The Law and Political Economy of Debt
Spring 2023
https://curriculum.law.ucla.edu/Guide/Course/7652
Course Description: Debt is, and always has been, political. Over the course of the last century, the rise of the consumer society has dramatically increased the political and economic salience of consumer debt. Successive administrations have used expansionary credit policies to achieve their political goals, by boosting household consumption and imperfectly substituting the welfare state. As the financial sector has gained political strength, it has lobbied aggressively for light-touch regulation. The result is a repeating cycle of credit booms and busts that not only creates financial instability but also exacerbates socio-economic inequality. Advances in information technology have played a key role in both enabling the expansion of consumer credit markets as well as reproducing inequality. In turn, the political economy of consumer debt shapes, and is shaped by, law.
This course examines the relationship between consumer credit markets, legal norms, and the political economy. The course will introduce students to different frameworks for analyzing the relationship between law, markets, and the political economy. It will examine the expansion of consumer credit markets and consumer credit law in the U.S., and the technological, political and socio-legal drivers of these developments. The course will focus on two pivotal episodes in the law and political economy of consumer debt: the civil rights movement and the passage of fair lending laws; and the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent reforms to financial regulation under Dodd-Frank. The course plugs into broader debates on social and racial justice, surveillance capitalism, algorithmic governance, and stakeholder governance.
Syllabus: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jwatrqTyS4gCwWAr0eI0x40msaD_ee2f/view?usp=sharing
Monetary Law and Institutions
Spring 2024
https://curriculum.law.ucla.edu/Guide/Course/7656
Course Description: Despite the outsize role that they play in the economy, monetary policy and monetary authorities like the Federal Reserve remain shrouded in mystery and largely democratically unaccountable. This democratic deficit has grown enormously in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis, as democratic institutions have become increasingly paralyzed, and the world has come to depend on central bank technocrats and “unconventional” monetary policy to boost the economy. Yet, by inflating asset and stock prices, and increasing risk-taking by financial institutions and investors, unconventional monetary policy—notably, “quantitative easing” and negative effective interest rates—has increased financial instability and exacerbated socio-economic inequality, in turn compounding political polarization. The recent turmoil in financial markets, triggered by the Federal Reserve’s rapid monetary tightening and banks’ over-exposure to interest rate risk, highlights the dangers of over-relying on monetary policy as a tool of economic management.
This course aims to demystify and critically examine the monetary system. It introduces students to different theories of money and the tools and institutions of monetary policy. It challenges the desirability as well as the legitimacy of central bank activism, and the orthodoxy of monetary policy as an exception to the rules of administrative procedure. The course also explores the future of the monetary system, including proposals for limiting the powers and strengthening the accountability of monetary authorities, as well as the possibilities due to technological developments such as central bank digital currencies. The course focuses on the US monetary system, centered in the Federal Reserve, and the international monetary system, centered in the Bank for International Settlements and International Monetary Fund, and will feature guest speakers from these institutions.
Syllabus: Coming soon
Contract Law
Fall 2024
https://lawapps2.law.miami.edu/clink/course.aspx?cof_id=7199
Fintech
Spring 2025
https://lawapps2.law.miami.edu/clink/course.aspx?cof_id=7249
Course Description: Financial markets have undergone a dramatic digital transformation over the last half a century, a phenomenon frequently referred to as “fintech.” Today, consumers can open bank accounts, take out loans, invest and make payments, all through an app on their mobile phones. Increasingly, these apps are powered by “artificial intelligence” and offered by non-bank financial institutions. As with all advances in technology, fintech is a double-edged sword. It plays an important role in enabling the expansion of financial markets and contributing to economic growth. But it also presents risks. They include distributional risks, for example due to increased algorithmic, data-driven discrimination and exploitation of vulnerable consumers, and macroeconomic risks, for example due to faster credit expansions. Legal and regulatory frameworks play a key role in managing these risks and shaping the economic and social outcomes due to fintech, and financial markets.
This course will examine the rise of fintech in the U.S., from the growth of credit reporting agencies and credit scoring in the latter part of the 20th century to recent fintech developments such as cryptocurrency and “buy now pay later” loans, as well as the technological, political, and socio-legal drivers of these developments. It will introduce students to different normative frameworks for analyzing the relationship between law, markets, technology, and the political economy. Finally, the course will use these analytical frameworks to critically examine the key existing laws and regulations that govern (consumer) financial markets, and new modalities for fintech regulation. The course plugs into broader debates on social and racial justice, surveillance capitalism, algorithmic governance, and stakeholder governance.