Events

Browse MMN events below.

“How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the National Debt”

Oct 3, 2013

This event will explore common misconceptions regarding the nature of the national debt and its function in the broader context of contemporary U.S. macroeconomic policy. Questions to be addressed include: What is the national debt comprised of? Why is the national debt different from a personal debt? How accurate are the assumptions behind popular fears over the sustainability of the national debt? How can an accurate…

Monetary Policy Implementation

Oct 1, 2013

This seminar will explore the operational dynamics and policy mechanisms of contemporary monetary policy. Questions to be addressed include: What tools do central banks employ to achieve monetary policy objectives, and in particular, interest rate target? What are the theoretical implications of recent technological and policy innovations in monetary policy? How has monetary policy influenced, and been influenced by, other macroeconomic operations such…

Credit as Contract

Sep 30, 2013

This seminar will examine the relationship between money markets, and contract and payments law. It will offer an historical and contemporary overview of different forms of financial instruments and the legal principles that have guided their evolution, as well as the evolution of their markets. Questions to be addressed include: What is the function and design of money markets? How are financial…

Central Banking in Theory and Practice

Sep 13, 2013

This seminar will explore the relationship between the theoretical and legal design of central banks and their real-world actions. Questions to be addressed include: What roles do central banks play according standard macroeconomic models? How accurate are these views? What role do legal mandates play in the formation of central bank policy? What does central bank independence mean in practice? How important is…

Money as a Hierarchical System

Sep 12, 2013

This seminar will examine the hierarchical power relationships generated and continuously affected by the legal and economic design of the monetary system. Questions to be addressed include: How have financial and legal technologies shaped our monetary system? How do different contemporary legal and economic views on money and the monetary economy relate to each other? What role should and/or does power play in…

Modern Monetary Theory vs The Austrian School

Jun 23, 2013

A public debate on macroeconomic theory and policy with leading thinkers from Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) and the Austrian School.

Macroeconomic Policymaking for Small, Open Economies

May 31, 2013

This seminar explores a number of pressing macroeconomic issues, including federal budget, the national debt, and unemployment, from the perspective of the Australian economy. Questions to be addressed include: How much policy flexibility do small, open economies like Australia gain from having a sovereign currency, as compared to larger economies like the United States? How can small economies with floating exchange rates respond…

Guaranteed Income or Employment

Mar 8, 2013

This seminar focuses on the social, political and economic justifications for securing a legal right to meaningful work and basic material wellbeing, as well as historical examples of direct public employment programs from various nations including the United States, Argentina and India. Questions to be addressed include: Should individuals have a legal right to work and/or basic material wellbeing? Can we afford…

Rent-seeking, Instability and Fraud

Feb 26, 2013

This seminar will explore how financial sector innovation and regulatory structures affect inequality, macroeconomic fragility and white collar crime. Questions to be addressed include: What role does the financial sector play in a modern day economy? How does financial innovation fit into traditional boom-and-bust accounts of the business cycle? What role did fraud play in the global financial crisis? How can financial reform effectively…

Independence or Marriage?

Feb 8, 2013

This seminar examines the legal and operational relationship between central banks and treasury departments. Questions to be addressed include: Should fiscal and monetary policy be viewed separately from each other? Is central bank “independence” an obsolete concept? What are the political implications of recent unorthodox central banking practices such as Quantitative Easing (QE), Operation Twist and Interest-On-Excess-Reserves (IOER)? What role should central banks…

Money, Democracy and the Constitution

Jan 25, 2013

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…

An Evening with Syriza on Greece and the Eurozone

Jan 24, 2013

A conversation on Thursday, January 24th, 2013, with top leadership of SYRIZA (Coalition of the Radical Left), Greece’s leading opposition party, to discuss the challenges facing Greece and the Eurozone and SYRIZA’s vision for economic and financial reform.