Money From Nothing

“Breezy and entertaining, Money From Nothing brings history, philosophy and institutional common sense to show that our economic problems are not, for the most part, mysterious matters intrinsic to money, banking, deficits and public debt. One only wishes that the real difficulties—energy, environment, financial fraud, racism, globalization and the coronavirus—were so easy to resolve.”
—James K. Galbraith, author of Inequality: What Everyone Needs to Know

“Climate Change and other global disasters do not care about your pet economic theory. They’re coming. Ready or Not. Hockett and James reimagine how we should think about money, finally giving us the fiscal space to act decisively. If we do not listen to the call of this book, nature, not fiscal probity, will bat last.”—Mark Blyth, co-author of Angrynomics

“Grasping the meaning of money ain’t easy. Luckily, in Money From Nothing we have two amazing teachers, who laugh at themselves while seducing you into a deeper understanding of money as a social contract. Hockett and James are masters at their intellectual crafts, and damn fine wordsmiths. Read this book: a tour de force of candy for the brain!”
—Paul McCulley, Retired Managing Director and Chief Economist, PIMCO; Senior Fellow, Cornell Law School; Adjunct Professor, Georgetown McDonough School of Business

”[An] illuminating and accessible guide to how the Federal Reserve could act to improve the economy and the lives of everyday Americans … a lucid and persuasive call for financial reform.”—Publishers Weekly

“Timely … a heady proposal for a new social compact, with every point well worth debating … A wildly contrarian argument that contains many provocations—and some sensible solutions to big fiscal problems, too.”—Kirkus Reviews

Bob Hockett is Edward Cornell Professor of Law and a Professor of Public Policy at Cornell University. He has first-hand experience working at the International Monetary Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and continues to consult for a number of US federal, state, and local legislators and regulators. He drafted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” resolution for the House of Representatives and officially advises her on economic policy. He is also Senior Counsel at Westwood Capital and a Fellow of The Century Foundation. Bob is a regular contributor to Forbes magazine, where he covers finance, economics, law, and justice.

Aaron James holds a PhD from Harvard and is Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Irvine. He is the author of Fairness in Practice: A Social Contract for a Global Economy, Assholes: A Theory, Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump, and Surfing with Sartre, as well as numerous academic articles. He was awarded a Burkhardt Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies and spent an academic year at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.

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