20 ...
'' and NPR
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
's ''On Point
''On Point'' is a radio show produced by WBUR-FM in Boston and syndicated by American Public Media (APM). The show addresses a wide range of issues from news, politics, arts and culture, health, technology, environmental, and business topics, t ...
''. Kelton has had opinion pieces published in ''The Los Angeles Times'' and ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
How We Think About the Deficit Is Mostly Wrong
' appeared in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''. Kelton wrote the article "Congress can give every American a pony (if it breeds enough ponies)"'','' which appeared in ''The Los Angeles Times
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
''.
''The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People's Economy''
Kelton's ''The Deficit Myth'' appeared on ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' bestseller list for nonfiction in June 2020. It is an introduction to Modern 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.
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
economist John H. Cochrane gave the book a negative review, 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 of inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy. When the general price level rises, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services; consequently, inflation corresponds to a reduct ...
biased, 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".
New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, th ...
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."
Former European Central Bank
The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centra ...
chief economist Otmar Issing
Otmar Issing (born 27 March 1936 in Würzburg) is a German economist who served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 1998 to 2006 and concurrently as ECB chief economist. He developed the 'two-pillar' approach to m ...
gave the book a negative review in an article criticizing the Modern Monetary Theory
Modern Monetary Theory or Modern Money Theory (MMT) is a heterodox
*
*
*
*
*
* macroeconomic theory that describes currency as a public monopoly and unemployment as evidence that a currency monopolist is overly restricting the supply ...
.
Former Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
economics professor and Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Richard N. Cooper called ''The Deficit Myth'' a "clear and vigorously written book" in a review for ''Foreign Affairs
''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy a ...
''. According to Cooper, the "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."
Nichols College economics professor Hans G. Despain called the book a "triumph" in the ''London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 milli ...
Review of Books''. According to Despain, 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.
Selected works
* Bell (Kelton), Stephanie,
Can Taxes and Bonds Finance Government Spending?
, Levy Economics Institute
Founded in 1986 as the Jerome Levy Economics Institute, the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy think tank. The purpose of its research and other activities is to enable scholars and leaders in busi ...
, July 1998
* Bell (Kelton), Stephanie,
The role of the state and the hierarchy of money
, ''Cambridge Journal of Economics
The ''Cambridge Journal of Economics'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics. The journal was founded in 1977 by the ''Cambridge Political Economy Society'' with the aim of publishing articles that followed the economic traditions est ...
'', Vol. 25, 2001, pp. 149–163
* Kelton, Stephanie, Edward J. Nell, editors. ''The State, the Market, and the Euro
The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...
: Metallism
Metallism is the economic principle that the value of money derives from the purchasing power of the commodity upon which it is based. The currency in a metallist monetary system may be made from the commodity itself (commodity money) or it may us ...
versus Chartalism
In macroeconomics, chartalism is a heterodox theory of money that argues that money originated historically with states' attempts to direct economic activity rather than as a spontaneous solution to the problems with barter or as a means with whi ...
in the Theory of Money''; Edward Elgar; Reprint edition: May 2003;
* Kelton, Stephanie, ''The Deficit Myth'', June 2020;
See also
* History of economic thought
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
* Post-Keynesian economics
Post-Keynesian economics is a school of economic thought with its origins in '' The General Theory'' of John Maynard Keynes, with subsequent development influenced to a large degree by Michał Kalecki, Joan Robinson, Nicholas Kaldor, Sidney ...
* Heterodox economics
Heterodox economics is any economic thought or theory that contrasts with orthodox schools of economic thought, or that may be beyond neoclassical economics.Frederic S. Lee, 2008. "heterodox economics," '' The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economic ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelton, Stephanie
1969 births
21st-century American economists
Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
American women economists
Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign
Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign
California State University, Sacramento alumni
Economists from New York (state)
Living people
Modern monetary theory scholars
Post-Keynesian economists
Public economists
The New School alumni
Stony Brook University faculty
University of Missouri–Kansas City faculty
21st-century American women