2023 | ‘Shadow Money in the History of Monetary Thought’ (with Tobias Pforr), Review of Political Economy
Following the Global Financial Crisis, some scholars have conceptualized the credit instruments that lay at its center as “shadow money”. As this perspective seems to contradict most established monetary theories, we situate the “shadow money” […]
2023 | ‘Monetary Architecture and the Green Transition’ (with Andrei Guter-Sandu and Armin Haas), Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space
How to finance the Green Transition towards net-zero carbon emissions remains an open question. The literature either operates within a market-failure paradigm that calls for a Pigou tax to help markets correct themselves, or via […]
2023 | ‘International Monetary Hierarchy through Emergency US-Dollar Liquidity. A Key Currency Approach’ (with Fabian Pape and Tobias Pforr), Competition & Change
The notion that the international monetary system is hierarchical has become increasingly common, but the nature, causes, and shape of international monetary hierarchy remain vague. In this article, we develop a monetary theory of international […]
2023 | ‘Sovereign Debt Issuance and the Transformation of the Monetary Architecture in Prussia and the German Empire, 1740–1914’, Background Paper Dezernat Zukunft
This paper traces the transformation of the monetary architecture and concomitant sovereign debt issuance practices in Prussia and the German Empire from 1740 to 1914 in order to reflect on contemporary ideas regarding the appropriate […]
2023 | ‘Rethinking Monetary Sovereignty. The Global Credit Money System and the State’ (with Jens van ‘t Klooster), Perspectives on Politics
This article proposes a conception of monetary sovereignty that recognizes the reality of today’s global credit money system. Monetary sovereignty is typically used in a ‘Westphalian’ sense that simply denotes the ability of states to […]
Start of new Emmy Noether Research Group at Global Climate Forum and Freie Universität Berlin
2 Apr 2023 | This month marks the launch of the OBFA-TRANSFORM project, a new six-year research group hosted at Global Climate Forum and Freie Universität Berlin. The research group will investigate how it is […]
2023 | ‘Public Sustainable Finance. Von nachhaltigen Finanzmärkten zur sozialökologischen Transformation’ (with Philipp Golka and Jan-Erik Thie), Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung
In diesem Artikel plädieren wir für „Public Sustainable Finance“, bei welchem dem Staat für eine maximale Transformationswirkung eine zentrale Rolle zukommt. Bisheriges Sustainable Finance konzentriert sich auf ESG-Kriterien, Divestment, Voting, Engagement und Impact Investing. Ziel […]
2022 | ‘Special Funds and Security Policy. Endowing the German Energy and Climate Fund with Autonomous Borrowing Powers’ (with Jan-Erik Thie), IIPP Policy Brief
With the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, energy security and independence have become thenew imperative for German policymakers. Under these circumstances, an accelerated transformation towards climate neutrality serves both ecological as well as security […]
Online Discussion with Robert McCauley on the Special Drawing Rights System and Its Ability to Ease Financial Strains in the Global South
13 Feb 2022 | At the second Money View Symposium, Steffen Murau gives a preview on a new INET Working Paper that analyzes the IMF’s SDR system as a web of interlocking balance sheets and […]
2022 | ‘After the Allocation. What Role for the Special Drawing Rights System?’ (with Fabian Pape and Tobias Pforr), INET Working Paper
In August 2021, the IMF made a new SDR allocation to help ease pandemic-induced financial strains in the Global South. This paper assesses the potential of the SDR system to address debt- related problems in […]
2022 | ‘Für eine Ausstattung des Energie- und Klimafonds mit Kreditermächtigungen’ (with Jan-Erik Thie), Wirtschaftsdienst
Energiesicherheit und -unabhängigkeit sind der neue Imperativ nach dem von Wladimir Putin befohlenen Angriffskrieg auf die Ukraine. Eine beschleunigte Transformation hin zur Klimaneutralität dient damit gleichzeitig ökologischen und sicherheitspolitischen Zielen. Sie erfordert massive öffentliche Investitionen […]
2022 | ‘The Transformation of Eurozone Fiscal Governance. Mitigating Fiscal Discipline through a Proliferation of Off-Balance-Sheet Fiscal Agencies’ (with Andrei Guter-Sandu), New Political Economy
The original Maastricht regime designed the Eurozone’s fiscal segment in a way that sought to keep member states’ treasury budgets balanced by disciplining them through market forces, reducing the overall volume of public indebtedness, prohibiting […]
2021 | ‘Financial Globalization as Positive Integration. Monetary Technocrats and the Eurodollar Market in the 1970s’ (with Benjamin Braun and Arie Krampf), Review of International Political Economy
International political economy (IPE) has explained financial globalization as the result of states deciding to open up and liberalize domestic financial systems. Complementing this ‘negative integration’ view, we present a theory of financial globalization during […]
Macro Musings Podcast on the Eurozone, International Monetary Architecture, and the Future of the Dollar Zone
19 Jun 2021 | David Beckworth, host of the Macro Musings a podcast which pulls back the curtain on the important macroeconomic issues of the past, present, and future, interviews Steffen Murau. In this episode, […]
2021 | ‘The Hierarchy of the Offshore US-Dollar System. On Swap Lines, the FIMA Repo Facilities and Special Drawing Rights’ (with Fabian Pape and Tobias Pforr), GEGI Study February 2021
While it has become common to regard the international monetary system as hierarchical, the nature, shape and origin of this hierarchy remain often vague. Taking on board insights of critical macro-finance, this GEGI Study conceptualizes […]
Essay on democratizing the Eurozone architecture wins prize of Hertie Foundation
24 Nov 2020 | LSE Blog ‘EUROPP: European Politics and Policy’ publishes a co-authored piece by Andrei Guter-Sandu and Steffen Murau that has previously won a prize in the Hertie Foundation’s essay competition on capitalism […]
2020 | ‘A Macro-Financial Model of the Eurozone Architecture Embedded in the Global Offshore US-Dollar System’, GEGI Study July 2020
It is a convention to say that the Eurozone architecture is ill-constructed and deficient. However, monetary architecture is not a well-defined term in monetary theory, and there is no consensus what the Eurozone architecture is beyond being […]
Interview series with Dezernat Zukunft
6 Jun 2020 | Berlin-based think tank Dezernat Zukunft interviews Steffen Murau on the privatized Offshore US-Dollar System and the prospects of a further Euro internationalization. In Part 1 of the interview series, Steffen Murau […]
New publication on shadow money theory
28 May 2020 | The Private Debt Project, a Philadelphia-based online journal, has published a piece that analyses and systematizes different current shadow money theories. In their co-authored piece, Steffen Murau and Tobias Pforr argue […]
New IFAIR Impact Group on the future of the international monetary system
17 Aug 2020 | IFAIR’s Impact Group ‘Future of the International Monetary System’ is looking for new team members to work on interactive online tool representing the Offshore US-Dollar System. The structures of the international […]