Bruce Initiative on Rethinking Capitalism

Standard and Poor’s downgrade of the US dollar’s credit rating was hardly surprising, but its repercussions go deeper than is widely thought. They go to the foundations of global finance, and the role of the state in anchoring financial markets. (photo by Joel Kuiper)

Scholars face a dearth of intellectual resources that interpret, critique, defend, transform and explain the political phenomenon of derivatives. The Crisis of 2008 set many of these issues in stark relief, but marked neither the end nor the beginning of the end. The Initiative focuses on the intellectual and policy issues that will haunt us long after the initial reactions to the crisis fade.