The state is the most important of all our institutional innovations. It is the ultimate guarantor of security. But its power also makes it frightening. For this reason, people sometimes pretend it is weaker than it is. In one area of economics, this is particularly true: money. Money is a creature of the state. Modern monetary theory, a controversial account of this truth, is analytically correct, so far as it goes. But where it does not go is crucial: money is a powerful tool, but it can be abused.
國家是我們所有制度創新中最重要的。它是安全的終極保證。但它的力量也令人恐懼。出於這個原因,人們有時會佯稱它沒有那麼強大。在經濟學的貨幣領域尤其如此。貨幣是國家創造的產物。現代貨幣理論對這一事實進行了有爭議的描述,在某種程度上其分析是正確的。但它沒有談及的地方至關重要:貨幣是一個強大的工具,但它可能被濫用。