Discussion — Reading 2: Hyman Minsky

This session covers Reading 2: The vision of Hyman P. Minsky by Perry Mehrling

Minsky put the problem of liquidity front and center. This reading is very much tied to the content of Lecture 4, which emphasizes the survival constraint: At any given point in time, every economic agent must ensure it has sufficient cash inflow to meet its cash commitments. If you can't meet your cash commitments, then you're done. "Liquidity kills you quick."

Study Questions

The article was published in 1999. Mehrling also has a blog post from 2015, which serves as a reconsidered—and shorter—biography of Minsky that places greater emphasis on Joseph Schumpeter's influence on Minsky's thinking.

Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis and Modern Economics

Hyman Minsky Reading Discussion Thread