Money as a Democratic Medium

FINANCIALIZATION AND INEQUALITY

Over the past few decades, the advanced capitalist countries have become increasingly financialized against a backdrop of deepening wealth and income inequality. How do we conceptualize and analyze the distributive consequences of the rise of finance? What do recent political upheavals, including the Trump presidency and Brexit, mean for the status quo of financialized capitalism? And what role, if any, can public policy play in tackling the un-equalizing effects of the contemporary system of money and credit?

On Dec. 14-15, Harvard held a two-day conference, “Money as a Democratic Medium,” which challenged its participants to re-examine the history of money in America, and to redefine its future.

Roundtable Discussion: Gerald Epstein (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), Rana Foroohar (Financial Times), Natascha van der Zwan (Leiden University), Rebecca Spang, (Indiana University), Commentator: Sandy Brian Hager (City University of London) [December 14, 2018]