Money on the Left

Ndongo Samba Sylla is a Senegalese development economist and Research and Programme manager at the West Africa office of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation. Sylla is also the author of many articles and three books, including the recently published L’Arme Invisible de la Francafrique, or “The Invisible Weapon of Franco-African Imperialism.” In that book, Sylla and coauthor Fanny Pigeaud lay out a comprehensive case against the CFA Franc, a neocolonial currency union that presently constrains the social, political, and economic prospects of each of its member states. In this episode, Scott Ferguson and Maxximilian Seijo talk with Sylla about the history of political economy in pre-and post-colonial Africa; the theoretical bases and political stakes of the anti-CFA Franc movement; and how Modern Monetary Theory ought to inform current and future efforts to restore political and economic sovereignty to West African nations.Sylla's book: https://www.amazon.fr/Larme-invisible-Françafrique-Fanny-PIGEAUD/dp/2348037394Sylla's Twitter: @nssyllaLink to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure

On this episode, we talk to Julie Mell, an associate professor of history at North Carolina State University and author of the two volume book, The Myth of the Medieval Jewish Moneylender.In The Myth of the Medieval Jewish Moneylender, Mell marshals previously untapped primary sources to upend the common historical narrative regarding the role of Jewish moneylenders in the development of the modern economy. On Mell’s reading, the prevailing understanding of the medieval Jewish moneylender--common to both antisemitic and philosemetic discourses in the 19th and 20th centuries-- has no more basis in history than does the prevailing myth of barter.  At North Carolina State University, Mell teaches courses in medieval history, Jewish history, and economic thought; she also recently served as a fellow at the Center for the History of Political Economy and as a visiting scholar at the Centre for Hebrew and Judaic Studies at the University of Oxford. In this episode, Scott and Max speak with Mell about these and other connections that may be drawn between her own and neochartalism’s critical projects. Link to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure

In this episode, we're joined by Steven Attewell, Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at the City University of New York’s School of Labor and Urban Studies.His recent book, People Must Live By Work (University of Pennsylvania Press), examines the history of direct job creation programs from the depths of the Great Depression and debates over the Employment Act of 1946 to the War on Poverty and the Humphrey-Hawkins Act of 1978.Link to the book: http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/15862.htmlLink to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure

In this episode, we’re joined by Jamee Moudud. A professor of economics at Sarah Lawrence College, Jamee draws on the tradition of critical legal studies to extend the constitutional theory of money to new historical and international contexts.He currently serves on the board of the Association for the Promotion of Political Economy and the Law. He is also associate editor for the Review of Keynesian Economics. You can check out some of his recent work, including a timely essay on tariffs and free trade, on the website for the journal of Law and Political Economy: https://lpeblog.org/2018/03/26/free-trade-for-all-market-romanticism-versus-reality/Link to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure

In this episode, we’re joined by Rohan Grey, President of the Modern Money Network, Director of the National Jobs for All Coalition, Research Fellow at the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, and JSD student at Cornell Law school.Our conversation is dedicated to Rohan’s current work on the political, economic, and cultural implications of money’s digital future.Rohan's report on digital fiat money: https://bit.ly/2K4els2Twitter: @rohangreyLink to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure

In this special episode, we offer a montage of interviews, songs, and speeches recorded during the Poor People’s Campaign’s June 23 rally on the National Mall and march on the US Capitol. To learn more about the 21st Century Poor People’s Campaign, visit www.poorpeoplescampaign.org.Link to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure

We talk with Colleen Hooper, assistant professor of dance at Point Park University. Colleen researches the history of public funding for arts programs in the United States from the New Deal through the post War era. Her 2017 article in the Dance Research Journal, titled “Ballerinas on the Dole: Dance and the Comprehensive Employment Training Act (CETA), 1974-1982,” is the subject of most of our conversation. Link to the article: https://goo.gl/9SztynLink to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure

In this episode, we speak with Emma Caterine, a law graduate and writer with more than a decade of experience working within economic justice, feminist, LGBTQ, and racial justice movements. We talk Democratic Socialists of America, MMT, the advantages of a federal jobs guarantee over a universal basic income, the place for sex work in a jobs guarantee program. Emma's Medium page: https://medium.com/@EmmaCaterine Heads up: The Second International Conference for Modern Monetary Theory is set to take place September 28 - 30, 2018 at The New School in New York City. Details here: http://www.mmtconference.orgLink to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure

We are joined by Christine Desan, Leo Goettlieb professor of law at Harvard Law School to discuss her excellent book, Making Money: Coin, Currency, and the Coming of Capitalism. Desan argues that money is a constitutional project, countering the dubious “commodity” theory common to contemporary economic and legal orthodoxies. Desan develops her constitutional theory of money through rigorous historical examinations of money’s evolution, from medieval Anglo-Saxon communities to early-modern England to the American Revolution and beyond. Link to Desan's book: https://www.amazon.com/Making-Money-Currency-Coming-Capitalism/dp/0198709579Link to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure

Scott and Max are joined by Fadhel Kaboub, associate professor of economics at Denison University and President of the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity: http://www.global-isp.org Fadhel outlines a new critical approach to postcolonial political economy, arguing that re-gaining financial sovereignty is a crucial next step for postcolonial nations hoping to achieve social, economic, and environmental justice. We talk specifically and at length about the CFA franc currency union, a system with violent colonial roots that continues to constrain the economic and political agency of its member states in West and Central Africa.Link to our Patreon: www.patreon.com/MoLsuperstructure