Over the next four weeks, we are going to delve into the world of Modern Monetary Theory or MMT. One of our aims in this course is to help you access the world of macroeconomics in a way that builds your confidence - your economic literacy- and above all, gets you thinking about how it impacts on the world we live in.

To do that, we’re going to start with the basics. We’re going to pull apart some of the jargon and concepts in macroeconomics, which often become barriers that prevent the lay person from engaging with economic issues. By sticking with the course, we hope to empower you to move beyond these ‘language’ challenges. When we’re done, you’ll not only be in a better position to translate the macroeconomic terminology that you are confronted with on a daily basis in the media, but, you will also be better placed to engage in meaningful conversations about economics with others and be able to better assess the sorts of statements that economists and politicians make about economic policy options.

Before we go through some helpful tips for getting through the course, let me introduce myself properly and then have a look at the big questions we’ll be asking over the next 4 weeks.

I took an interest in economics in the 1970s when governments responded to the rising inflation that followed the dramatic increase in world oil prices by pushing up unemployment. At that point, governments abandoned their long-held commitment to full employment, and it has been downhill ever since. I wanted to show why this was a poor policy direction and my PhD studies and subsequent work have been geared to producing an alternative understanding to how the monetary system worked and the responsibility of governments to eliminate unemployment.

In the mid-1990s, I met Warren Mosler on an early Internet discussion board, and we discovered much common ground and the working partnership we formed marked the beginnings of Modern Monetary Theory. Several other academics joined the fray and worked hard to promote MMT. So, you can see we have been at it for some time now. Since the Global Financial Crisis, and, especially in the last few years MMT has been increasingly talked about by economists, policy makers, central bankers, environmentalists and the financial media. Everyone now seems to have an opinion about our work and, like all ideas that challenge the conventional wisdom, there is a lot of push back and misperception.

To address this interest, but to make sure you got the story correctly, from one of the MMT co-founders, I was prompted to develop this course for you. My days pass by with lots of writing, publishing articles and books based on my research, writing my Blog, teaching and giving guest presentations at conferences. But, putting this course together has been a unique challenge – to package up all our ideas into a digestible and inclusive form. We have had a lot of fun doing it and I hope that enthusiasm comes out and aids your learning.

My other pursuits include running a lot in the mornings, watching AFL football as a Melbourne supporter (hopeless I know) and playing guitar in my band Pressure Drop – which has been going about the same length of time as I have been an economist. We are veterans now!

What the course will cover

Sadly, there was no way for me to squish everything I’d like you to know about macroeconomics and MMT into a 4-week course. I also didn’t want to end up with a course that only appealed to economists. So, this is the result - a course that starts at street level and then shows you all the best views in the building without going into fine detail on each topic. There are many topics that I only discuss in passing because they are more complex and require more time and input. But, overall, if you complete the course you will have a broad and rounded understanding of what MMT is and how it dramatically changes the game in terms of economic thinking about the options available to government to improve the well-being of all citizens while protecting our natural environment.

In Week 1 we seek to improve economic literacy by cutting through the jargon that makes relatively simple concepts difficult for the general public to engage with. The exciting bits are to come in later weeks but learning to walk before we run is essential for good running form.

In Week 2, we learn about how historical events led to fundamental shifts in the way governments could use their currency, which provides the foundations of MMT. We will build on the concepts learned and even participate in a game show. You will learn what causes mass unemployment.

In Week 3, the topics get more complex and you will learn about fiscal and monetary policy, banks, interest rates, inflation and see that governments can actually do something about unemployment if it wants to.

In the final Week, after you have gone through all that, we focus in on trade and global capital flows, debates about foreign ownership and financial speculation and learn why an MMT understanding is crucial for addressing the profound problems of the ageing society and climate change.

In each Week there are interviews with MMT experts to guide your understanding of selected topics.

Good luck in the course.

How to do the course

There is usually a short video that introduces the topic. The video transcripts were generated by AI and may not be 100 per cent accurate in both grammar or transcription. You can turn them off or on any time you want. Some people prefer to learn from just the video content, some just the text, and others a combination of both.

In most cases, there is then some study notes that are designed to fill out your knowledge, pose interesting questions and spark your curiousity.

At the end of each 'week', there is a quiz to test your progress.

What is a MOOC anyway?

A MOOC, or Massive Open Online Course, is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the internet. MOOCs provide a wide variety of subjects, often offered by universities, colleges, or other educational institutions. They typically include course materials like videos, readings, and problem sets, and may also provide interactive forums for students and instructors.

Key features of MOOCs include:

• Massive: They are designed to accommodate a large number of participants, sometimes reaching tens of thousands.
• Open: They are generally accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, and many are free or have minimal costs.
• Online: All the course materials and interactions take place over the Internet.
• Course: They are structured educational experiences that typically include a syllabus, assignments, and assessments.

MOOCs have become popular for continuing education, professional development, and for people who want to learn new skills or knowledge at their own pace.

Origins of this MOOC

The material available here was part of the MOOC offered by the University of Newcastle (Australia) on the edX platform between 2022 and 2023. The course - MMT101x Modern Monetary Theory: Economics for the 21st Century - was designed by Professor William Mitchell and the Educational Learning team at the University.

It was designed as a 4-week course and new material was released each week during the period the course was alive. We have retained the 4-week structure here for convenience but obviously, with the material available in its entirety at all times, you can decide what order to take the course. We urge you to treat the material sequentially as it was pedagogically designed.

When the University stopped offering their suite of MOOCs under that platform they decided to free the video resources back to MMTed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence which permits reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes providing appropriate credit is given to the original work. You may not distribute adaptations / derivative works without permission from the University. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0.

The material available here - video and text - comprises the major components of the original MOOC. Only some of the edX interactivity (discussion boards, padlets, etc.) are not available for resource and security reasons.

Further, unlike with the original MOOC, there are no awards available for those who complete the 4-week course here other than personal satisfaction.