Episode 70: Scott Sumner, American Economist and Author of The Money Illusion

Scott Sumner is an American economist best known as a leading proponent of market monetarism, a school of thought that argues central banks should target nominal GDP (NGDP) growth rather than inflation or interest rates. He taught economics for many years at Bentley University and has been affiliated with the Mercatus Centre at George Mason University, where he has continued his research and writing.Sumner rose to wider prominence during and after the 2008 financial crisis through his blog The Money Illusion, where he argued that the Federal Reserve's monetary policy was too tight and that NGDP level targeting would have produced a faster, more stable recovery. His ideas influenced subsequent debates among economists and policymakers about the conduct of monetary policy, and he is often credited with helping popularise market monetarism as a distinct school of macroeconomic thought.He is the author of several books, including The Midas Paradox (2015), which examines the causes of the Great Depression through a monetary policy lens, and The Money Illusion: Market Monetarism, the Great Recession, and the Future of Monetary Policy (2021).