The Political Economy of Liquidity Triangulation
In this paper, jointly authored with Dario Laudatio, William O’Connell, and Matthias Thiemann, we develop a general framework for how liquidity is created endogenously. We identify three functions: sovereign debt management, private liquidity provision, and public liquidity provision (or money creation) that interact without necessarily coordinating their actions in expanding or contracting liquidity. Two case studies (the US between 1890 and 1933 and Taiwan in the 1990s) illustrate how this framework helps analyze liquidity in different contexts.
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The Fed and the Treasury are in Denial
For centuries, the Catholic Church upheld the dogma that the world was flat and that the sun revolved around it, despite evidence to the contrary. It would take a technological, scientific, and cultural revolution to undermine this doctrine fully. Today, we are at a similar juncture when it comes to finance, where the orthodoxy that “flat” markets in pursuit of efficient outcomes maintains its grip on the minds of many economists and, more problematically, policymakers.
Luhmann-Bielefeld Science Prize 2026
Campus / Forschung / Menschen / News
Wissenschaftspreis 2026 für Professorin Katharina Pistor
11. September 2026
Text: Stiftung der Sparkasse Bielefeld
Die Jury hat entschieden: Der Bielefelder Wissenschaftspreis geht für das Jahr 2026 an die deutsch-amerikanische Rechtswissenschaftlerin Katharina Pistor. Der Preis wird von der Stiftung der Sparkasse Bielefeld im Gedenken an den Bielefelder Soziologen Niklas Luhmann alle zwei Jahre vergeben und ist mit 25.000 Euro dotiert. Die Sparkassenstiftung verleiht die Auszeichnung in enger Zusammenarbeit mit der Universität Bielefeld, der Stadt Bielefeld und der Wissenswerkstadt Bielefeld.
Die Freiheit der Stärkeren verdrängt jene der Schwächeren
Wie sich Investoren mit dem Privatrecht die Ressourcen der Welt aneignen. (How investors appropriate the world’s resources with private law)
August 5, 2026
Institute for Law and Governance
A discussion of “The Law of Capitalism and How to Transform It” with Anne Sanders (University of Bielefeld), moderated by Verena Madner (WU Vienna) https://www.youtube.com/@LawGovWU
April 13, 2026
International Tax Observatory: The Offshore Talks
June 11, 2026
Presentation of “The Law of Capitalism” with comments by Thomas Piketty.
100 Years of Swiss Civil Code and Code of Obligations
5-6 June, 2026
Presenation “Legal Transformations: Lessons from the Transplantation of Law in Turkey and Beyond”
Koç Univesity, Istanbul (Turkey)
The New Laws of Capitalism
The launch of Hettie O’Brien’s new book, “The Asset Class”, provided the occasion for digging deeply in the structures of capitalism and its ramifications for society.
Tor Vegata: International Summer School, 17-19 June
Lectured on the legal coding of capital, capitalism as a legal regime and possible strategies for transformations
EPE Network Meeting
Discussed “Escaping Legal Colonialism: Lessons from South Africa and Beyond” with Steven Vogel (Berkeley) and Judge President of the SA Competition Appeal Court, Norman Manoim
Reeducated Podcast
Conversation with Goutham Yegappan about who really writes the rules of capitalism
Coding the Legal Infrastructures of Capitalism
A discussion in 10 chapters, including Public and Private Law, Two Sides of Governance, The Traps of Formal Equality, The Various Levels of the Law, The Semantics of Corporations, Legal Translations of Post-Colonialism, How to Transform Capital, Constitutional Law and its Rights, The Digital Code,Green Capitalism, and Conclusion.
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:
Deakin University, Melbourne (Australia), October 28, 2026
Maynooth University, Maynooth (Ireland), October 13, 2026
CEU Vienna, Presidential Lecture, October 15, 2026
Bayreuth University, Bayreuth (Germany), October 21, 2026
Goethe University, Frankfurt (Germany), October 20, 2026 (launch of German translation)
Past Events:
Banca d’Italia, Rome (Italy), June 17, 2026
Luiss University, Rome (Italy), June 17, 2026
AFEP Association Annual Meeting, Saint Brieuc (France), June 12, 2026
International Tax Observatory, Paris (France), June 11,2026
The Merode, Brussels (Belgium), June 3, 2026
European University Institute, Florence (Italy), May 13, 2026
Warwick University, Birmingham (UK), May 14, 2026.
Humboldt University Reading Group, May 6, 2026 (online)
Center for Political Economy @Columbia University (with Aaron Benanav, Jeremy Kessler, and Suresh Naidu), April 13, 2026
Institute for Law and Governance, WU Vienna, Webinar with Anne Sanders (Univ. Bielefeld) moderated by Verena Madner (WU Vienna), April 13, 2026
NYU, Jean Monnet Center, April 9, 2026
NYU LPE Student Group. April 6, 2026
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