With Trump US voters elected a climate denier to the White House whose systematic dismantlement o... more With Trump US voters elected a climate denier to the White House whose systematic dismantlement of Obama’s climate policies bucks a global trend to tackle this issue more seriously. Thanks to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change we have overwhelming evidence of rapidly growing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and their nefarious implications for the climate. Global warming, itself unevenly distributed, has already begun to intensify storms and droughts, make sea levels rise, melt glaciers, reduce biodiversity, and hamper agricultural yields. After a quarter of century of stop-go efforts to address this issue, the world community of nations finally decided in December 2015 at a meeting in Paris to address this issue in systemic fashion with a long-run plan for increasingly ambitious collective action—the Paris Climate Agreement.
When analyzing the climate policies of countries, as put forth in so-called Nationally Determined... more When analyzing the climate policies of countries, as put forth in so-called Nationally Determined Contributions, we see that the world is nowhere near meeting its ≤ 2 °C objective. One striking example of policy failure is the USA, currently headed by a climate denier who has taken the largest per capita emitter of CO2 out of the Paris Agreement. In contrast to Trump, California has reinforced its climate policies as model for the rest of the world. So have other climate-policy leaders, notably China and France. Companies too seek to contribute to the struggle against global warming, as exemplified by Microsoft’s global carbon fee, Tesla’s product development, or Google’s Sidewalk Labs planning the city of the future. These developments will be dwarfed by much more radical approaches to organizing, say, traffic, agriculture, or waste management in the not-so-distant future.
With recent turmoil in financial markets around the world, this unique and up-to-date book addres... more With recent turmoil in financial markets around the world, this unique and up-to-date book addresses a number of challenging issues regarding monetary policy, financial markets and macroeconomic policy.
Having gone through a systemic crisis, finance-led capitalism is at a threshold—and with it the f... more Having gone through a systemic crisis, finance-led capitalism is at a threshold—and with it the future of global markets. Even though critics on the political Left complain that the crisis has rendered finance even more concentrated and reregulation has left its basic structure intact, much has changed since those fateful days of 2008. Transnational banks, the stalwarts of global finance, are still bearing the wounds of this traumatic period. Weakened by heavy losses, these banks are now dealing with a huge regulatory remake while trying to pass stress tests and cope with destroyed reputations. The banks are on the defense and in retreat, trying to figure out the right kind of product mix that can pass muster with impatient shareholders and more watchful regulators. This leaves an opening for smaller, more nimble institutions taking away market share from traditional banks whose do-it-all strategy had turned them into dysfunctional conglomerates long ago. But the gradual decline of universal banking, evidenced by the postcrisis retreat of so many once-leading banks, poses a question that may even contain a momentous opportunity: what is to become of finance-led capitalism and how can we harness the undeniable power of finance for better uses?
While we are still some years away from a universal electronic-payments system that is widely use... more While we are still some years away from a universal electronic-payments system that is widely used for e-commerce on the internet, it behoves us to take a closer look at ongoing cybercash experiments. Even in this embryonic stage we can get a glimpse of a future in which cybercash will have become a dominant money form.1
... It is worth noting here that key Democrats, notably Barack Obama in the Senate and Barney Fra... more ... It is worth noting here that key Democrats, notably Barack Obama in the Senate and Barney Frank in the House, are pushing to ... In June 2007, Moody's and Standard & Poor's downgraded hundreds of securities based on subprime loans, many of them now below investment ...
In Finance-Led Capitalism , bestselling author and economist Robert Guttmann provides a new conce... more In Finance-Led Capitalism , bestselling author and economist Robert Guttmann provides a new conceptual framework to assess the dominate role of modern finance within the workings of our contemporary economic system. This lively and provocative read will challenge some of the core beliefs about modern finance and the world economy.
In 2007/08, when the world faced one of the greatest financial crises in history, almost no one a... more In 2007/08, when the world faced one of the greatest financial crises in history, almost no one among economists, bankers, or government officials anywhere had seen this one coming. Why? It was not just the optimism prevailing after so many years of a Goldilocks economy or the orthodoxy’s blind spot when it comes to finance in their models. More troubling was the fact that the crisis had exploded underground, in the part of the plumbing system of the economy that was hidden even from the professionals’ eyes. Now that we have put this traumatic experience behind us and enjoy the fruits of a (finally) solid recovery, we still must wonder whether such a hit out of the blue can recur. Or have we learned enough about the last crisis and the locus of its origination not to repeat the same mistakes?
With Trump US voters elected a climate denier to the White House whose systematic dismantlement o... more With Trump US voters elected a climate denier to the White House whose systematic dismantlement of Obama’s climate policies bucks a global trend to tackle this issue more seriously. Thanks to the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change we have overwhelming evidence of rapidly growing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases and their nefarious implications for the climate. Global warming, itself unevenly distributed, has already begun to intensify storms and droughts, make sea levels rise, melt glaciers, reduce biodiversity, and hamper agricultural yields. After a quarter of century of stop-go efforts to address this issue, the world community of nations finally decided in December 2015 at a meeting in Paris to address this issue in systemic fashion with a long-run plan for increasingly ambitious collective action—the Paris Climate Agreement.
When analyzing the climate policies of countries, as put forth in so-called Nationally Determined... more When analyzing the climate policies of countries, as put forth in so-called Nationally Determined Contributions, we see that the world is nowhere near meeting its ≤ 2 °C objective. One striking example of policy failure is the USA, currently headed by a climate denier who has taken the largest per capita emitter of CO2 out of the Paris Agreement. In contrast to Trump, California has reinforced its climate policies as model for the rest of the world. So have other climate-policy leaders, notably China and France. Companies too seek to contribute to the struggle against global warming, as exemplified by Microsoft’s global carbon fee, Tesla’s product development, or Google’s Sidewalk Labs planning the city of the future. These developments will be dwarfed by much more radical approaches to organizing, say, traffic, agriculture, or waste management in the not-so-distant future.
With recent turmoil in financial markets around the world, this unique and up-to-date book addres... more With recent turmoil in financial markets around the world, this unique and up-to-date book addresses a number of challenging issues regarding monetary policy, financial markets and macroeconomic policy.
Having gone through a systemic crisis, finance-led capitalism is at a threshold—and with it the f... more Having gone through a systemic crisis, finance-led capitalism is at a threshold—and with it the future of global markets. Even though critics on the political Left complain that the crisis has rendered finance even more concentrated and reregulation has left its basic structure intact, much has changed since those fateful days of 2008. Transnational banks, the stalwarts of global finance, are still bearing the wounds of this traumatic period. Weakened by heavy losses, these banks are now dealing with a huge regulatory remake while trying to pass stress tests and cope with destroyed reputations. The banks are on the defense and in retreat, trying to figure out the right kind of product mix that can pass muster with impatient shareholders and more watchful regulators. This leaves an opening for smaller, more nimble institutions taking away market share from traditional banks whose do-it-all strategy had turned them into dysfunctional conglomerates long ago. But the gradual decline of universal banking, evidenced by the postcrisis retreat of so many once-leading banks, poses a question that may even contain a momentous opportunity: what is to become of finance-led capitalism and how can we harness the undeniable power of finance for better uses?
While we are still some years away from a universal electronic-payments system that is widely use... more While we are still some years away from a universal electronic-payments system that is widely used for e-commerce on the internet, it behoves us to take a closer look at ongoing cybercash experiments. Even in this embryonic stage we can get a glimpse of a future in which cybercash will have become a dominant money form.1
... It is worth noting here that key Democrats, notably Barack Obama in the Senate and Barney Fra... more ... It is worth noting here that key Democrats, notably Barack Obama in the Senate and Barney Frank in the House, are pushing to ... In June 2007, Moody's and Standard & Poor's downgraded hundreds of securities based on subprime loans, many of them now below investment ...
In Finance-Led Capitalism , bestselling author and economist Robert Guttmann provides a new conce... more In Finance-Led Capitalism , bestselling author and economist Robert Guttmann provides a new conceptual framework to assess the dominate role of modern finance within the workings of our contemporary economic system. This lively and provocative read will challenge some of the core beliefs about modern finance and the world economy.
In 2007/08, when the world faced one of the greatest financial crises in history, almost no one a... more In 2007/08, when the world faced one of the greatest financial crises in history, almost no one among economists, bankers, or government officials anywhere had seen this one coming. Why? It was not just the optimism prevailing after so many years of a Goldilocks economy or the orthodoxy’s blind spot when it comes to finance in their models. More troubling was the fact that the crisis had exploded underground, in the part of the plumbing system of the economy that was hidden even from the professionals’ eyes. Now that we have put this traumatic experience behind us and enjoy the fruits of a (finally) solid recovery, we still must wonder whether such a hit out of the blue can recur. Or have we learned enough about the last crisis and the locus of its origination not to repeat the same mistakes?
Uploads
Papers