Coding Debt | The Laws of Capitalism Episode 2
Channel: New Economic Thinking
Date: 2022-11-02

The question is not just how the law codes debt, but also why. Our legal code has been essential in the transformation of humble IOUs into elaborate financial contracts, and the creation of an entire finance industry. 

Prof. Pistor examines how the law has accompanied the evolution of negotiable debt instruments, from the simple IOU, to bills of exchange in Medieval Genoa, to securitized assets in the modern day and on to derivatives. She examines the securitization of mortgage debt in the modern United States in the lead-up to the financial crisis of 2008.

Learn more at http://lawsofcapitalism.org/