We are rethinking the conditions for genuine, widespread, and sustainable prosperity.
The Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative forges collaborations across fields to reframe the study of political and economic life. Hard questions are our starting point.
Learn more about the Berkeley Economy and Society Initiative (BESI).
The Latest at BESI
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BESI in the news
BESI Director Paul Pierson and BESI Climate lead Jonas Meckling recently offered insights in the New…
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Susan Helper: “Industrial Strategy: Theory And Practice”
Recorded on April 19, this video features a talk by Susan Helper, Carlton Professor of Economics…
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Has US Antitrust Reached A Turning Point? A Panel Discussion
The Biden administration has taken some bold moves to rein in big tech and to challenge…
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Nick Romeo: “The Alternative: How To Build A Just Economy”
Recorded on March 19, 2024, this video features a talk by Nick Romeo, New Yorker journalist…
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Moving The Needle: What Tight Labor Markets Do For The Poor
Recorded on March 12, this panel focused on the book Moving the Needle: What Tight Labor Markets…
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Brett Christophers: “The Price Is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save The Planet”
Recorded on March 12, 2024, this video features a lecture by Brett Christophers, Professor of Human…
Events Hosted by BESI
October 17, 2024
4-5:30pm
8th floor Social Sciences Building Imagine: You are designing a society, but you don’t know who you’ll be within it—rich or poor, man or woman, gay or straight. What would you want that society to look like? This is the revolutionary thought experiment proposed by the twentieth century’s greatest political philosopher, John Rawls. Join us as Daniel Chandler (London School of […]Upcoming Events
Daniel Chandler | Free and Equal: What Would a Just Society Look Like?
Diane Coyle | Economics, Automated
October 22, 2024
1-2:30pm (please note updated time)
8th floor, Social Sciences Building
Economic reasoning has shaped modern societies for more than half a century, but late 20th century growth has given way to 21st century discontent with consequences of this public philosophical order – consequences such as environmental crisis, inequality, and economic stagnation. AI cheerleaders see the prospect of public data-driven decision-making using machine learning and AI […]
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Rachel Weber | Seizing the Means of Prediction: How Finance Speculates on the Future City
October 31, 2024
3:30-5pm
8th floor, Social Sciences Building
Why do cities adopt certain instruments, and how does the use of particular methods of raising capital affect who benefits from and pays for urban infrastructures? Rachel Weber’s work advances the concept of “financialization” as shorthand for how these tools bring new politics, kinds of knowledge, and risks to bear on policy and development decisions. […]
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Brian Judge | Democracy in Default: Finance and the Rise of Neoliberalism in America
November 14, 2024
4-5:30pm
8th floor, Social Sciences Building
Join us as Brian Judge (Policy Fellow at the Center for Human-Compatible AI, UC Berkeley) discusses his new book and its bold account of neoliberalism as the product of a fateful response to a crisis within liberalism itself. That response was financialization. Judge explains how liberalism disavows the problem of distributive conflict, leaving it vulnerable when […]
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Marion Fourcade | The Ordinal Society
December 5, 2024
4-5:30pm
8th floor, Social Sciences Building
BESI is excited to host a talk by Marion Fourcade, Professor of Sociology at Berkeley, celebrating the publication of her book, The Ordinal Society, co-authored with Kieran Healy. Nearly every aspect of our lives is measured, ranked, and processed into discrete, standardized units of digital information. Fourcade and Healy argue that technologies of information management, […]
Read More >Designated
Emphasis (DE) in
Political Economy
BESI is proud to support the Designated Emphasis (DE) in Political Economy, through which doctoral students in various disciplines can expand their training in political economy and take classes across UC Berkeley departments.