democracy | Moral Markets?

The Democratising Potential of a Digital Euro

by Marc Beckmann | Apr 12, 2021 | banking / finance sector, democracy

A digital euro is on the horizon. This essay aims to look behind this rather technocratic discourse and seeks to identify what would make a digital euro truly unique and promising. I will argue that, if one accepts that there is no justification for excluding citizens from the benefits of digital central bank money, such allows us to democratise central banking, and to democratise finance. To arrive at that conclusion, I will firstly picture how a widely accessible digital euro could look like and how it relates to current configurations around central bank money. Secondly, I will discuss what problems a digital euro might help tackling. Thirdly, I will sketch how an enlarged access to central bank money can be followed up with changes that foresee a re-organisation of finance more broadly.

Nominated essay in the category master students of the Future Markets Consultation essay contest

Work: Democratize, Decommodify, Remediate

by Isabelle Ferreras | Oct 29, 2020 | democracy, opinion & ideas, work - meaning & future

“Left to their own devices, most capital investors will not care for the dignity of labor investors; nor will they lead the fight against environmental catastrophe. Another option is available. Democratize firms; decommodify work; stop treating human beings as resources so that we can focus together on sustaining life on this planet”, says a recent manifesto that has meanwhile been signed by more than 3.000 scholars / scientists and that was now also submitted as a viewpoint for the Future Markets Consultation.

The Unbearable Insecurity of Housing and Jobs

by Ilse Oosterlaken (Moral Markets) | Oct 16, 2020 | democracy, opinion & ideas, work - meaning & future

In a recent dialogue sociologist Isabelle Ferreras and economist Josh Ryan-Collins discussed housing and work as two key areas in which people experience the effects of contemporary capitalism on their everyday life. Ilse Oosterlaken reports on the key points.

The Public’s Business

by Project Syndicate ("The World's Opinion Page") | Oct 9, 2020 | business ethics & CSR, democracy, opinion & ideas

“By promoting behavioral norms that balance market and society, ‘stakeholder capitalism’ is supposed to enable private firms to fill the vacuum created by the decline of traditional forms of regulation by national governments. Ultimately, though, the only viable solution is to make business itself more democratic”, argues Dani Rodrik.

The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes

by London School of Economics (LSE) Blogs | Sep 17, 2020 | book reviews, democracy, economics as a science, money

“In The Price of Peace: Money, Democracy, and the Life of John Maynard Keynes, Zachary D. Carter offers a new intellectual biography tracing the life and legacy of the influential economist, which argues that in the years since Keynes’s death, Keynesian economics has been stripped of Keynesian thought. Weaving together a dazzling array of Keynes’s private letters, journalistic works and academic research, this accessible book may help to hasten Keynes’s revival, writes Stephen Paduano.”

Are Capitalist Democracies Really Resilient? Response II to Torben Iversen

by Books & Ideas | Jun 18, 2020 | democracy, opinion & ideas

“For Torben Iversen, capitalism is not responsible for the crisis democracies are currently facing. After Jenny Andersson, Cyril Benoît underlines the limits of this optimistic interpretation.”

Are Capitalist Democracies Really Resilient? Response I to Torben Iversen

by Books & Ideas | Jun 17, 2020 | democracy, opinion & ideas

“For Torben Iversen, capitalism is not responsible for the crisis democracies are currently facing. Responding to this argument, Jenny Andersson underlines the limits of this optimistic interpretation.”

Reinventing Capitalism; The Transition to the Knowledge Economy

by Books & Ideas | Jun 15, 2020 | democracy, long read articles

“Should we blame capitalism for the challenges rich democracies have been facing over the past thirty years—from growing inequality to the rise of populism? According to Torben Iversen, the opposite is true: it was democracy that transformed capitalism to take full advantage of new technologies.”

Moral Markets?

Towards an Economy of Human Flourishing

Your portal to critical reflections on free markets, capitalism, business & economics