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.
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
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
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 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.
Crisis in the Eurozone
11 March 2025
Europe’s common currency, the Euro, is entering its second quarter century. The European Central Bank is firmly established as the #2 central bank in the world. It has survived years of turbulence. For now, debt markets are stable and the politics of Europe’s common currency are quiet. Can this last?
Europe faces huge challenges. Its economy is sluggish. Europe fears falling behind in the global tech race. It faces new security threats. Trans-Atlantic relations have been thrown into turmoil by the reelection of Donald Trump. On the horizon looms the challenge of the energy transition. This panel will explore the challenges facing the Euro area and the prospects for its future development.
“Les idées larges”
May 2025
Laura Raim interviews Katharina Pistor for the ARTE series “Les idées larges” (Big Ideas) about the Code of Capital and its application to data (in French and German).
“42: The Answer to Almost Everything”
February 23, 2025
Katharina Pistor is featured in an episode about why wealth is so unfairly distributed. (In German and French with English subtitles).