Jane D’Arista Memoir: One Among So Many
For decades, PERI researcher Jane D’Arista has made critically important contributions on questions of banking and financial structure, financial regulatory policy, and macroeconomic stability, all illuminated by her commitment to social and economic justice. This includes her classic two-volume book, Evolution of U.S. Finance and her post-2007-09 global financial crisis study All Fall Down. D’Arista’s memoir One Among So Many describes her work as an economics researcher/writer and her struggles in the realm of policymaking. It also covers all other parts of D’Arista’s extraordinary life, including as a wife, mother, and accomplished poet.
The Growth of “Private” U.S. Financial Markets
Over the past decade, “private” financial markets, which face little oversight by regulators, have grown to the point where they dominate financial activity. PERI researcher Lenore Palladino and Harrison Karlewicz describe the segments of the private market, including private equity firms and asset managers. The private markets have approximately tripled in size in the last decade to $26 trillion in gross assets, compared to $23 trillion for the U.S. commercial banking industry. This development introduces new systemic risks to the economy at large and for the institutional shareholders participating in these markets.
Credit Market Discrimination against Black and Latino Households
Black and Latino households overall have a lot less wealth than white households. They also often have to resort to more costly and risky forms of debt than white households. Edwith Theogene and Christian Weller document that incidences of high-cost, high-risk consumer credit is higher among Black and Latino households than among white households. Loan denials, credit market discrimination and credit steering likely contribute to this pattern. This more widespread incidence of consumer credit among Black and Latino households is, in turn, a factor explaining the persistence of the racial wealth gap.
Busting the Bankers' Club
PERI researcher Gerald Epstein’s book Busting the Bankers’ Club: Finance for the Rest of Us uncovers the deep roots of Wall Street’s political and economic power. The book describes how, due to the long-term erosion of regulatory policies, current U.S. financial practices promote instability and crises and produce destructive impacts on workers and communities. Epstein also examines in depth the “Club Busters.” These are the political activists, organizations, financial regulators, legal scholars, economists, and policymakers who are fighting the destructive power of finance and aiming to build a financial system that serves the rest of us.
