Events Archive

Here is a list of past events. Current events are here.

Professors Ben Braun (LSE) and Mark Blyth (Brown) are organizing a new edition of the Political Economy of Finance Summer School, to be held between July 5 and 7 at Brown University in Providence, RI. The School is open to doctoral candidates, post-doctoral fellows, and early career scholars from a wide range of disciplines and applications are due March 1, 2025. More information, including eligibility and application details, available here.

From the organizers:

Who will finance the green transition? Are states too scared of the bond market? Why are private equity firms seemingly everywhere? Finance is at the heart of the political economy of capitalism, but studying it can be difficult. The good news: some of the brightest minds in the field are eager to share their expertise at the second annual political economy of finance summer school, organized by Ben Braun (LSE) and Mark Blyth (Brown).

Topics include:

Dollar Hegemony
Debt & Debt Relief in the U.S.
History of Financing Regimes
Institutional Capital Pools
Debt & Finance in the Global South
Rise of State Capital
Global Finance in the New Cold War
Finance & Decarbonization
Insurance & Climate Change
State Capital & Green Finance in China
Eligibility

The summer school is open to PhD candidates, post-doctoral fellows, and early career scholars from political science, sociology, financial history, economic geography, and economics.

Applications

Those interested in attending should submit a one-page cover letter, a writing sample (published article, working paper, dissertation chapter, etc.), and a CV as a single PDF via this link.

Application deadline: March 1st, 2025

Building Deeper Collaboration

CoFi 3 brings together attendees from previous CoFi events and welcomes many new participants for a week-long gathering at the Commons Hub in Austria. The event is designed to nurture both intellectual and social connections, with a dynamic schedule that includes structured sessions in the morning, unconference-style discussions in the afternoon, and evenings dedicated to relaxation and community building. Participants can look forward to activities in the surrounding natural area, including hiking and swimming, as well as opportunities to gather around the fire or unwind in the hot tub. This holistic format is intended to foster a balance between deep collaboration and personal rejuvenation.

Expanding on its collaborative ethos, CoFi 3 will delve into the intricacies of alternative financial systems, covering topics like mutual credit, mesh credit, local voucher systems, and multilateral offset clearing. The mornings will feature focused discussions and presentations, while the afternoons will allow for organic exploration through working groups. These sessions aim to create space for participants to address specific challenges, share insights, and advance ongoing projects. The inclusive and open vibe of CoFi ensures a welcoming atmosphere for diverse voices and perspectives, encouraging meaningful exchanges that transcend geographical and cultural boundaries.

All information and the registration form can be found here.

In his new book Will Ruddick describes different forms of resource coordination.

His Field Guide begins by looking at how fungal networks and social systems naturally coordinate resources in ways that are symbiotic and resilient. Will Ruddick explored e.g. in Kenya how “pools of commitments” can replace or complement money, uniting people around shared purpose. He recognized that each of us holds seeds of abundance that only bloom when placed in a common-pool—an open space that thrives on reciprocity and trust. He wants his book to be not an answer, but an invitation – an invitation to explore new (and old) ways of coordinating resources, restoring trust, and creating economies that serve the well-being of all.

We would like to discuss questions with him like:

How has his thinking evolved since launching the community currency Bangla Pesa to now implementing commitment pooling?
Which role play protocols? And can they be shared trough digital ledger systems?
What are the learnings for communities from grassroots economics?

The event will take place on Zoom. To participate, please register in advance by entering your name and email address in this form. The link to the event will then be sent to you automatically.

Can we create a sustainable financial system that works for the people and the planet? Hockett, professor at Cornell University in the U.S., has an optimistic but realistic answer: Yes, we can! And it has never been easier to make the transition than today.

We are pleased to share an invitation to a thought-provoking online event featuring U.S. economist Prof. Robert C. Hockett from Cornell University.

The organizers invite you to explore a bold yet realistic vision for transforming money, banking, and financial markets to serve society rather than the financial sector. According to Hockett, our current financial system has become a “money-pump that encourages, aids, and abets destructive and wealth-concentrating speculation.” But there is hope — and the opportunity for change has never been greater.

🔗 More information and registration here:
https://monreform.org/webinar-hockett

📅 Date: Wednesday, 23 April 2025

🕖 Time:

Lecture & Panel Discussion: 19:00–20:30 CEST (1:00–2:30 PM EDT)

Q&A & Post-Event Talk: 20:30–21:00 CEST (2:30–3:00 PM EDT)

🌍 Language: English

💻 Where: Online (Zoom)

📝 Registration required – Zoom link will be emailed 1–2 hours before the event

Social-Ecological Transformation through Local Money, Non-Profit Banking, and Commons Governance

📅 May 22–23, 2025
📍 Freie Gemeinschaftsbank, Basel

Over the past 25 years, local currency initiatives have been a pillar of grassroots monetary reform. While these projects have achieved important outcomes — most notably by expanding public understanding of what money is and how it could be designed differently to better serve people and the planet — they have largely fallen short of generating systemic impact for social-ecological transformation.

In today’s rapidly shifting political and economic landscape — marked by increasing interest in economic localization and the search for resilient, place-based solutions — the question is more urgent than ever:
Can local money play a more prominent and strategic role in driving meaningful transformation?
What institutional innovations, particularly the involvement of area municipalities and non-profit and public-interest banks, are needed to enhance their effectiveness?
And what governance frameworks are required to ensure that such monetary designs are both accountable and scalable?

The Remaking Money Symposium offers a forum for critical dialogue and collaboration among local currency activists, local stakeholders, financial innovators, and researchers. Together, we will examine the current status of local monetary experiments, assess their transformative potential, and explore what it means to truly remake money to enhance and serve a sustainable and just future – locally, socially and environmentally.

Programme Overview

📌 May 22 | Part 1: The Challenges of Local Money
Showcasing Local Currencies and Their Structural Challenges

Morning presentations will highlight local currency projects, focusing on their context, governance, and scaling challenges:

Contextual Frames
Management and Resilience of Local Currencies
Scaling Dynamics: Limits and Levers

Afternoon workshops will explore shared insights and dilemmas:

WS 1: Mapping Conditions of Emergence
WS 2: Mapping Managerial and Maintenance Challenges
WS 3: Mapping Growth Potentials and Growth Barriers

🕙 10:00–17:00 | Symposium Part 1
🕗 20:00–22:00 | Public Evening Panel

The evening session will feature a reflective dialogue with key contributors and open the floor to public discussion and questions.

📌 May 23 | Part 2: The Future of Local Money
From Innovation to Implementation: Designing Local Monetary Architectures

This day focuses on the design and implementation of future-ready monetary systems that align with institutional realities and systemic goals:

Multi-stakeholder design and governance frameworks
Monetary architecture for regional financial self-sufficiency
Implementation pathways and local embeddedness

Sessions include contributions from practitioners, public officials, and financial innovators.

🕘 09:00–17:00 | Symposium Part 2

How to Submit Your Contribution

Please send an email to: mail@ecoloc.org
Subject: Submission – Local Money Symposium 2025

Your submission should include:

Title of your contribution
Abstract (max. 300 words) outlining your topic, approach, and relevance
Your name, affiliation, and role
Short bio (2–4 sentences)

🗓 Deadline for submissions: Thursday, April 24, 2025
📬 Final programme will be shared: Monday, April 28, 2025

Language

The symposium will be conducted in English to support international participation.
Presenters from German- or Swiss-based initiatives are kindly asked to prepare their presentations in English. Selective translations will be available.

Confirmed Speakers (in presence):

Ester Barinaga, University of Lund
Paolo Dini, Informal Systems
Tomaz Fleischman, Informal Systems
Giuseppe Littera, Informal Systems (Sardex)
Goran Jeras, European Ethical Bank Initiative (EEB)
Jakub Lanc, South Moravia Development Agency (JINAG), University of Brno
Isidor Wallimann, Social Economy Basel
Stephan Dilschneider, Ecoloc

GOOD MONEY LAB 14

Speaker: Michal Linton (The original designer of LETS. He initiated LETSytem in Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, Canada in 1983.)
MC: Makoto Nishibe (Representative Director, Good Money Lab)
Moderator: Kenta otani (Researcher, Good Money Lab)
Date and time：11:00-13:00 on March 8th (Sat) 2025 (JST) / 18:00-20:00 on March 7th (Fri) 2025 (PST)

Mehr Informationen und der Link zur Anmeldung finden Sie hier.

The 7th Conference on Law & Macroeconomics will be held on January 6-7, 2025 at the University of Michigan.

The Call for Papers is open to scholars from all relevant disciplines, including but not limited to law, macroeconomics, history, political science, and sociology. Interested applicants should submit their papers for consideration on or before October 13, 2024 through this form. Abstracts and introductions are welcome, but full drafts of accepted papers will be expected for distribution by December 22, 2024. Questions can be directed to lawandmacro@umich.edu.

From the organizers:

Geopolitical tensions, inflation, and recurrent banking crises have exposed the fragilities of the international monetary system. At the same time, interventions by central banks and fiscal authorities have stoked optimism about the potential for a “soft landing” and sustainable economic expansion.

These developments reinforce the imperative of research at the intersection of law and macroeconomics, even as they recast and sharpen our understanding of the field. They form the background for the Seventh Conference on Law and Macroeconomics. The conference will be held on January 6-7, 2025, at the University of Michigan Law School and the University of Michigan Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We welcome submissions of papers that address the following topics, among
others:

Monetary policy, including comparative approaches to achieving price stability;

Fiscal policy, including legal and regulatory tools to mitigate economic downturns;

Financial regulatory policy, including its interactions with fiscal and monetary policies;

Emergency lending authorities given to central bankers to backstop the broader economy;

Industrial policy as means of promoting economic development or combating climate change;

Increased use of sanctions against small and large, interconnected economies;

The U.S. dollar and its status as the global reserve currency; and

Sovereign debt vulnerabilities, including the role of international institutions like the IMF

For more information, including the full Call for Papers, please visit the conference website.

PAPER SUBMISSIONS DUE OCTOBER 13, 2024.

Against a backdrop of citizenry’s mistrust towards the governments of their own countries successive economic crises over the years have further widened the gap between the local and central institutions. In view of these challenges, complementary currencies may be able to reconnect the knots of the citizens with formal institutions (and vice versa).

Many experiences with complementary means of payment in recent years have resulted in systems of mutual exchange traceable to business communities, with the creation of closed circuits in which members voluntarily exchange goods and services, offsetting debts with credits. Or with initiatives characterized by solidarity and participatory systems aimed at strengthening community relations for development that aims at being financially and economically sustainable. One of the unknowns often encountered is the relationship with national and subnational institutions and in particular on the presence or absence of specific state regulatory references. In the case, in fact, of weakness of state norms, the production of goods and services has moved “regardless” of such references, eschewing the formal economy. The need to meet the motivations from below, born to avoid processes of impoverishment of communities, through the use of complementary monetary circulation systems, and the ability of regional and local institutions to transpose the pushes from below are at the basis of the possibility of creating social innovation or, in negative cases, an economic reality at the edge of the invisible. It is therefore on these issues that we invite researchers, activists and anyone interested in such processes to the conference entitled: “The Future of Money: Democracy, Localism and Inclusion.”

Themes for paper presentations are:

Digitalization – Can CCS help bridge the distance between the technological and digital divides. Suggested key words: 4^th industrial revolution, Digital currencies, Crypto currencies etc.
Regional/Local – Communication between local/ regional administrations and communities through CCS. Suggested key words: Decentralization, Decommodification, (Re-)Distribution, Social cohesion, social innovation, Community resilience, Community development and Local development.
Welfare state – how CCS can help the social system. Suggested key words: Debt crises, Poverty, Inequality, Liquidity, Inflation, Ethical finance, Social harmony, Social justice, etc.
Enviroment – The role of the CCS in the field of sustainable and biodiversity. Suggested key words: Perpetual pandemics, Energy transition, Natural resources, Ecology, Green New Deal, Green investment.
Historical – the different economic, social and cultural phases of the history of complementary currencies. Suggested key words: history, transition phases, civil society, currency.
CCS – Review and renew. Case studies, concepts, experience reports.

Deadlines for submission of papers, registration and more information will be published in due time on
https://ramics.org/7th-congress-rome-2024/

The interdisciplinary summer university (5 ECTS) focuses on alternatives to the economic status quo: International participants deal with limits of growth, as well as the instabilities of our financial system and learn why a drastic system change is necessary to stabilize the world climate. The program offers a holistic approach, with the participants learning about many possible alternatives and reform proposals: heterodox economics, ethical banking, degrowth, sovereign money and more!

AEMS is an academic summer university program with a global following and held in English.

Since 2014, the program counts more than 440 alumni of 79 nationalities.

The program will take place again in Vienna from 15 July to 02 August 2024!

Applications are open! – More information and application form can be found here.

Target group

The program is open to students and professionals from all fields who strive to create a more just and green future. Are you looking for a unique educational program with a holistic approach to the topic? Then look no further!

There is also a limited number of scholarship spots available – application deadline for scholarships: 01 April 2024

The flyer for the 2024 summer school can be downloaded here (PDF). The report from the last years can be found here.

We need to re-organise work, wages, cooperation, food, community, procurement, health, education, even government. Financial innovation is a critical part of the solution, re-imagining investment, ownership, pensions, money, cooperation, supply chains and resilience.

There are too many ideas to process, it can be hard to look beyond our specialist bubbles and impossible to coordinate, to agree, to plan.

#CoFi is a space for meeting, knowing each other, building trust, cooperation and hopefully, building power. In our first gathering we showcased payment systems architectures, and how credit is created and circulates and extinguished within them.

But finance is just numbers if it doesn’t serve the real economy. This July, the Crypto Commons Association is proud to offer CoFi 2, where we will start to bridge alternative finance to other alternatives! #CoFi isn’t intended to be super-geeky; grassroots building requires building broad alliances rather than competing for market niches.

If you are still reading, you’re invited to Banja Luka at the end of June. We want to see practitioners not only in payments tech, but in community building and community finance, food networks, barter networks, business networks and everything adjacent.

More information and registration here.

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Event archive: Political Economy of Finance Summer School 2025