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Katharina Pistor

Katharina Pistor

Writing for PS since 2000
28 commentaries

Katharina Pistor, Professor of Comparative Law at Columbia Law School, is the author of The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and Inequality (Princeton University Press, 2019).

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  1. How the Public Loses Out When Politicians Cash In
    pistor27_ Kay Nietfeldpicture alliance via Getty Images_shcroder Kay Nietfeld/picture alliance via Getty Images

    How the Public Loses Out When Politicians Cash In

    May 24, 2022 Katharina Pistor sees former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder’s conflicted interests as symptomatic of a bigger problem.

  2. From Shock Therapy to Putin's War
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    From Shock Therapy to Putin's War

    Feb 28, 2022 Katharina Pistor offers a reminder of the West's own role in smothering Russian democracy in its crib.

  3. The EU Court Punts on the Rule of Law
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    The EU Court Punts on the Rule of Law

    Feb 21, 2022 Katharina Pistor worries that the recent ruling against Poland and Hungary sets the stage for more legal hair-splitting.

  4. The Legal Gift that Keeps on Grifting
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    The Legal Gift that Keeps on Grifting

    Dec 15, 2021 Katharina Pistor shows how corporations are awarding shareholders through jurisdictional arbitrage, rather than real returns.

  5. The Pandora Papers and the Threat to Democracy
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    The Pandora Papers and the Threat to Democracy

    Oct 11, 2021 Katharina Pistor considers the implications of new revelations into the old ways that the rich hide their wealth.

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  1. rogoff231_Tom WilliamsCQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images_ftxbankman-fried Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
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    Will Crypto Survive?

    Kenneth Rogoff assesses the strategies regulators could adopt in the aftermath of the FTX debacle.
  2. spence156_SAUL LOEBAFP via Getty Images_bidenxi Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
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    Done With Deglobalization?

    Michael Spence sees reason to hope that the scales may soon tip back from international confrontation to cooperation.
  3. velasco131_Chris McGrathGetty Images_bitcoin Chris McGrath/Getty Images
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    The Unbearable Uselessness of Crypto

    Andrés Velasco explains why FTX's collapse should sink a hyped-up lie bobbing on an ocean of libertarian technobabble.
  4. sinn107_Sean GallupGetty Images_germanyenergycoal Sean Gallup/Getty Images
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    Is Germany Sick Again?

    Hans-Werner Sinn pours cold water on the fantasy that European economies can weather gas shortages with minimal pain.
  5. op_stiglitz6_Anna MoneymakerGetty Images_USabortionprotest Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
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    America's Silent Progressive Majority

    Joseph E. Stiglitz

    Now that the American electorate appears to have rejected Republican extremism, many will argue that US President Joe Biden and the Democrats should tack right to capture centrist voters. But this would be a mistake, given where voters' preferences increasingly lie.

     considers what the midterm election results indicate about voters' real priorities.
  6. jlevy2_Geo. P. Hall & SonThe New York Historical SocietyGetty Images_railroad Geo. P. Hall & Son/The New York Historical Society/Getty Images
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    Big Tech Gets Derailed

    Jonathan Levy traces the origins of the sector's recent turmoil to the nineteenth-century rise of the corporation.
  7. BQ – West Give in to Russia NurPhoto / Contributor via Getty Images
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    Will the West Give in to Russia?

    From soaring inflation to a deepening energy crisis, the United States and Europe are facing no shortage of economic challenges, and Russia’s war against Ukraine – and the sanctions imposed in response to it – bears much of the blame. As Russia launches new rounds of missile attacks, we asked PS commentators what the West should be doing for Ukraine – and how likely it is to do it.

  8. varoufakis97_SAMUEL CORUMAFP via Getty Images_musktwitter Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images
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    The Techno-Feudal Method to Musk’s Twitter Madness

    Yanis Varoufakis explains that the issue is neither vanity nor public service, but rather the need to acquire cloud capital.
  9. tmeyer2_Drew AngererGetty Images_supremecourtclimateprotest Drew Angerer/Getty Images
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    The Case for Mandating Climate-Risk Disclosure

    Timothy Meyer, et al. defend the legal and economic justification for the US Securities and Exchange Commission's proposed new rule.

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