Money on the Left

Money on the Left:

An Editorial Collective

Installation is a collaboration between New Roots Art Collective, Illsol, and LiveWork Studios, commissioned by Tempus Projects, and Crab Devil. Photographed by Tony Krol.

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Medieval ink on a medieval budget

By Sara Charles Originally published at Teaching Manuscripts, a site that hopes to inform and educate about making medieval manuscripts. Explore the site to learn about the different processes of manuscript production. As autumn is the season for collecting oak galls, now seems a good time to consider how to make ink without access to… Continue reading →

On Merger Policy and Labor

By Sanjukta Paul What’s a merger? A merger is a specific method of expanding the scope of a particular form of economic coordination that has been authorized by law. There is nothing natural or necessary about firms as a form of economic coordination or organization. All throughout history, people have been innovating and creating and… Continue reading →

Internationalism in Name Only: The Left’s Realist Turn

By Jane Ball The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 touched a dormant but significant fault line on the left. On the one hand, much of the left was outraged by the invasion, believing it to be an illegal and genocidal land grab. On the other hand, a cadre of the left, especially in… Continue reading →

Bank of the People: History for Money’s Future

By Dan Rohde Who would’ve guessed that the sudden failure of a state-chartered, regional bank would’ve inspired fundamental reckonings with the nature of money and banking? Yet, this is exactly what we see today. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) and its $200 billion of mostly-uninsured deposits has spurred renewed debates about not only… Continue reading →

Rising Tides Sink All Boats

The Fed’s aggressive monetary austerity is pushing rival currencies lower… Continue reading →

Austin Credits with Jonathan Wilson (White Paper and Podcast Interview)

For this special episode of Superstructure, cohosts Will Beaman (@agoingaccount) and Andrés Bernal (@andresintheory) are joined by Jonathan Wilson (@DeficitOwl24601) to discuss his new white paper, “Proposal for a Local Currency Issued by the City of Austin,” which proposes a complementary currency for the city of Austin called Austin Credits. Jonathan’s proposal contributes to a developing… Continue reading →

Medieval ink on a medieval budget

Money’s Place: Science Fiction, Realism & MMT in The Ministry for the Future

Money on the Left: History, Theory, PracticeVol. 1, No. 1 (2023)ISSN 2833-051X Money’s Place: Science Fiction, Realism & Modern Monetary Theory in Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future By Maxximilian Seijo Abstract Kim Stanley Robinson’s speculative near-future novel Ministry for the Future (2020) centers the heterodox political economy of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)… Continue reading →

The People’s Ledger with Saule Omarova

This month, we discuss democratic possibilities for public finance with Saule Omarova, the Beth and Marc Goldberg Professor of Law at Cornell University and President Biden’s original nominee for Comptroller of the Currency. Omarova’s work on financial regulation and banking law has long informed how we at Money on the Left understand the modern monetary system. Her… Continue reading →

Adventures in Quantumland w/ Ruth E. Kastner

Scott Ferguson is joined on the Superstructure podcast by Ruth E. Kastner, philosopher of physics and research associate at the University of Maryland. In their conversation, Ferguson and Kastner explore metaphysical resonances between Modern Monetary Theory’s approach to money and Kastner’s “Transactional Interpretation” of quantum physics. Setting the stage for their dialog, Ferguson and Kastner… Continue reading →

Job Guarantee as Historical Struggle with David Stein (NEW TRANSCRIPT!)

We are excited to rerelease our inaugural episode of Money on the Left alongside a brand new transcript. Conversation originally published on May 27, 2018 Money on the Left is the official podcast of Modern Money Network: Humanities Division (@moneyontheleft). In our inaugural episode, we consider the recent resurgence of full employment politics in the United States… Continue reading →

The Ends of Freedom w/ Mark Paul

Mark Paul joins Money on the Left to discuss his new book, The Ends of Freedom: Reclaiming America’s Lost Promise of Economic Rights (University of Chicago Press, 2023). Paul is assistant professor in the Bloustein school of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University. In his book, Paul scours U.S. political and economic history to recover, reclaim, and adapt… Continue reading →

New Deal for Higher Ed w/ Jennifer Mittelstadt

We’re joined by Jennifer Mittelstadt (@MittelstadtJen), professor of history at Rutgers University, to discuss her involvement with Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education. We speak with Mittelstadt about how Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Education is organizing to address the most pressing threats to US public higher education today, as well… Continue reading →

Postmodern Money Theory! (Part 3)

In the third installment of Superstructure’s “Postmodern Money Theory!” series, Rob Hawkes and Scott Ferguson wrap up their discussion of B.S. Johnson’s novella, Christie Malry’s Own Double-Entry, which self-consciously weaves money and accounting into the very fabric of literary form. Rob and Scott tease out the text’s lingering potentials and blindspots in order to problematize… Continue reading →

On Paradox with Elizabeth S. Anker

Elizabeth S. Anker joins Money on the Left to discuss her provocative new book, On Paradox: The Claims of Theory (Duke University Press, 2022). Anker is Associate Professor of English at Cornell University and Professor of Law in the Cornell Law School. In On Paradox, Anker contends that faith in the logic of paradox has been the cornerstone of left… Continue reading →

Bank of the People: History for Money’s Future

Stayed on Freedom w/ Dan Berger

Money on the Left presents a public conversation with Dan Berger about his important new book, Stayed on Freedom: The Long History of Black Power through One Family’s Journey (Basic Books, 2023). Berger’s Stayed on Freedom tells a new history of Black Liberation through the intertwined narratives of two grassroots organizers. The Black Power movement, often associated with its iconic spokesmen, derived… Continue reading →

Postmodern Money Theory! (Part 2)

In Part 2 of Superstructure’s “Postmodern Money Theory!” series, Rob Hawkes and Scott Ferguson explore B.S. Johnson’s postmodern novella, Christie Malry’s Own Double-Entry (1973), which self-consciously weaves money and accounting into the very fabric of literary form. Regarded as brokering a broader transition between modernism and postmodernism, Johnson paradoxically conceded that “to tell stories is to tell lies,”… Continue reading →