<p>A renegade band of Modern Monetary Theorists has overturned mainstream economics in part by emphasizing that there is not one, but two systems of modern money, the &ldquo;vertical&rdquo; and the &ldquo;horizontal.&rdquo; They conclusively demonstrate how unifying our understanding of these is crucial for grasping modern economics.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>&ldquo;the key to understanding Modern Monetary Theory is this vertical-horizontal relationship&rdquo; &nbsp;</strong></p><p>(Warren Mosler)</p><p><em>&nbsp; &nbsp;1000 Castaways</em> develops Mosler&#39;s statement into a concise, book-length treatment that is accessible to all readers, starting from first principles and, step-by-step, leading the reader up to the complexities of the real world.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp; &nbsp;Our one thousand castaways develop, before our eyes, a &ldquo;perfect&rdquo; economy, and demonstrate how the horizontal and vertical systems of money naturally emerge from even more fundamental organizational needs of a large society.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp; <em>&nbsp;1000 Castaways</em> then contrasts the Island&#39;s &ldquo;economics&rdquo; with real-world 'economics,' in an enlightening illustration of the last few steps in our common economic understanding that we must take in order to run our modern economies in a way that maximizes wellbeing.</p>