Analytical Paper Optional: All enrolled students have the option of completing a research paper of at least 20-25 pages, with faculty and peer review of a substantially complete draft. This paper can be used to satisfy the analytical paper requirement for J.D. students.

Prerequisite: Students must have taken a law course on the monetary structure, banking, and/or the financial system, or have the permission of the instructor.

Exam Type: No Exam

Since 2008, problems with our monetary and financial architecture have become increasingly salient. Its instability engendered the 2008 Financial Crisis; its operation in the following decade escalated inequality; and its management during the COVID pandemic was enormously expensive. Those inadequacies have invited recent scholars to suggest bold structural changes to our system, including central bank digital currencies/ FedAccounts, narrow banking, a national investment authority, public banking, direct money issue, deposit strikes, and cryptocurrencies. We will consider these reform suggestions in dialogue with the scholars proposing them.