Books & ideas

A European code of capital ?

Éric Monnet & Antoine Vauchez — 2024-12-31T08:49:00Z

Katharina Pistor has renewed the critique of economic inequality by showing how the institutions of private law form the lock of an unequal economic and social system.

Regulating Globalisation

Sylvain Maechler — 2020-04-23T07:00:00Z

The excesses of globalisation, including labour exploitation and environmental degradation in global industries, are often seen as the result of a lack of rules. Tim Bartley shows that these rules exist and overlap—they are just failing because they ignore the context in which they operate.

Neoliberalism à la française

Matthew Soener — 2020-02-03T08:00:00Z

From Mitterrand's “rigueur” to Hollande's “mandate,” Bruno Amable charts the transformation of French capitalism and reveals the making of a political crisis.

Who Is Watching the Shadow Banks?

Andreas Eisl — 2019-06-06T07:00:00Z

Shadow banking refers to bank-like financial activities that do not fall under traditional regulations; they have been one of the root causes of the recent financial crisis. M. Thiemann identifies the structural causes for their rapid growth, and shows which institutional reforms could prevent the circumvention of regulations.

A Turbulent Decade

Matthew Soener — 2019-02-18T06:00:00Z

The 2008 financial crisis revealed significant frailties within global capitalism. How did the political response shape the ensuing decade? In his book, economic historian Adam Tooze narrates the key events over this period, from financial sector bailouts to geopolitical shifts worldwide.

The Agricultural New Deal

Federico D'Onofrio — 2017-03-30T07:00:00Z

Addressing the issue of state intervention in agricultural markets, La Politique du Blé by Alain Chatriot examines the political debate behind the creation of the Office Interprofessionnel du Blé, the French national wheat pool, that was established in 1936 by the leftist government.

The General Interest

Philippe Steiner — 2016-12-05T08:00:00Z

By building markets, distributing information, and developing adapted incentives, modern economic theory claims to lead us to the common good.

Free Markets, Free Polluters

François Jarrige — 2011-03-07T10:05:19Z

The historian Geneviève Massard-Guilbaud puts forward one of the first overviews of the regulation of pollution in the nineteenth century. She shows that the relevant legislation, sustained by the belief in technological progress, served at first to protect industrial activity. Yet at the same time, the populace were trying to make their right to public health prevail.

The crisis is more than economics

Martin Albrow & Colin Bradford — 2009-04-01T10:09:55Z

At the London G20 Summit, hosted by Gordon Brown, the leaders of the major new “great powers”, China, India and Brazil, will be prominent. What can be expected from this meeting? The G20 will only fill the vacuum at the centre if it addresses the broader systemic crisis of responsibility and accountability that arises out of the West's worship of the free market.