Hyman P. Minsky

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Hyman Minsky

Hyman P. Minsky ( Hyman Philip Minsky; born September 23, 1919 in Chicago , † October 24, 1996 in Rhinebeck , NY ) was an American economist . He is considered a Post Keynesian .

life and work

Minsky's parents were active trade unionists who immigrated to the United States from Belarus. Minsky, who as a child the Great Depression , studied witnessed at the Harvard University in Joseph Schumpeter and later Professor of Economics at Washington University in St. Louis . He was significantly shaped by the theories of John Maynard Keynes , about whom he wrote a book.

His theses of a sudden financial crisis despite the booming economy went unnoticed for a long time, but were surprisingly confirmed by the 2007 banking crisis . The terms Minsky paradox , Minsky moment , Minsky collapse or Minsky meltdown were born. In addition, Minsky was involved in the development of the post-Keynesian theory of inflation .

In Minsky's crisis theory, which also influenced Charles P. Kindleberger , investors initially operate secure financing at the beginning of a cycle; the income that follows the investment is enough to repay the loans . If economic growth proves stable, speculative financing appears profitable. The income is now only sufficient to service the interest on the loans taken out; the loans themselves, on the other hand, are replaced by newly taken out loans. Finally, the investors go to a Ponzi scheme through, a "Ponzi scheme" (named after Charles Ponzi ). Now, loans are even taken out to finance the interest burden, as investors still trust that at the very end the income from the investment will be sufficient to meet all accrued obligations. Overall, the economy is becoming more and more unstable until the speculative bubble bursts and a financial crisis breaks out.

Minsky took the view that the financing processes of a capitalist economy develop endogenous destabilizing forces. He considered the financial institutions of capitalism to be "inherently ruinous". Therefore, he advised accepting that the area of ​​efficient and desirable free markets is limited.

Minsky's theses contradict classical or neoclassical theory, according to which the markets tend to equilibrate by themselves , provided certain necessary conditions are met (e.g. complete competition and information symmetry). In March 2012, Steve Keen and Paul Krugman started a blog debate about the central role of banking for economic understanding in Minsky's theory.

Publications

  • John Maynard Keynes. 1975.
  • Can "It" Happen Again? Essays on instability and finance. 1982.
  • Stabilizing an unstable economy. 1986.
  • The Financial Instability Hypothesis. In: Philip Arestis , Malcolm Sawyer (Eds.): Handbook of Radical Political Economy. 1993 ( PDF ).
  • Business Cycles in Capitalist Economies ( Memento October 14, 1997 in the Internet Archive ). In: MIJCF, Jobs & Capital. Vol. 3, Summer 1994 ( Internet Archive ).
  • Instability and capitalism. Ed. And with a preliminary remark by Joseph Vogl . Diaphanes, Zurich 2011, ISBN 978-3-03734-144-5 ; in this
    • The hypothesis of financial instability: capitalist processes and the behavior of the economy. Translated from the English by Michaela Grabinger.
    • Financial Instability: The Economy of Disaster. Translated from the English by Florian Oppermann.

literature

Current crisis analyzes based on Minsky's theories
  • Bernhard Emunds: The crisis of the global financial economy - an analysis and socio-ethical assessment. In: Ethics and Society. 2/2009 ( PDF; 185 kB )
  • Günther Grunert: Is there a threat of horror inflation? In: Teaching Politics. 2/2009, pp. 32–42 ( PDF; 412 kB )
  • Stefan Voß: Can Minsky's hypothesis of financial instability explain the current 2007/09 financial crisis? In: Günter Buchholz (Ed.): The economic and financial crisis with a view to Marx and Keynes - Part I. Working paper of Faculty IV (Economics and Computer Science) at the University of Applied Sciences Hannover, 02-2011 ( PDF; 504 kB )

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Marc Schnyder: The hypothesis of financial instability by Hyman P. Minsky. P. 5
  2. ↑ Gerald Braunberger: Financial Crisis: The Magical Minsky Moment . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . September 18, 2007
  3. ↑ Marc Schnyder: The hypothesis of financial instability by Hyman P. Minsky. Section 2.6
  4. ^ Nouriel Roubini : Are We at The Peak of a Minsky Credit Cycle? ( Memento of March 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) July 30, 2007
  5. ↑ Luzian Caspar: Economics: Why the credit bubble had to burst . In: The press . August 20, 2007
  6. ↑ Andrea Maurer: The Minsky moment . In: Kulturzeit ( 3sat ). March 20, 2009
  7. ^ L. Randall Wray : Money and inflation. In: Richard PF Holt & Steven Pressman (Eds.): A New Guide to Post Keynesian Economics. London / New York 2001, ISBN 0-415-22982-0 , pp. 79-91
  8. ^ Gerald Braunberger: Keynes for everyone. The renaissance of the crisis economist. FAZ-Verlag, 2009, pp. 222-230.
  9. ↑ Joseph Vogl : The ghost of capital. Diaphanes, Zurich 2010, p. 162.
  10. ^ Willi Semmler: Financial Crisis: Why America's Flu is So Contagious . In: Spiegel Online . September 24, 2007
  11. ↑ Mark Dittli: The Great Illusion . In: Basler Zeitung . April 2, 2012
  12. ^ John Carney: Paul Krugman vs. MMT: The Great Debate . In: CNBC . April 3, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Minsky, Hyman P.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Minsky, Hyman Philip
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American economist
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago
DATE OF DEATH October 24, 1996
Place of death Rhinebeck