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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
    pistor26_AFPAFP via Getty Images putin yeltsin AFPAFP via Getty Images
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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
    pistor25_Arne Immanuel Bänschpicture alliance via Getty Images_europeancourtofjustice Arne Immanuel Bänsch/picture alliance via Getty Images

    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
    pistor24_JUSTIN TALLISAFP via Getty Images_shell Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images

    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. sinn109_ DANIEL ROLANDAFP via Getty Images_financial crisis DANIEL ROLAND/AFP via Getty Images
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    Accounting for Casino Capitalism

    Hans-Werner Sinn draws parallels between recent bank collapses and the late-nineteenth-century “founders’ crash.”
  2. zadek25_ FABRICE COFFRINIAFP via Getty Images_creditsuisseUBS Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images
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    Who Should Be Bailed Out Next?

    Simon Zadek urges rich-country governments to aid debt-distressed poor countries as urgently as they have their failing banks.
  3. callegari1_Getty Images_crowd population Getty Images
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    The Population Boon

    Beniamino Callegari & Per Espen Stoknes correct popular myths about the threat of demographic growth to sustainable development.
  4. songwe8_NIPAH DENNISAFP via Getty Images_ghana NIPAH DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images
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    Where Is the Global South’s Rescue Brigade?

    Vera Songwe decries the unequal responses to liquidity crises in Silicon Valley compared to the developing world.
  5. slaughter96_melitasGetty Images_cooperative melitas/Getty Images
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    Beyond Industrial Policy

    Anne-Marie Slaughter & Elizabeth Garlow

    The emerging breed of industrial policies, which emphasize production, fair wages, and localism, could serve as the basis for post-neoliberal economies. But to tackle the challenges of the twenty-first century and ensure a sustainable future, we need a policy framework that recognizes the value of human connection.

     make the case for an economic strategy that prioritizes shared prosperity over competition.
  6. afrasmussen17_TOFIK BABAYEVAFP via Getty Images_armeniaazerbaijanconflict Tofik Babayev/AFP via Getty Images
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    The Other Conflict on Europe’s Doorstep

    Anders Fogh Rasmussen warns that Azerbaijan may be preparing to renew its military aggression against neighboring Armenia.
  7. varoufakis101_Justin SullivanGetty Images_svb Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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    Let the Banks Burn

    Yanis Varoufakis

    The banking system we take for granted is unfixable. The good news is that we no longer need to rely on any private, rent-seeking, socially destabilizing network of banks, at least not the way we have so far.

     shows why the current private system is unfixable – and why we don’t need to tolerate it anymore.
  8. roach151_ TIMOTHY A. CLARYAFP via Getty Images)_svb collapse TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
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    How China Benefits from Another US Banking Crisis

    Stephen S. Roach thinks America’s latest financial trouble will reinforce a narrative of terminal national decline.
  9. op_schell1_Andrea VerdelliGetty Images_xijinping Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images
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    Xi Jinping’s Chinese Tragedy

    Orville Schell interviewed by Irena Grudzińska Gross about the country's increasingly worrisome trajectory, both at home and abroad.

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