Finance & economics | Buttonwood
Why national accounts might be like corporate balance-sheets
A new paper argues that fiat money is like equity
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20170805_FND001_0.jpg)
THE easiest way to get an economist to laugh sardonically is to compare a country’s finances to those of a family. It is both simplistic and wrong, they will argue, for politicians to say that a country “must live within its means”.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Money for nothing”
Finance & economics August 5th 2017
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