Price Stability Beyond the Fed: A Symposium
Introducing a symposium on the hottest topic in macroeconomics.
Codetermination: The Missing Alternative in Corporate Governance
If we are to correct the deep-rooted power imbalances within our economic institutions, we need to go to the source — the governance of corporations — and adopt more equitable arrangements. Luckily, there is a solution hiding in plain sight.
Metaphors, Analogies, and the Politics of Understanding
Muscles and arteries. Hammers and parasites. Addictions and complexes. Destin Jenkins concludes our Bonds of Inequality symposium by reflecting on the political implications of the metaphors we use to describe municipal debt.
Interlocking Crises: Q&A on Global Debt in a Post-COVID World with Odette Lienau, Part 2
The second part of our Q&A with Odette Lienau, discussing global debt relief, corruption and waste, and the possibility of a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism.
Interlocking Crises: Q&A on Global Debt in a Post-COVID World with Odette Lienau, Part 1
The LPE Blog asks Odette Lienau some questions about global debt in the wake of COVID-19, recent international initiatives to provide debt relief, and the rise of China as a major lender to sovereign states.
The Same System, the Same Results
Every year, governments and public entities wrestle with tough decisions about how they will fund their communities, and every year we absolve Wall Street of its role in siphoning money away from our public budgets. Enough is enough.
When the Moral Economy Became a Political Economy
History shows that the standards by which societies judge economic activity change over time. As these moral frameworks evolve—or devolve—many of the changes make their way into law. For example, modern anti-trust law is grounded in the widely accepted belief that monopolies depress competition and growth and encourage unscrupulous behavior. However, in the sixteenth and…
Making Public Debt a Public Good
Dependence on public debt is a hallmark of democratic capitalist governance. How, then, can we ensure that the interests of private investors do not overtake the needs of the people that debt is meant to serve?
The Bondholders’ Veto: Fiscal Federalism and Local Democracy
American cities’ reliance on municipal debt must be understood as part of a larger structural reliance on concentrated, mobile capital.
Histories of Hammers
Municipal bond finance is an important technology, but is it more like a hammer or an automobile?
10 Hidden Gems from the Archives
If you’re an egalitarian, why are you only playing the hits?
The 10 Most Read Posts of 2020
The August hit parade continues, featuring posts by K-Sue Park, Karl Klare, and Veena Dubal.
Public Money without Public Goods
By documenting how public debt produced our present nightmare, Destin Jenkins allows us to dream about using public money to mend the ills of our era.
The 10 Most Read Posts of 2019
The August hit parade continues, featuring entries by Aziz Rana, Michelle Wilde Anderson, and Samuel Moyn, among others.
The Myth of Fair Share/Equal Share Bond Projects
Los Angeles’s King-Drew Medical Center, a public hospital originally intended to provide Black residents with quality healthcare, is a cautionary tale about using bond financing to advance racial equality.