Money, Democracy and the Constitution

Modern Money and Public Purpose is an eight-part, interdisciplinary seminar series that will be held at Columbia Law School during the upcoming academic year. According to the website, “The series aims to present new perspectives and progressive policy proposals on a range of contemporary issues facing the U.S. and global macroeconomy. Seminars will feature a mix of academics and practitioners on topics ranging from the history of debt and money and the structure of the financial system to economic human rights for the 21st century.”

The fifth seminar, Money, Democracy and the Constitution: Revolutionary Experience in the United States, will be held on Friday, January 25, 2013, in Jerome Greene Hall, Columbia Law School.  The featured speakers are Christine Desan, Harvard Law School, and Farley Grubb, University of Delaware (Economics).  The website explains:

This seminar explores the relationship between money and the legal formation of the modern liberal capitalist state, with a particular emphasis on the pre-Revolutionary and early United States. In contrast to conventional economic narratives that cast money as lubrication for existing forms of exchange, this event highlights the legal and political origins of our modern monetary system, and traces the influence of those forces on the shape of the modern economy. Questions to be addressed include:

How are monetary systems shaped by constitutional processes?

How was the United States monetary system affected by the revolution and drafting of the U.S. Constitution?

What impact does the legal structure of money have on the character of an economy?

What insights do historical revolutionary debates about money provide on current economic problems?

Contact: modernmoneypublicpurpose@gmail.com.