INSTRUCTORS: Christian Haines and Craig Sutton
WEEKLY LEARNING GOALS
- Unpack some of the contributing factors to the recent financial crisis and develop a basic understanding of financial techniques such as no arbitrage pricing and hedging, Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO), and Credit Default Swaps (CDS).
- Analyze these factors in historical context with an emphasis on race and, more specifically, racialized inequities.
- Consider how narratives dealing with finance offer a space for critical reflection on the social and political agency of “at risk” or “marginal” groups.
READINGS
- M. Bailey, R. Litan and M. Johnson, “The Origins of the Financial Crisis,” Brookings Institute Fixing Finance Series, Paper 3, Nov. 2008, 47 pages. (read the summary p. 7-9)
- Philip Ashton “Troubled Assets: Financial Emergencies and Racialized Risk,” 15 pages.‘Troubled Assets’- The Financial Emergency and Racialized Risk.pdf
- Listen to the following Podcasts from This American Life (each is about 60 minutes long):
- http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/07/19/in-a-subprime-bubble-for-used-cars-unfit-borrowers-pay-sky-high-rates/ (Links to an external site.)
- Paula Chakravarty, Denise Ferreira da Silva, “Accumulation, Dispossession, and Debt – An Introduction,” from “Race, Empire and the Crisis of the Subprime,” American Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 3, Sept. 2012, 361-385. (Accumulation, Dispossession, and Debt- The Racial Logic of Global Capitalism—An Introduction Paula Chakravartty and Denise Ferreira da Silva.pdf)
- Catherine R. Squires, “Coloring in the Bubble: Perspectives from Black-Oriented Media on the (Latest) Economic Disaster,” American Quarterly, Vol. 64, No. 3, Sept. 2012, 543-570. (Coloring in the Bubble- Perspectives from Black-Oriented Media on the (Latest) Economic Disaster.pdf)
- View the film Trouble the Water (2008, Dir. Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, 96 minutes)
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (OPTIONAL)