Following the 2008 Financial Crisis, finance has become a target for political activists and social movements, as well as a topic of renewed scholarly interest. Yet, the state of contemporary finance remains somewhat opaque, leaving many wondering whether much has actually changed. This panel will discuss recent trends in the realm of finance, detailing new patterns of ownership and control that have gone relatively unnoticed - but which have important ramifications for the global capitalist economy.

Speakers: Benjamin Braun and Sarah Quinn

After years of austerity and deflationary pressures, the fear of inflation has once again reared its head. The year 2021 recorded the largest increase in the Consumer Price Index since 1981 . According to some economists, this is the first generational experience of inflation for Americans born after 1980. Debates have ensued regarding the causes of inflation, ranging from supply bottlenecks to rising labor costs. Such debates have subsequently informed policy, with some arguing for increasing interest rates while others call for increased investments in essential sectors and strategic price controls. This panel will discuss and contextualize current debates over the causes for, and policy responses to, inflation.

Speakers: Isabella M. Weber, Tim Barker, and Aaron Benanav

The Russian decision to invade Ukraine was seen as an inevitability to some observers, but a surprise to many others. While the precise motivations are still subject to much debate, the current situation is highly dynamic and the future of the war remains uncertain, albeit consequential. This panel will examine the underlying political economy of both Russia and the region to better understand the reasons for war and its ramifications for the region and the wider world economy.

Speakers: Boris Kagarlitsky, Ilya Budraitskis, Ilya Matveev, and Suzi Weissman

The commodities boom of the 2000s saw the prices of oil, rubber, tin, lead, copper and other industrial minerals rise steadily. This model of economic growth helped support leftist pink-tide governments in Latin America as well as governments all over Southeast Asia. However, with the slowdown in Chinese economic growth and the drop in commodity prices in 2014, the model began to unravel. This coincided with popular challenges to reigning governments, from Malaysia to Brazil. In some cases, protests and social movements were met with increasing repression and a relinquishing of previous democratic gains. What do changing global and regional political economies tell us about resurgent authoritarianism in these two seemingly unconnected regions?

Speakers: Alfredo Saad-Filho, Julia Buxton, Dan Slater, and Barbara Geddes

India, the world’s largest democracy, has witnessed significant democratic backsliding over the past decade, especially following the victory of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2014. Some of the core pillars of the republic, such as secularism, are being challenged at both the state and civil society level, while the BJP continues to compromise important state institutions such as the Election Commission. What can an analysis of India’s rapidly changing political economy, its developmental history, and its relationship with the global economy tell us about the current predicament of increasing authoritarianism?

Speakers: Pranab Bardhan, Jayati Ghosh, and John Harriss

Xi Jinping’s centralization of power, aggressive posturing towards Hong Kong and Taiwan, dangers of a new Cold War, and increasing repression in Xinjiang has put China at a crossroads. How have the Chinese Communist Party and business elites been driving domestic and foreign policy in China? How are they navigating this turbulent and potentially uncertain future?

Speakers: Victor Shih, Barry Naughton, CK Lee, Robert Brenner

In the wake of the Arab uprisings, the forces of counterrevolution reared their heads, having firmly cemented their place in the region. From Egypt to Syria to Bahrain, authoritarian states have proved durable despite significant social instability, repeated uprisings at the regional and local levels, and even internal fissures. What do issues pertaining to social class, business-state relations, and the region’s insertion into the global economy tell us about authoritarian retrenchment in the Middle East and North Africa?

Speakers: Adam Hanieh, Amr Adly, and Shana Marshall

The newly-elected Biden government looks set to continue the Trump administration's hostile and protectionist stance toward China. How should the ongoing trade war between the world's largest economies be explained and what is its effect on these two countries' working people?

Barry Naughton, Aaron Benanav, and Matthew Klein join us to discuss the recent book Trade Wars are Class Wars, by Klein and Michael Pettis. The authors argue that trade conflicts should be interpreted as governments' efforts to promote not so much the interests of their nations at the expense of international rivals as the interest of their nations' elites at the expense of their nations' workers.

Speakers:

Matthew C. Klein is the economics commentator at Barron’s. He previously wrote for the Financial Times, Bloomberg View, and The Economist.

Barry Naughton is a leading authority on China's economy and holder of the Sokwanlok Chair of Chinese International Affairs at the University of California, San Diego.

Aaron Benanav is a postdoctoral researcher at Humboldt University, Berlin. He recently reviewed Klein and Pettis’s book for the New Left Review.

Black Lives Matter Panel: May 5th, 2015 (4 Parts).

Black Lives Matter Panel: May 5th, 2015 (4 Parts).

Black Lives Matter Panel: May 5th, 2015 (4 Parts).

Black Lives Matter Panel: May 5th, 2015 (4 Parts).

Ayotzinapa Panel: June 1, 2015 (4 Parts).

Ayotzinapa Panel: June 1, 2015 (4 Parts).

Ayotzinapa Panel: June 1, 2015 (4 Parts).

Ayotzinapa Panel: June 1, 2015 (4 Parts).

Podemos Panel: April 20, 2015 (4 Parts).

Podemos Panel: April 20, 2015 (4 Parts).

Podemos Panel: April 20, 2015 (4 Parts).

Podemos Panel: April 20, 2015 (4 Parts).