https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/steve-keen/keen-krugman-debate
Krugman thus supports
what monetary reformers like Prof Steve Keen identify as the orthodox ‘Loanable
Funds Theory’ – often (wrongly) defined as “Keynesian”. Professor Mankiw of
Harvard, a prominent neoliberal economist, defines ‘Loanable Funds Theory’ this
way: “Saving is the supply of loans – individuals lend their saving to
investors or they deposit their saving in a bank that makes the loans for
them. Investment is the demand for loans
– investors borrow from the public directly by selling bonds or indirectly by
borrowing from banks.” (Mankiw, Macroeconomics,
p.65).
According to this
theory money for loans is provided by savers, and the ‘price’ (or rate of
interest) for loans is determined by changes in demand and supply of ‘loanable
funds’. Credit does not appear to enter into the theory. Mankiw and Krugman do
not appear to accept that banks create credit--“out of thin air”--on the
guarantee of collateral, a contract to repay over a fixed time period, and at a
certain rate of interest. Instead, according to this view, they are simple
intermediaries between savers and borrowers; between those who are ‘patient’
savers and ‘impatient’ borrowers.