Rethinking public assets: innovations in money

The University of Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations has joined with the New Economics Foundation and Positive Money to host three seminars to discuss the pressing need for innovation in the management of state economic assets.

With experts from academia, think-tanks and professional practice we aim to develop and take forward practical policy ideas for the governance and management of public wealth, innovations in money and opportunities arising from a better understanding of the ways banking, land values and capital flows are linked.

Radical change in the way state assets are managed could assist governments in tackling major social and economic policy challenges in the UK such as: government and household debt; worsening income and wealth inequality and lack of affordable housing. Clarity around the nature and scale of public assets and how they can be better deployed by governments is needed. Infrastructure financing is a recent but now prominent feature on the political agenda, as is land ownership reform. The possibility of a citizen’s income and a citizen’s wealth fund are also gaining traction in public debate. These seminars will explain these ideas and allow for debate and consensus-building. Each event will include short panel presentations and facilitated discussion with all present.

Rethinking public assets: innovations in money

Thursday 3 December 2015, 16:00-18:00

University of Oxford DIPR, Manor Road Building (Seminar Room C)

Debates about money and wider monetary policy rarely make headlines – but times are changing. Recent events like the Scottish referendum and the election of Jeremy Corbyn, with his support for “people’s quantitative easing”, have got people talking about the purpose of monetary policy and the nature of money itself. This seminar will examine whether our monetary system is fit to meet the challenges of the future.

Simon Wren-Lewis, Professor of Economic Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University was recently appointed to Jeremy Corbyn’s team of economic advisors. He is a prominent scholar with numerous journal articles on macroeconomic policy and a key voice advocating for an alternative to Quantitative Easing.

Fran Boait, Executive Director of Positive Money - a leading organisation on monetary reform. Through research and campaigning Positive Money aims to democratise money and banking so that it works for society and not against it.

Duncan McCann, Researcher at the New Economics Foundation and author of ScotPound: digital currency for the common good. He conducts research on the latest developments in monetary policy and complementary currencies (especially those that are macro-economically significant) and focuses on the legal issues they raise.

Facilitator: Tony Greenham, Director of Economy, Enterprise and Manufacturing, RSA