Bio:
Christopher Rude is a political economist with an interest in finance: he advocates a radical restructuring of both the US and the international financial systems. He has taught economics at New York University and the New School for Social Research and political science at York University in Toronto. Chris has also consulted for the United Nations secretariat on the Asian financial crisis and for the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung's UN liaison office on the current economic crisis.  Prior to this, Chris worked as an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and on Wall Street. His recent work has focused on analyzing the Federal Reserve and the IMF’s response to the global economic slowdown. 

He has a Ph.D. in economics from the New School for Social Research, where he specialized in development and macroeconomics, and an MA and BA in political science from the University of Chicago, where he studied American politics and state theory.  He currently serves on the Steering Committee for the Union for Radical Policital Economics.

Papers:

"Its Payback Time: A Perspective on National and International Efforts to Hold Banks and Bankers Responsible for the 2008-09 Financial Crisis" [download pdf]

By Christopher Rude, Adam Hersh and Sara Burke
October 2010
Abstract: The financial interests responsible for the today’s global economic crisis have not been held sufficiently accountable for the damage that their excess-profit and excess-risk taking has caused those outside the financial sector, nor have the business practices leading to these excesses been reformed.  The authors provide background on the size of fiscal costs due to the financial crisis, explore initiatives to tax the financial sector; advocate progressive tax demands and sharp curbs on executive pay. Key to the present outlook, the authors argue, is a critical perspective on the role of securitization in financial markets:  they question whether the business model produced by securitization—one in which high-speed transactions are the basis for compensation—can in any way be beneficial for society.

"Towards a Socially Responsible and Democratic Global Economic System" [download pdf]

By Christopher Rude and Sara Burke
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Briefing Paper #15, November 2009
Abstract: Beginning in the fall of 2008 under the aegis of the first G20 leaders  meeting, national governments, central banks and international financial  institutions organized themselves with blinding speed to rescue the global  financial system. Unfortunately, reforms to increase transparency and  accountability in the governance of these same financial institutions has not  proceeded at a similarly urgent pace. This paper proposes principles for  strengthening these reform efforts in order to move towards a more socially  responsible and democratic global economic system.

"The Global Financial Crisis: What needs to be done?" [download pdf]

By Christopher Rude
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Briefing Paper #12, November 2008
Abstract: This paper summarizes recommendations from a conference hosted by Initiative for Policy Dialogue at Columbia University on November 13, 2008 in New York and reviews causes of the 2008 financial crisis, its effects on the world economy, and in particular the social costs for developing countries.

"The Role of Financial Discipline in Imperial Strategy" [download pdf]

By Christopher Rude
Socialist Register 2005: The Empire Reloaded, Volume 41
Abstract: Financial instability has been a consistent feature of neoliberal global capitalism, and when this instability has taken the form of a major financial crisis, as it did in East Asia in 1997, the consequences for the economies involved have been severe. Economic contractions, leaving economies in ruin and populations traumatized by increases in unemployment, poverty, and inequality, have been the typical results. The liberalization and internationalization of capitalist production relations have created an economic system in which recurrent financial crises set the pace and rhythm of economic activity and change within the centre as well as at the periphery. This essay examines this financial and economic turmoil and the role that it plays under neoliberalism. It also explores the role that the state plays in regulating, but not eliminating, the turmoil. Some readers may find the argument surprising. It is that the financial instability and the economic hardship that it creates play an essential role in reproducing capitalist and imperial social relations. The financial instability is functional. It disciplines world capitalism.

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Events and Video Links:

Left Forum 2011 Panel
"From Bank Bailout to Fiscal Austerity:Organizing to Fight the Budget Cuts"

A Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) sponsored panel on the return to budget cutting and attacks on social spending in the United States and Europe, the likely size of budget cuts, the consequence to workers, the need for new paradigms of organization and collective bargaining.
Panelists:
David Kotz, Stephen Lerner, Colia Clark and Christopher Rude.

"Hegemony Unfolding: The Nature of Exception and the United States as a Net Debtor" [youtube link part 1 | youtube link part 2]

Presentation by Christopher Rude at York University Political Economy Seminar, "Decline of the Dollar, Decline of the Empire", January 18, 2008, Toronto, Canada.