Photis Lysandrou
Biographic Data
| ID | 290911 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Photis Lysandrou |
| GIVEN NAMES | Photis |
| FAMILY NAME | Lysandrou |
| SIGNATURE | LYSANDROU P |
| AFFILIATIONS | City, University of London |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 95 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Dollar colonisation: The destructive policy implications of modern monetary theory
Modern monetary theory (MMT) argues that all governments that issue their own currency have the same fiscal and monetary policy space. This paper argues against this position. For MMT's assumptions to be valid, MMT must abstract from the gravitational force of the US dollar that stems from it being backed by a mass of securities - an influence transmitted through international investment flows. Once the dollar's gravitational force is recognised,…
The European banks’ role in the financial crisis of 2007-8: A critical assessment
Since the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2007, opinion has been divided over whether its root cause was weak regulation and bank funding problems or the pressure of investor demand for US safe assets. New research on the European banks’ role in the crisis may finally help to resolve the issue. Far from being peripheral players in the crisis, European banks were deeply implicated in its causal origins as evidenced by their activities in the t…
Resisting the gravitational pull of the dollar: The economic rationale behind a large Eurozone
When the euro was launched in 1999, its large membership size could not be explained by any of the criteria laid down in the economic theory of monetary unions. This fact explains why the majority academic opinion has always been that the large euro was a politically motivated project with no corresponding economic rationale. This paper puts a contrary view. The euro area at the time of its launch may have been incongruent with economic theory bu…
Financialisation and the limits of circuit theory
The theory of the monetary circuit aims to provide a highly stylised account of the workings of a modern monetary production economy. While there may have been a time when it succeeded in this aim, that time is over. The key development in the monetary sphere of capitalism over recent decades is the advent of financialisation, a phenomenon that circuit theory cannot explain other than by omitting some of its most important characterising features…
The US Dollar's Continuing Hegemony as an International Currency: A Double-matrix Analysis
The standard framework for debating the international currency system casts doubt on the dollar's continuing hegemonic position because it raises questions regarding the ability of the US to finance its external liabilities in the face of worsening economic fundamentals. This article addresses these questions by adding to the usual matrix linking the international functions of money to two different types of agents, private and official, a second…
The best of both worlds: Scale economies and discriminatory policies in London's global financial centre
From the early 1960s onwards London has managed to vie with New York for the top spot as an international financial centre. Ever since then, London has reigned as a leading global financial hub, despite not having behind it anything like the political or economic backing enjoyed by New York. This paper seeks to explain this phenomenon by building on Kindleberger’s classic analysis of financial centres as international hubs that arise due to econo…
The role of shadow banking entities in the financial crisis: A disaggregated view
This article examines the role of the shadow banking system in the global financial crisis of 2007–9. In order to do this, one must first explain the reasons for the explosive growth of shadow banking in the immediate pre-crisis era. Current explanations for this growth tend to hold two contrasting positions: one emphasising factors endogenous to the banking sector (notably regulatory arbitrage and financial innovation); the other emphasising exo…
The European C ommission's Proposal for a Financial Transactions Tax: A Critical Assessment
A financial activities tax ( FAT ) and a financial transactions tax ( FTT ) are the main alternative ways of recouping some of the public money used to bail out the financial sector after the great crisis of 2007–08. In preparing a common proposal for the European Union, the European Commission initially appeared to favour the FAT , but then swung its weight behind the FTT in late 2011. Its rationale was that in addition to generating revenue, th…
Debt intolerance and the 90 per cent debt threshold: Two Impossibility Theorems
Two propositions underpin the retreat from post-crisis fiscal expansion instituted by several G7 governments in the summer of 2010. One is that the threat of debt intolerance is general: the reasoning is that the sharp rise in government debt levels caused by post-crisis fiscal expansion will force investors to abandon government bonds in favour of some other asset class. The other proposition is that there is a one-size debt threshold: the reaso…
Global Inequality, Wealth Concentration and the Subprime Crisis: A Marxian Commodity Theory Analysis
This article argues that the driving force behind the structured credit products that triggered the financial crisis was a global excess demand for securities, and that key to the build-up of this demand was the huge accumulation of private wealth. The argument is Marxian inasmuch as it builds on Marx's insight that crisis is endemic to capitalism because the commodity form by its very nature gives rise to the possibility of a separation between …
Global inequality as one of the root causes of the financial crisis: A Suggested Explanation
The global financial crisis was caused because the volume of toxic assets in the financial system had grown to the point where the system could no longer cope. The dominant view among heterodox economists is that this point of critical mass was reached because of various failures in the financial system. This paper puts the accompanying view that the toxic assets were created largely in response to external pressures, a principle source of which …
Globalisation as commodification
While recognising that most pre-capitalist formations exhibited elements of commodity exchange, Marx argued that capitalism differentiates itself as a genuine commodity system by virtue of two interdependent processes having reached a critical stage of development: a 'stretching' of commodity relations to the point where production for the market displaces subsistence production as the primary form; and a 'deepening' of commodity relations such t…
Global English and proregression: Understanding English language spread in the contemporary era
This paper uses a 'two-space' perspective on the global economy to help explain the recent elevation of English to a position of supremacy as the global language of communication and to explain the ambivalent impact that English has in this role on the communities embracing it. It is argued that English, in its global function and format, promotes material development and progression in 'physical' space, but at the same time facilitates disposses…
The role of shadow banking entities in the financial crisis: A disaggregated view
This article examines the role of the shadow banking system in the global financial crisis of 2007–9. In order to do this, one must first explain the reasons for the explosive growth of shadow banking in the immediate pre-crisis era. Current explanations for this growth tend to hold two contrasting positions: one emphasising factors endogenous to the banking sector (notably regulatory arbitrage and financial innovation); the other emphasising exo…
Global inequality as one of the root causes of the financial crisis: A Suggested Explanation
The global financial crisis was caused because the volume of toxic assets in the financial system had grown to the point where the system could no longer cope. The dominant view among heterodox economists is that this point of critical mass was reached because of various failures in the financial system. This paper puts the accompanying view that the toxic assets were created largely in response to external pressures, a principle source of which …
Debt intolerance and the 90 per cent debt threshold: Two Impossibility Theorems
Two propositions underpin the retreat from post-crisis fiscal expansion instituted by several G7 governments in the summer of 2010. One is that the threat of debt intolerance is general: the reasoning is that the sharp rise in government debt levels caused by post-crisis fiscal expansion will force investors to abandon government bonds in favour of some other asset class. The other proposition is that there is a one-size debt threshold: the reaso…
Global English and proregression: Understanding English language spread in the contemporary era
This paper uses a 'two-space' perspective on the global economy to help explain the recent elevation of English to a position of supremacy as the global language of communication and to explain the ambivalent impact that English has in this role on the communities embracing it. It is argued that English, in its global function and format, promotes material development and progression in 'physical' space, but at the same time facilitates disposses…
The European C ommission's Proposal for a Financial Transactions Tax: A Critical Assessment
A financial activities tax ( FAT ) and a financial transactions tax ( FTT ) are the main alternative ways of recouping some of the public money used to bail out the financial sector after the great crisis of 2007–08. In preparing a common proposal for the European Union, the European Commission initially appeared to favour the FAT , but then swung its weight behind the FTT in late 2011. Its rationale was that in addition to generating revenue, th…
Global Inequality, Wealth Concentration and the Subprime Crisis: A Marxian Commodity Theory Analysis
This article argues that the driving force behind the structured credit products that triggered the financial crisis was a global excess demand for securities, and that key to the build-up of this demand was the huge accumulation of private wealth. The argument is Marxian inasmuch as it builds on Marx's insight that crisis is endemic to capitalism because the commodity form by its very nature gives rise to the possibility of a separation between …
The US Dollar's Continuing Hegemony as an International Currency: A Double-matrix Analysis
The standard framework for debating the international currency system casts doubt on the dollar's continuing hegemonic position because it raises questions regarding the ability of the US to finance its external liabilities in the face of worsening economic fundamentals. This article addresses these questions by adding to the usual matrix linking the international functions of money to two different types of agents, private and official, a second…
The best of both worlds: Scale economies and discriminatory policies in London's global financial centre
From the early 1960s onwards London has managed to vie with New York for the top spot as an international financial centre. Ever since then, London has reigned as a leading global financial hub, despite not having behind it anything like the political or economic backing enjoyed by New York. This paper seeks to explain this phenomenon by building on Kindleberger’s classic analysis of financial centres as international hubs that arise due to econo…
Financialisation and the limits of circuit theory
The theory of the monetary circuit aims to provide a highly stylised account of the workings of a modern monetary production economy. While there may have been a time when it succeeded in this aim, that time is over. The key development in the monetary sphere of capitalism over recent decades is the advent of financialisation, a phenomenon that circuit theory cannot explain other than by omitting some of its most important characterising features…
Resisting the gravitational pull of the dollar: The economic rationale behind a large Eurozone
When the euro was launched in 1999, its large membership size could not be explained by any of the criteria laid down in the economic theory of monetary unions. This fact explains why the majority academic opinion has always been that the large euro was a politically motivated project with no corresponding economic rationale. This paper puts a contrary view. The euro area at the time of its launch may have been incongruent with economic theory bu…
Global English and proregression: Understanding English language spread in the contemporary era
This paper uses a 'two-space' perspective on the global economy to help explain the recent elevation of English to a position of supremacy as the global language of communication and to explain the ambivalent impact that English has in this role on the communities embracing it. It is argued that English, in its global function and format, promotes material development and progression in 'physical' space, but at the same time facilitates disposses…
Globalisation as commodification
While recognising that most pre-capitalist formations exhibited elements of commodity exchange, Marx argued that capitalism differentiates itself as a genuine commodity system by virtue of two interdependent processes having reached a critical stage of development: a 'stretching' of commodity relations to the point where production for the market displaces subsistence production as the primary form; and a 'deepening' of commodity relations such t…
Global Inequality, Wealth Concentration and the Subprime Crisis: A Marxian Commodity Theory Analysis
This article argues that the driving force behind the structured credit products that triggered the financial crisis was a global excess demand for securities, and that key to the build-up of this demand was the huge accumulation of private wealth. The argument is Marxian inasmuch as it builds on Marx's insight that crisis is endemic to capitalism because the commodity form by its very nature gives rise to the possibility of a separation between …
Global inequality as one of the root causes of the financial crisis: A Suggested Explanation
The global financial crisis was caused because the volume of toxic assets in the financial system had grown to the point where the system could no longer cope. The dominant view among heterodox economists is that this point of critical mass was reached because of various failures in the financial system. This paper puts the accompanying view that the toxic assets were created largely in response to external pressures, a principle source of which …
Debt intolerance and the 90 per cent debt threshold: Two Impossibility Theorems
Two propositions underpin the retreat from post-crisis fiscal expansion instituted by several G7 governments in the summer of 2010. One is that the threat of debt intolerance is general: the reasoning is that the sharp rise in government debt levels caused by post-crisis fiscal expansion will force investors to abandon government bonds in favour of some other asset class. The other proposition is that there is a one-size debt threshold: the reaso…
The role of shadow banking entities in the financial crisis: A disaggregated view
This article examines the role of the shadow banking system in the global financial crisis of 2007–9. In order to do this, one must first explain the reasons for the explosive growth of shadow banking in the immediate pre-crisis era. Current explanations for this growth tend to hold two contrasting positions: one emphasising factors endogenous to the banking sector (notably regulatory arbitrage and financial innovation); the other emphasising exo…
The European C ommission's Proposal for a Financial Transactions Tax: A Critical Assessment
A financial activities tax ( FAT ) and a financial transactions tax ( FTT ) are the main alternative ways of recouping some of the public money used to bail out the financial sector after the great crisis of 2007–08. In preparing a common proposal for the European Union, the European Commission initially appeared to favour the FAT , but then swung its weight behind the FTT in late 2011. Its rationale was that in addition to generating revenue, th…
The US Dollar's Continuing Hegemony as an International Currency: A Double-matrix Analysis
The standard framework for debating the international currency system casts doubt on the dollar's continuing hegemonic position because it raises questions regarding the ability of the US to finance its external liabilities in the face of worsening economic fundamentals. This article addresses these questions by adding to the usual matrix linking the international functions of money to two different types of agents, private and official, a second…
The best of both worlds: Scale economies and discriminatory policies in London's global financial centre
From the early 1960s onwards London has managed to vie with New York for the top spot as an international financial centre. Ever since then, London has reigned as a leading global financial hub, despite not having behind it anything like the political or economic backing enjoyed by New York. This paper seeks to explain this phenomenon by building on Kindleberger’s classic analysis of financial centres as international hubs that arise due to econo…
Resisting the gravitational pull of the dollar: The economic rationale behind a large Eurozone
When the euro was launched in 1999, its large membership size could not be explained by any of the criteria laid down in the economic theory of monetary unions. This fact explains why the majority academic opinion has always been that the large euro was a politically motivated project with no corresponding economic rationale. This paper puts a contrary view. The euro area at the time of its launch may have been incongruent with economic theory bu…
Financialisation and the limits of circuit theory
The theory of the monetary circuit aims to provide a highly stylised account of the workings of a modern monetary production economy. While there may have been a time when it succeeded in this aim, that time is over. The key development in the monetary sphere of capitalism over recent decades is the advent of financialisation, a phenomenon that circuit theory cannot explain other than by omitting some of its most important characterising features…
The European banks’ role in the financial crisis of 2007-8: A critical assessment
Since the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2007, opinion has been divided over whether its root cause was weak regulation and bank funding problems or the pressure of investor demand for US safe assets. New research on the European banks’ role in the crisis may finally help to resolve the issue. Far from being peripheral players in the crisis, European banks were deeply implicated in its causal origins as evidenced by their activities in the t…
Dollar colonisation: The destructive policy implications of modern monetary theory
Modern monetary theory (MMT) argues that all governments that issue their own currency have the same fiscal and monetary policy space. This paper argues against this position. For MMT's assumptions to be valid, MMT must abstract from the gravitational force of the US dollar that stems from it being backed by a mass of securities - an influence transmitted through international investment flows. Once the dollar's gravitational force is recognised,…
Economics (12 works) · Economic Theory and Policy (8 works) · Finance (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Global Financial Crisis and Policies (6 works) · Banking stability, regulation, efficiency (5 works) · Business (5 works) · Financial crisis (5 works) · Financial system (5 works) · Financial market (4 works)