Publication of the REF 128 in january 2018

Inequalities have again become a central concern of our era and the question of their relation to finance inevitably arises. Plausible causalities between finance and inequalities are numerous, circular, and entangled. Some of these have linked the development of finance to a reduction in inequalities, but the general tone took a different turn with the 2008 crisis. The result of the financial and banking crisis was an increase in unemployment and a drop in the median standard of living, but also an increase in inequalities. The articles in this issue have in common that they describe these causalities and look for all the empiric elements that can validate them. An initial series of articles has been devoted to examining the analytical foundations of the link between finance and inequalities, mainly from a macroeconomic angle, while the second section takes up empirical elements that make it possible to measure the effects of the financial system and its players on income and wealth inequalities. The gist of the contributions in this issue is that finance, taken in a broad sense, helps create or deepen inequalities.

The magazine also contains an article on financial history devoted to John Maynard Keynes and to his speculation on the currency markets, as well as two additional articles. The first is devoted to examining the revolving door phenomenon for central banks, and the second to an historical analysis of the activities of the financial section of the prosecutor’s office of the Seine department in the first half of the twentieth century.