Jobs and Freedom Now! Functional Finance, Full Employment, and the Freedom Budget

Mathew Forstater ()

The Review of Black Political Economy, 2012, vol. 39, issue 1, 63-78

Abstract: Forty-five years ago, the A. Philip Randolph Institute issued “The Freedom Budget,” in which a program for economic transformation was proposed that included a job guarantee for everyone ready and willing to work, a guaranteed income for those unable to work or those who should not be working, and a living wage to lift the working poor out of poverty. Such policies were supported by a host of scholars, civic leaders, and institutions, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; indeed, they provided the cornerstones for King’s “Poor Peoples’ Campaign” and “economic bill of rights.” This paper proposes a “New Freedom Budget” for full employment based on the principles of functional finance. To counter a major obstacle to such a policy program, the paper includes a “primer” on three paradigms for understanding government budget deficits and the national debt: the deficit hawk, deficit dove, and functional finance perspectives. Finally, some of the benefits of the job guarantee are outlined, including the ways in which the program may serve as a vehicle for a variety of social policies. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2012

Keywords: Unemployment; Full employment; Budget deficits; National debt; Public policy; Functional finance; Job guarantee; Public service employment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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DOI: 10.1007/s12114-011-9125-z

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