We meet for 90 minutes via Zoom on Tuesdays at 2 pm Eastern Time US (New York).

https://www.amazon.com/Our-Money-Monetary-Democracy-Matters/dp/069124443X/

From the description:

In Our Money, Leah Downey makes a principled case against central bank independence (CBI) by both challenging the economic theory behind it and developing a democratic rationale for sustaining the power of the legislature to determine who can create money and on what terms. How states govern money creation has an impact on the capacity of the people and their elected officials to steer policy over time. In a healthy democracy, Downey argues, the balance of power over money creation matters.

• 2026-06-02 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–3) (Recording)

https://www.amazon.com/Against-Money-J-W-Mason/dp/0226842533/

From the description:

In this revelatory book, economists J. W. Mason and Arjun Jayadev explain how and why money is so deeply misunderstood by the world it dominates―as well as the dangerous social implications of this misunderstanding. Against Money tackles the most dearly held “truths” of economics, arguing that the world of money has never been an impartial representation of the world of things. Instead, its existence in different forms―debt, capital, liquidity, and interest―increasingly shapes events in the real world rather than just reflecting them. Sometimes money enables new forms of cooperation; more oftenit facilitates domination. Human existence is not just facilitated by money but also governed by it.

• 2026-05-05 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–4) (Recording)
• 2026-05-12 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 5–7) (Recording)

On this special Friday session, J.W. Mason joins us to discuss Against Money.

We discuss Chapters 4–8 and the Conclusion of Leah Downey’s Our Money: Monetary Policy as if Democracy Matters.

PART II: AS IF DEMOCRACY MATTERS

• Chapter 4: Democratically Legitimate Central Bank Dominance
  • Justifying the Administrative State
    • Legitimacy
    • Unhealthy Delegation: Guardrails and Compliance
    • Congressional Testimony
  • Democracy in Peril?
• Chapter 5: Power in a Healthy Democracy
  • A Healthy Democracy
  • Chain of Delegation
    • Privatized Monetary Policy: The Third Moment of Delegation
    • From Sovereign to Government: The First Moment of “Delegation”
  • Iterative Governance
    • No Desire
    • Regularly Showing
    • Knowing
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 6: Iterative Monetary Policy
  • Credit Guidance
    • Iteratively Governing Credit: Preferred Asset Taxonomy (PAT)
    • Iteratively Governing Credit: Differential Reserve Requirements
  • Rechartering
  • To Confine, We Must Define
  • The Consequences of Iterative Governance
  • Conclusion

PART III: IN A GLOBAL ECONOMY

• Chapter 7: Global Governance in a Global Economy
  • The Trilemma is a Dilemma
  • Gone Global
    • Money Creation Offshore
    • State Power
  • Global Monetary Governance
  • Conclusion
• Chapter 8: Democratic Governance in a Global Economy
  • Going Domestic
    • To Confine We Must Define: The International Edition
  • Democratic Trade-offs and Monetary Hierarchy
  • Conclusion
• Conclusion

• The History of Money: A Story of Humanity by David McWilliams (2025)
• After the Accord: A History of Federal Reserve Open Market Operations, the US Government Securities Market, and Treasury Debt Management from 1951 to 1979 by Kenneth D. Garbade (2021)
• How a Ledger Became a Central Bank: A Monetary History of the Bank of Amsterdam by Quinn and Roberds (2023)
• The House of Morgan by Ron Chernow (1990)
• A Study of Money Flows in the United States by Morris Copeland (1952)
• A History of the Greenbacks by Wesley Clair Mitchell (1903)
• Calming the Storms: The Carry Trade, the Banking School and British Financial Crises Since 1825 by Charles Read (2023)
• Benjamin Strong: Central Banker by Lester V. Chandler (1958)
• An Engine, Not a Camera: How Financial Models Shape Markets by Donald MacKenzie (2007)
• Currency and Credit (4e) by Ralph Hawtrey (1950)
• The Golden Age of the Quantity Theory by David Laidler (1991)
• Capitalizing on Crisis: The Political Origins of the Rise of Finance by Greta Krippner (2011)
• The Federal Reserve System by Paul Warburg (1930)
• Central Bank Capitalism: Monetary Policy in Times of Crisis by Joscha Wullweber (2024)
• Introduction to Central Banking by Ulrich Bindseil and Alessio Fota (2021)
• The Chairman: John J. McCloy & The Making of the American Establishment by Kai Bird (1992)
• Manias, Panics, and Crashes (8e) by Robert McCauley (2023)
• The Bailout State: Why Governments Rescue Banks, Not People by Martijn Konings (2025)

• Minsky by Daniel H. Neilson (2019)
  2021-03-24 — Discussion Session 1
  2021-03-31 — Discussion Session 2
  2021-04-07 — Discussion with Daniel Neilson
• The Art of Central Banking (Chapter IV) by Ralph Hawtrey (1933)
  2021-04-21 — Discussion Session 1
  2021-05-05 — Discussion Session 2
  2021-05-26 — Discussion with David Glasner
• Making Money: Coin, Currency, and the Coming of Capitalism by Christine Desan (2014)
  2021-06-02 — Discussion Session 1
  2021-06-16 — Discussion Session 2
  2021-06-30 — Discussion Session 3
  2021-07-14 — Discussion with Christine Desan
• Money in a Theory of Finance by John G. Gurley, Edward S. Shaw (1960)
  2021-07-21 — Discussion Session 1
  2021-08-04 — Discussion Session 2
  2021-08-18 — Discussion Session 3
• The World in Depression, 1929-1939 by Charles P. Kindleberger (1973)
  2021-09-01 — Discussion Session 1
  2021-09-15 — Discussion Session 2
  2021-09-29 — Discussion Session 3
• The Rise of Carry by Jamie Lee et al (2019)
  2021-10-13 — Discussion Session 1
  2021-10-27 — Discussion Session 2
• The Money Interest and the Public Interest by Perry Mehrling (1998)
  2021-11-10 — Discussion Session 1 | Allyn Young
  2021-11-24 — Discussion Session 2 | Alvin Hanson
  2021-12-08 — Discussion Session 3 | Edward Shaw
• Controlling Credit by Eric Monnet (2018)
  2022-01-05 — Discussion Session 1
  2022-01-19 — Discussion Session 2
• The Menace of Fiscal QE by George Selgin (2020)
  2022-02-02 — Discussion Session
• The New Lombard Street by Perry Mehrling (2011)
  2022-02-23 — Discussion Session 1
  2022-03-09 — Discussion Session 2
  2022-03-23 — Discussion Session 3
• Fighting Financial Crises: Learning from the Past by Gary Gorton, Ellis Tallman (2021)
  2022-04-20 — Discussion Session 1
  2022-05-11 — Discussion Session 2
• Money and empire: The international gold standard, 1890-1914 by Marcello De Cecco (1974)
  2022-05-25 — Discussion Session 1
  2022-06-15 — Discussion Session 2
• Central Bank Cooperation 1924-31 by Stephen Clarke (1967)
  2022-06-22 — Discussion Session 1
  2022-07-06 — Discussion Session 2
• The Money Problem: Rethinking Financial Regulation by Morgan Ricks (2016)
  2022-07-27 — Discussion Session 1
  2022-08-10 — Discussion Session 2
  2022-08-17 — Discussion with Morgan Ricks
• The Evolution of Central Banking: Theory and History by Stefano Ugolini (2017)
  2022-08-24 — Discussion Session 1
  2022-09-07 — Discussion Session 2
  2022-09-21 — Discussion Session 3
  2022-10-05 — Discussion with Stefano Ugolini
• A Financial History of Western Europe by Charles P. Kindleberger (1984, 1993)
  2022-10-19 — Discussion Session 1 | Part 1: Money
  2022-11-02 — Discussion Session 2 | Part 2: Banking
  2022-11-16 — Discussion Session 3 | Part 3: Finance
  2023-01-11 — Discussion Session 4 | Part 4: The Interwar Period
  2023-01-18 — Discussion Session 5 | Part 5: After World War II
• Money and Empire: Charles P. Kindleberger and the Dollar System by Perry Mehrling (2022)
  2022-11-30 — Discussion Session 1 | Part 1: Intellectual Formation, 1910–1948
  2022-12-14 — Discussion Session 2 | Part 2: International Economist, 1948–1976
  2022-12-21 — Discussion Session 3 | Part 3: Historical Economist, 1976–2003
  2022-12-21 — Discussion #1 with Perry Mehrling
  2023-01-04 — Discussion #2 with Perry Mehrling
• Bonds without Borders: A History of the Eurobond Market by Chris O’Malley (2015)
  2023-02-15 — Discussion Session 1
  2023-03-01 — Discussion Session 2
• Monetary Policy Operations and the Financial System by Ulrich Bindseil (2014)
  2023-03-15 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1-8)
  2023-03-29 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 9-12)
  2023-04-12 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 13-18)
• Capital Wars: The Rise of Global Liquidity by Michael J. Howell (2020)
  2023-04-26 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1-7)
  2023-05-10 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 8-14)
• A Market Theory of Money by John Hicks (1989)
  2023-05-24 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1-7)
  2023-06-07 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 8-15)
• The Currency of Politics: The Political Theory of Money from Aristotle to Keynes by Stefan Eich (2022)
  2023-06-28 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1 & 2)
  2023-07-19 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 3 & 4)
  2023-08-02 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 5 & 6)
  2023-08-14 — Discussion with Stefan Eich
• Fischer Black and the Revolutionary Idea of Finance by Perry Mehrling (2005)
  2023-08-22 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–5)
  2023-09-05 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 6–8)
  2023-09-19 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 9–11)
  2023-09-26 — Discussion with Perry Mehrling
• The Evolution of Central Banks by Charles Goodhart (1988)
  2023-10-03 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–6)
  2023-10-17 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 7–8, Appendix)
• The Repo Market: Shorts, Shortages, and Squeezes by Scott Skyrm (2023)
  2023-11-07 — Discussion Session 1 (pages 1–92)
  2023-11-21 — Discussion Session 2 (pages 93–186)
  2023-12-05 — Discussion Session 3 (pages 187–310) Part 1 — Part 2
  2023-12-12 — Discussion with Scott Skyrm From 39:20
• The Volatility Machine: Emerging Economies and the Threat of Financial Collapse by Michael Pettis (2001)
  2023-12-19 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–5)
  2024-01-02 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 6–10)
  2024-01-09 — Discussion with Michael Pettis
• International Capital Movements by Charles P. Kindleberger (1987)
  2024-01-16 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1 & 2)
  2024-01-30 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 3 & 4)
• A Political Theory of Money by Anush Kapadia (2024)
  2024-02-20 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–4)
  2024-03-05 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 5–7)
  2024-03-19 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 8–12)
  2024-03-26 — Discussion with Anush Kapadia
• The Rise of Central Banks: State Power in Financial Capitalism by Leon Wansleben (2023)
  2024-04-02 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–3)
  2024-04-23 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 4–6)
  2024-05-07 — Discussion with Leon Wansleben
• The Money Illusion: Market Monetarism, the Great Recession, and the Future of Monetary Policy by Scott Sumner (2021)
  2024-05-14 — Discussion Session 1 (Parts 1 & 2)
  2024-05-28 — Discussion Session 2 (Parts 3 & 4)
  2024-06-18 — Discussion Session 3 (Parts 5 & 6)
  2024-06-25 — Discussion with Scott Sumner
• Private Money and Public Currencies: The Sixteenth Century Challenge: The Sixteenth Century Challenge by Boyer-Xambeu, Deleplace, and Gillard (1994)
  2024-07-02 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–3)
  2024-07-16 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 4 & 5)
  2024-07-30 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 6, 7 & Conclusion)
• The Arena of International Finance by Charles A. Coombs (1976)
  2024-08-13 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1ー6)
  2024-08-27 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 7–12)
• The Bill on London: or The Finance of Trade by Bills of Exchange by Gillett Brothers (1952/1976)
  2024-09-17 — Discussion Session
• Birth of a Market: The U.S. Treasury Securities Market from the Great War to the Great Depression by Kenneth D. Garbade (2012)
  2024-10-01 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–10)
  2024-10-15 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 11–15)
  2024-10-29 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 16–24)
• A Monetary and Fiscal History of the United States, 1961–2021 by Alan S. Blinder (2022)
  2024-11-12 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–7)
  2024-11-26 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 8–13)
  2024-12-10 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 14–19)
• Building a Ruin: The Cold War Politics of Soviet Economic Reform by Yakov Feygin (2024)
  2025-01-07 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–3)
  2025-01-21 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 4–6)
  2025-02-04 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 7 & Afterword)
• A Crash Course on Crises: Macroeconomic Concepts for Run-Ups, Collapses, and Recoveries by Markus K. Brunnermeier and Ricardo Reis (2023)
  2025-02-25 — Discussion Session 1 (Parts 1 and 2)
  2025-03-11 — Discussion Session 2 (Parts 3 and 4)
• The Empire of Value: A New Foundation for Economics by Andre Orlean (2014)
  2025-03-25 — Discussion Session 1 (Introduction and Part 1) Part 1 — Part 2
  2025-04-08 — Discussion Session 2 (Parts 2 and 3)
  2025-04-22 — Discussion Session 3 (Part 4 and Conclusion)
• The Wheels of Commerce by Fernand Braudel (1979/1982)
  2025-05-06 — Discussion Session 1 (Chapter 1)
  2025-05-13 — Discussion Session 2 (Chapter 2)
  2025-05-20 — Discussion Session 3 (Chapter 3)
  2025-05-27 — Discussion Session 4 (Chapter 4)
  2025-06-03 — Discussion Session 5 (Chapter 5)
• Beyond Banks: Technology, Regulation, and the Future of Money by Dan Awrey (2024)
  2025-06-17 — Discussion Session 1 (Intro & Ch 1–3)
  2025-07-01 — Discussion Session 5 (Ch 4–7 & Conclusion)
  2025-07-08 — Discussion with Dan Awrey
• Our Dollar, Your Problem: An Insider’s View of Seven Turbulent Decades of Global Finance by Kenneth Rogoff (2025)
  2025-08-19— Discussion Session 1 (Parts 1-3)
  2025-08-26 — Discussion Session 2 (Parts 4-6)
• Central Banking Before 1800: A Rehabilitation by Ulrich Bindseil (2019)
  2025-09-01 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1&2)
  2025-09-15 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 3–5)
  2025-09-29 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 6&7)
  2025-10-13 — Discussion with Ulrich Bindseil
• The Long Twentieth Century: Money, Power and the Origins of Our Times by Giovanni Arrighi (2010)
  2025-10-20 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1&2)
  2025-11-03 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 3)
  2025-11-10 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 4)
• Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit by Charles W. Calomiris and Stephen Haber (2014)
  2025-11-17 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–5)
  2025-12-01 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 6-9)
  2025-12-15 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 10–15)
  2026-01-05 — Discussion with Charles Calomiris
• Treatise on Money by Joseph Schumpeter (1970/2014)
  2026-01-12 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–3)
  2026-01-27 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 4–7)
  2026-02-10 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 8–10)
  2026-02-24 — Discussion Session 4 (Ch 11–12)
• Between Payments and Credit: An Introduction to the IOU Economy by George Pantelopoulos (2025)
  2026-03-10 — Discussion Session 1 (Ch 1–5)
  2026-03-24 — Discussion Session 2 (Ch 6–10)
  2026-04-07 — Discussion Session 3 (Ch 11–13)
  2026-04-14 — Discussion with George Pantelopoulos

2021-05-19 BIS Working Paper: Breaking free of the triple coincidence in international finance (2015)
2021-07-07 Global Domain of the Dollar: 8 Questions by Robert McCauley Author Discussion
2021-07-28 BIS and Bank of England reports on Central Bank Digital Currencies
2022-09-28 The Crypto Banking System by Sébastien Derivaux (2022) Author Discussion
2023-04-05 Discussion of Silicon Valley Bank
2023-04-19 Institutional Cash Pools by Zoltan Pozsar (2011)
2023-05-03 BIS Bulletin #73: Stablecoins vs. Tokenized Deposits (May 3, 2023)
2023-07-05 The Credit–Money Hierarchy: a Republican , Egalitarian Appraisal by Aaron James (2023)
2023-07-26 Public Purpose Finance: The Government’s Role as Lender by Nadav Orian Peer (2020) Author Discussion 2023-10-24 Money and the Public Debt by Lev Menand and Joshua Younger (2023) | 1
2023-10-31 Money and the Public Debt by Lev Menand and Joshua Younger (2023) | 2
2023-11-14 ICMA Repo FAQ by Richard Comotto (2013/2019)
2023-11-28 Basis Trades and Treasury Market Illiquidity by Daniel Barth & Jay Kahn (2020)
2024-01-23 Capital flows and the current account by Borio and Disyatat (2015)
2024-02-13 The dual currency system of Renaissance Europe by Luca Fantacci (2008)
2024-02-27 BIS: Buy now, pay later: a cross-country analysis by Cornelli et al. (2023)
2024-03-12 The non-use of money in the Middle Ages by Bell, Brooks, and Moore (2017)
2024-04-09 The Central Role of Credit Crunches in Recent Financial History by Albert M. Wojnilower (1980)
2024-04-16 Measuring Equilibrium in the Balance of Payments by Charles P. Kindleberger (1969)
2024-04-30 The Rise and Risks of Private Credit — GFSR (April, 2024)
2024-06-04 BIS Working Paper No 1100: Getting up from the floor by Claudio Borio (May, 2023)
2024-06-11 The Offshore Dollar and US Policy by Robert McCauley (May, 2024)
2024-07-09 The (impossible) repo trinity: the political economy of repo markets by Daniela Gabor (2016)
2024-08-07 A Safe Haven for Hidden Risks (May 30, 2024) and Rate Transformation (November 4, 2023) by Elham Saeidinezhad
2024-08-20 The Collateral Supply Effect on Central Bank Policy by Carolyn Sissoko (2020)
2024-09-10 Monetary Policy Implications of Market Maker of Last Resort Operations by Anil K Kashyap (August 23, 2024)
2024-11-05 BIS Bulletin No 90: The market turbulence and carry trade unwind of August 2024 (August 27, 2024)
2024-11-19 Yen Carry Trade and the Subprime Crisis by Masazumi Hattori and Hyun Song Shin (2009)
2024-12-03 After the Allocation: What Role for the Special Drawing Rights System? by Pforr, Pape, and Murau (2022)
2025-01-14 Where Profits Come From by the Levy Forecasting Center by Levy, Farnham, & Rajan (2008/1997)
2025-01-28 The Broad Consequences of Narrow Banking by Matheus R. Grasseli and Alexander Lipton (2019)
2025-02-11 Failing Banks by Sergio Correia, Stephen Luck, and Emil Verner (2024)
2025-02-18 Odd Lots — The Hidden History of Eurodollars by Lev Menand and Joshua Younger (January 2025)
2025-03-04 Of Last Resort: Evaluating the Treasury-Equity Model of Federal Reserve Emergency Lending by Steven Kelly (2024)
2025-03-18 Commercial Banking and Capital Formation I–IV by Harold Moulton (1918)
2025-04-01 Climate Alignment For Banks: The Stories That Numbers Tell by Nadav Orian Peer (2025) Author Discussion
2025-04-15 Shadow Banking: Why Modern Money Markets are Less Stable Than 19th c. Money Markets But Shouldn’t Be Stabilized by a ‘Dealer of Last Resort’ by Carolyn Sissoko (2014)
2025-04-29 Treasury Market and the Basis Trade (Adrian et al. 2025; Kashyap et al. 2025)
2025-06-10 Structural Changes in the Global Financial System lecture by Hyun Song Shin (May 19, 2025)
2025-06-24 International Regimes, Transactions, and Change: Embedded Liberalism in the Postwar Economic Order by John Gerard Ruggie (1982)
2025-07-15 BIS Annual Report Chapter: Financial conditions in a changing global financial system (2025)
2025-07-22 Banks Are Intermediaries of Loanable Funds by George Selgin (2024)
2025-07-29 Theorising non-bank financial intermediation by Jo Michell (2024)
2025-08-05 Banks are different: why bank-based versus market-based lending is a false dichotomy by Carolyn Sissoko (2024)
2025-09-08 Did France Cause the Great Depression? by Douglas A. Irwin (2010)
2025-09-22 Rethinking Monetary Sovereignty: The Global Credit Money System and the State by Murau and van’t Klooster (2023)
2025-10-06 Rethinking currency internationalisation: offshore money creation and the EU’s monetary governance by Murau and van’t Klooster (2025)
2025-10-27 BIS Bulletin No 114: “Financial channel implications of a weaker dollar for emerging market economies” by Juselius, Wooldridge and Xia (October 13, 2025)
2025-11-24 Bubble or Nothing: Data Center Project Finance by Advait Arun (November 12, 2025)
2025-12-08 Discussion of Debate over Whether Money Multiplier Requires Cash Lending
2026-01-20 Gresham’s Law by Charles P. Kindleberger (1989)
2026-02-03 The Law of One Price by Charles P. Kindleberger (1989)
2026-02-17 Bank Runs With and Without Bank Failures by Correia, Luck, and Verner (2026)
2026-03-03 Monetary Experience and the Theory of Money by John Hicks (1977)
2026-03-31 What Is Money (1913) and The Credit Theory of Money (1914) by A. Mitchell-Innes
2026-04-21 Covered interest parity lost: understanding the cross-currency basis by Borio et al. (2016)
2026-04-28 Decoupling Dollar and Treasury Privilege by Du, Keerati, and Schreger (2025)