Articles

Articles and analyses from the INET community on the key economic questions of our time.

Article

Rewarding Bad Behavior: The Bear Stearns Bailout

Mar 12, 2018

Ten years ago when Bear Stearns crashed, the Fed decided to bail out first, ask questions later. It was a mistake that set a bad precedent.

Article

Even in France, Money Rules Politics

Feb 15, 2018

France, like many Western European countries, has strong campaign finance laws and a vibrant multiparty system. Yet even there, money has had a corrosive effect on democracy, as private donations have an outsized impact on electoral outcomes.

Article

Financial Markets Have Taken Over the Economy. To Prevent Another Crisis, They Must Be Brought to Heel.

Feb 13, 2018

Banks have long had undue influence in society. But with the rapid expansion of a financial sector that transforms all debts and assets into tradable commodities, we are faced with something far worse: financial markets with an only abstract, inflated, and destabilizing relationship with the real economy. To prevent another crisis, finance must be domesticated and turned into a useful servant of society. 

Article

How Money Won Trump the White House

Jan 9, 2018

It wasn’t Comey or the Russians. Trump prevailed because his campaign carefully targeted key states with late infusions of big money from private equity, casinos, and other far right contributors, a remarkable wave of donations from small donors, and substantial infusions from the candidate himself.

Article

Nothing Natural About the Natural Rate of Unemployment

Nov 24, 2017

With unemployment reaching very low levels in major economies, despite low – and slowly rising – inflation, it’s time for central banks to rethink their reliance on the so-called natural rate. No numerical target for this rate can serve as an anchor for monetary policy.

Article

How Despair Helped Drive Trump to Victory

Nov 16, 2017

From the Rust Belt to Rural America, Economic and Social Distress Helped Shape the 2016 US Presidential Election Outcome

Article

Puerto Rico Is Getting Squeezed, and It Will Cost All of Us

Sep 12, 2017

The path of austerity could spread economic pain and social woes far beyond the Caribbean island, says public debt expert Martin Guzman 

Article

The Real Cause of the Italian Bank Bailouts and Euro Banking Troubles

Jul 19, 2017

How a Banking Union Has Created Deep Divisions that Undermine the Eurozone’s Stability