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Engine of Inequality, by Karen Petrou
The first book to reveal how the Federal Reserve holds the key to making us more economically equal, written by an author with unparalleled expertise in the real world of financial policy.
Following the 2008 financial crisis, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy placed much greater focus on stabilizing the market than on helping struggling Americans. As a result, the richest Americans got a lot richer while the middle class shrank and economic and wealth inequality skyrocketed. In Engine of Inequality, Karen Petrou offers pragmatic solutions for creating more inclusive monetary policy and equality-enhancing financial regulation as quickly and painlessly as possible.
“Petrou’s book uncovers a hidden engine of our skyrocketing inequality: financial-policy. In an accessible and engaging prose, Petrou takes us through the inner workings of monetary policy at the Fed and financial regulations, how they’ve made inequality worse and how they could instead be retooled to take us to a more equitable future. A novel look at the problem of inequality and bold ideas to help resolve it. A must read.”—Emmanuel Saez, Professor of Economics at the University of California Berkeley and author of The Triumph of Injustice
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Industry Expert
Federal Financial Analytics (FedFin) is a Washington-based financial services-consulting firm that has for decades attracted a high-powered clientele in Washington, on Wall Street, and among global central bankers. Since 1985 FedFin has provided a unique blend of analysis and strategic advice on public policy, regulatory, and legislative issues for industry and governmental clients doing business in the U.S. and abroad.
A proprietary think-tank for its clients, FedFin reviews critical federal and global policy developments in banking, insurance, asset management, and mortgage finance, analyzes them in great depth, and then advises clients on whether what they want can be made to work for them, within the policy environment and for the financial system. It is FedFin’s guiding principle to be an honest broker, and clients depend on the fact that the firm does not offer lobbying or any other services that could compromise its objectivity and independence.
As seen In:
In the News
American Banker, Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Congress's inaction on ILCs, fintech charters worries bankers By Neil Haggerty Critics of nontraditional bank charters like trusts and industrial loan companies have often looked to Congress to intervene and hold back a potential wave of new entrants into the banking system.“The longer these nontraditional charters, particularly those aligned with [...]
American Banker, Friday, April 30, 2021
Book Review: Why the Fed should reengineer its monetary policy By Richard Herring Richard Herring is Jacob Safra Professor of International Banking and Professor of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business Since the financial crisis in 2008, the Federal Reserve has embarked on the most accommodative [...]
3BL Media, Tuesday, April 27, 2021
Evolving Finance, Money and Markets By Hazel Henderson Today’s global casino is now experiencing yet another step change, as central banks shift their focus from austerity and debt to stimulus to cope with pandemics and climate crises and fending off Facebook‘s competitive “Libra” and other cryptos. As the rules change [...]
Issues in Focus
October 26, 2020: FedFin Issues Brief: Going Green: The Future of U.S. Climate Risk Financial Policy
June 25, 2019: FedFin Policy Paper: Do Credit Unions Truly Advance Economic Equality?
The Vault
FedFin: Stand by for Shut Down
Ahead of possible systemic designation for Fannie and Freddie, FHFA is barreling through the systemic rulebook, finalizing capital rules, proposing liquidity standards, and, now, finalizing living-will requirements to ensure orderly GSE resolution under even acute stress. Our in-depth review of the rule reinforces our initial assessment: FHFA is doing its damnedest to withdraw the “effective” USG guarantee accorded the GSEs in 2008 that has ever since guided market perception. Not [...]
Karen Petrou: Mandatory Stakeholder Capitalism Comes to Banks, Mortgage Finance
It more often than not really does pay to read the fine print. Case in point: what new progressive legislation does to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). As we show in our in-depth analysis, Sen. Warren and her Congressional colleagues didn’t stop with their headline proposal to rope nonbank mortgage companies into the controversial Act. They in fact rewrite the 1977 law in almost its entirety to make covered financial [...]
Marketplace Morning Report, Thursday, April 29, 2021
The end of trickle down? Host David Brancaccio Karen Petrou, co-founder of Federal Financial Analytics, says that every president talks about helping the middle class, "but we have had trickle-down policy since at least 1980." "If the Biden administration can make the United States a more prosperous economy in a truly shared way, that would be quite an achievement," Petrou said. Plus, looking at what lies ahead in the U.S. [...]