Kerry Pechter on the legal coding of the “Bermuda Triangle”
How the ‘Harkin Amendment’ Enabled the ‘Bermuda Triangle’
Writing in the Retirement Income Journal in its February 2026 edition, Kerry Pechter explains how the analysis in “The Code of Capital” and “The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It”, makes legible the legal coding of highly profitable transactions that have empowered private equity.
Capitalisn’t Podcast
Podcast Interview with Luigi Zingales and Bethany McLean about the constitute role of law for capitalism based on “The Code of Capital” and “The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It”, available on YouTube.
February 19, 2026
Why Europe Needs a New Social Federalism
Joint commentary with Étienne Balibar, Justine Lacroix, Dominique Méda, Thomas Piketty,Guillaume Sacriste, Antoine Vauchez and Jonathan White
“….it is necessary to build a new transnational social alliance, starting from this shared interest in the survival of our democracies and thus bringing together all the forces favourable to such a project—forces that are today fragmented both at the European level and within national frameworks.” Social Europe, January 29, 2026
The Time Has Come to Shutter the WEF
In order to build a new, values-based order, the leaders of the old one must descend from the “Magic Mountain” and re-engage with the flatlands. That is what Hans Castorp, the protagonist in Thomas Mann’s novel, did after having spent too many years discussing big ideas in the thin air of Davos. In his case, it was already too late. The old order had crumbled, and World War I had begun. Read more at PS
Book Events: The Law of Capitalism
Upcoming events:
NYU LPE Student Group. April 6, 2026
NYU Law School. April 9, 2026
Center for Political Economy @ Columbia University: April 13, 2026 (with Aaron Benanav, Jeremy Kessler, and Suresh Naidu)
European University Institute (EUI), Florence (IT), May 13, 2026.
Warwick University, Birmingham (UK), May 14, 2026.
Past Events:
KU Leuven: January 15, 2026
Hamburg University Law School, January 7, 2026
Columbia Law School LPE Chapter: November 19, 2025
Institute for Social Research, Frankfurt: October 24, 2025
Humboldt University: October 21, 2025
Princeton University: September 18. 2025
Amsterdam University, September 29, 2025
Yale University Law School, September 11, 2025
Tel Aviv Law School (via zoom), May 7, 2025
Richmond Law School, March 27, 2025.
Maschinenraum der Zukunft
Dass wir in einer kapitalistischen Gesellschaft leben, wissen wir, weil es uns alle zwingt, irgendwie Geld zu machen. Wie aber macht man Kapital? Das ist weitaus weniger bekannt. Die bahnbrechenden Arbeiten der Rechtswissenschaftlerin Katharina Pistor zeigen, dass Kapital – also der Reichtum, der die Reichen reicher macht – durch spezifische Rechtsformen entsteht, die ständig raffinierter werden. Sie nennt das den „Code des Kapitals“. Code kennt allerdings auch Botchen und denkt dabei an Programmiersprache. Und tatsächlich fragt sich Katharina Pistor in ihrer aktuellen Forschung, ob es sein könnte, dass in Zukunft nicht so sehr Gesetze, sondern Algorithmen darüber entscheiden, wo sich Reichtum konzentriert. Wer kann da überhaupt noch mitentscheiden? Und wo bleibt Botchen, wenn die großen Sprachmodelle anfangen, an Code und Gesetzestexten mitzuschreiben?
9 Januar 2026
Neu Denken Podcast
Was ist Ungleichheit der Vermögen, wie kommt sie zustande und welche Rolle nimmt hierbei das Recht und der Staat ein? Dies sind einige der Fragen, denen wir hier nachgegangen sind.
Erhältlich auf YouTube
28 October 2025
Adorno Lectures Reviews
Review of the three Adorno Lectures I delivered at the Institut für Sozialforschung in Frankfurt 22-24 October
Coding Capital - An Approach to Comparative Legal Analysis
20 October 2025 (London)
Coding Capital can be read as a critique of capitalism and its genesis. It can also be read as an approach to comparative legal analysis with the focus on political economy.
Adorno Vorlesungen (Lectures)
22-24 October (Frankfurt)
Well constituted? Toward a new order for the monetary system
The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It
The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It
Capitalism seems unstoppable. Laws and regulations that are meant to contain its excesses can slow its expansion but are unable to contain it. How is it that a system that relies extensively on the law to code assets as capital is so resistant to legal constraints is the big question this book addresses. The answer lies in the fact that capitalist law is Janus-faced: Its private law side empowers non-state actors to use law as a tool to build private wealth and power over others; the public law side seeks to rein in some actions, but it also protects private actors against state interference through constitutional constraints on state power. This is how private actors rule over others with impunity, shift the risk of their actions on society at large and the environment. I conclude that private law needs a reset to ground it in principles of mutual respect and support among private actors rather than exploitation and power.
Rethinking the Politics of Money
If independent, technocratic central banks are not conducive to democracy, how else should monetary policy be conducted? Until recently, asking such questions would have been considered heresy, but times have changed. Read more at PS.
The Case for Militant Democracy
With many in Germany calling for a ban on Alternative für Deutschland, the far right and its fellow travelers are portraying themselves as victims of political persecution. But they are trying to conflate two different types of regime: constitutional democracy and authoritarian “people’s democracy.” Read more at PS.
Review it All
A request to review all aspects of Columbia University’s governance structure and not focus on the University’s Senate, the only body with participation of administrators, faculty, and students.
Das Recht des Stärkeren
Die Machtergreifung der Reichsten: Die libertären Rechten unterwerfen den Staatsapparat der autoritären Logik der Privatwirtschaft. Beitrag im Wirtschaftsmagazin Surplus Nr. 2 Die Ära der Kettensäge
The Future of the Dollar System
22 April 2025
Can this system last? Are alternatives imaginable? This panel will take up one of the most basic issues in the world economy today.
What if the Economy Worked for Democracy?
9 April 2025
This cross-disciplinary panel will consider the forces that undermine the capacity of societies to find common ground for effective self-governance, especially under conditions of uncertainty and during political and economic shocks. The discussion will explore structural forces threatening shared prosperity, tradeoffs inherent in economic policymaking, pathways to a more just and inclusive economy, and the significance of a political economy fit for advancing the future of democracy.