How racism built our money and banking system
The first in our series of autumn 2020 webinars.
George Floyd died over a $20 bill. A symbol of generalised racism, but also the institutional barriers people of colour face in our economy. While the Bank of England and other financial institutions apologise for their ties with the slave trade, we must look deeper into the role of our money and banking system and its history to truly understand what actions are needed to address racial inequalities and the glaring racial wealth gap, that persists in the UK today.
Featuring speakers: Prof. Kehinde Andrews, Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham City University, Dr Juvaria Jafri, Lecturer in International Political Economy at City University of London, Dr Carolina Alves, Joan Robinson Research Fellow in Heterodox Economics at Girton College, University of Cambridge and hosted by our Executive Director Fran Boait.
Debt, Inequality and Covid-19: The Perfect Storm
The second in our series of autumn 2020 webinars.
Coronavirus hasn’t just threatening lives, it’s exposed our highly dysfunctional economic system and fanned the flames of pre-existing inequality. While UK public debt hit a record £2 trillion amid its Covid-19 relief effort, the government’s response has left the poorest in our society to shoulder most economic risk, with almost half of the furlough scheme spent on rent and debt repayments, amounting to an implicit bail-out of landlords and banks.
With Covid-19, we may all be in the same storm, but we’re in very different boats.
Featuring speakers: Shreya Nanda, an economist at the Institute for Public Policy Research’s Centre for Economic Justice, Dr Natasha Codiroli a quantitative researcher at Advance HE and author of recent report ‘Crisis of support for BAME women’, and Asad Rehman, Executive Director of War on Want, and chaired by our Head of Campaigns and Organising Rachel Oliver.
Building Back Better with the Magic Money Tree
The third and final in our series of autumn 2020 webinars.
We’ve been told by countless politicians that there is no magic money tree. But as the Bank of England has proven time and again – this simply isn’t true. In the last six months alone, the Bank has used their power to create new money to pump over £18 billion into bailing out big businesses via the Covid Corporate Financing Facility. While a decade of quantitative easing after the financial crash, disproportionately benefited the rich and resulted in higher asset and house prices for everyone else.
Imagine what we could do instead.
Featuring speakers: Maeve Cohen, co-author of the report ‘Towards a Feminist Green New Deal for the UK’, Chaitanya Kumar, Head of Environment and Green Transition at the New Economics Foundation and Danisha Kazi, Positive Money’s Senior Economist, chaired by our Head of Campaigns and Organising Rachel Oliver.
The Tragedy of Growth: Report Launch Webinar
To protect human wellbeing and avoid environmental disaster, we must escape the growth paradigm once and for all – by abandoning GDP as our key indicator of progress and transforming our economic system. A universal basic income issued via central bank digital currency, a direct clearing facility, public banks and modern debt jubilees all feature on our agenda for a post-growth money and finance system.
Click here to read the report in full.
Money We Trust: Report Launch Webinar
In the face of technological innovation and declining cash use, we need a new kind of money fit for the 21st century. And with Covid-19 highlighting the problems with our privatised and precarious money and banking system, is now the right time a central bank digital currency?
Head here to read the report in full.
Seeking Legitimacy: Report Launch Event Recording
The parliamentary launch event for Positive Money’s policy paper, ‘Seeking Legitimacy: A new vision for the Bank of England’.
As one of the most powerful public institutions in the UK, it’s vital that the Bank of England works in the public interest. In this report we delve into several ways in which accountability and legitimacy could be improved.
Click here to read the report in full.
Positive Money Event at the 2019 Labour Party Conference
How will Labour pay for a just green transition?
Watch our fringe event at Labour 2019’s party conference in Brighton.
Positive Money Event at the 2019 Conservative Party Conference
Is the UK banking sector fit for purpose?
Watch our fringe event at the Conservatives 2019’s party conference in Manchester.