An introduction to macroeconomics: For laypeople

Macroeconomics: A picture demonstrating how every expense is income to someone else.
This entry is part 1 of 3 in the series What is macroeconomics?

Yes, it does get a bit technical, but it’s something anyone can understand when it’s explained with a minimum of technobabble. What is macroeconomics? Macroeconomics is the description of how economies work at the macro (or highest) level. Starting with the fiscal operations of the government who issues currency, and the central bank which sits […]

US dollars and currency ISSUER vs USERS

This is an image of an Arkansas Treasury Warrant from 1862. It is being used to illustrate the concept of the Currency Issuer
This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series What is macroeconomics?

Before we talk about the currency issuer vs currency users, let’s first think about where currency comes from in the first place. Important idea #2: US dollars Where do US dollars come from? To be clear, I’m not asking where YOU get them from, I’m asking how is it that they exist? 250 years ago […]

Can the currency issuer spend endlessly?

The image shows the money supply, which is an aggregate of what the currency issuer spent into the economy and did not tax back out.
This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series What is macroeconomics?

No, the currency issuer can not spend endlessly I’ll use the USA again in the examples below. The US federal government (the currency issuer of US dollars) is constrained in it’s ability to spend. They are constrained by the productive capacity of the economy. What is “the productive capacity of the economy”? It’s the total […]