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Areas of Interest

Financial and Monetary Institutions

  • A person walks by a closed SVB branch entrance.

    Bailouts for everyone?

    March 16, 2023

    Daniel Tarullo, who served as a Fed regulator, discusses the moral hazard and the implications for inflation after the SVB collapse rocks Washington and Wall Street.

  • The US Treasury Building located in Washington DC.

    ‘A genuine debt ceiling crisis’?

    January 23, 2023

    Howell Jackson discusses what could happen if the United States defaults on its debts for the first time in history.

  • A person searching for a book on a bookshelf..

    On the bookshelf

    December 13, 2022

    This fall, Harvard Law School showcased the works of faculty, alums, and students at book events throughout the semester.

  • A composite illustration of coins and a digital display of numbers behind a tablet that reads CBDC Central Bank Digital Currency.

    Establishing a US central bank digital currency: The right time or too risky?

    October 19, 2022

    Former Deputy Treasury Secretary Daleep Singh and Federal Reserve Board Member Chistopher Waller debate whether to create a U.S. central bank digital currency.

  • Man shopping in a grocery store.

    ‘The path of rate increases may indeed lead to a recession’

    September 23, 2022

    Harvard Law Professor Daniel Tarullo says the Fed hopes to convince markets — and the public — that it will fight inflation, even if there are costs.

  • Screen shot of Matt Damon from a crypto.com commercial.

    Take the money and run

    September 12, 2022

    Six months after cryptocurrency won the Super Bowl ad game, Harvard Law Professor Howell Jackson proposes a way to stabilize the now swooning industry.

  • Photo illustration of U.S. Treasury Department seal on smartphone screen

    Digital Treasury accounts would expand banking access for financially vulnerable

    March 30, 2022

    In recent paper, Howell Jackson and Timothy Massad propose that the U.S. Treasury Department implement a new mechanism to improve financial services for financially vulnerable households and expedite delivery of government benefits.

  • An illustration of an open bank vault with digital currency inside represented by small white squares

    The Crypto of the Realm

    January 31, 2022

    A Harvard Law class explores possibilities for a U.S. central bank digital currency, which would be sheltered from the wild fluctuations in value for which crypto is known.

  • Close up of woman taking money out of a wallet

    Fed up with inflation

    January 24, 2022

    Former Federal Reserve Bank member Daniel Tarullo says the Fed has “fallen behind the curve” in raising interest rates to help tame rising inflation and “needs to play some catch-up.”

  • Man sitting at a table in front of a blue sign that says

    Weighing President Biden’s first year: The economy and monetary policy

    January 18, 2022

    Harvard Law Professor Christine Desan says the Biden administration is harnessing fiscal and monetary policy to bolster the economy, but should move faster to address climate change, crypto markets, public banking.

  • illustration Bank with growth of money represented in background

    Going public

    July 7, 2021

    Harvard Law School students are working to create a Massachusetts public bank to help minority-owned businesses, small farms, and gateway cities.

  • Money as a Democratic Medium 4

    Money as a Democratic Medium

    January 11, 2019

    Harvard’s recent two-day conference, “Money as a Democratic Medium,” challenged its participants to re-examine the history of money in America, and to redefine its future.

  • Money as a Democratic Medium: A Q&A with Christine Desan

    Money as a Democratic Medium: A Q&A with Christine Desan

    January 11, 2019

    Christine Desan, the Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, organized the conference, “Money as a Democratic Medium,” a two-day event that challenged its participants to re-examine the history of money in America, and to redefine its future.