Universal CapitalUniversal CapitalUniversal CapitalUniversal CapitalUniversal Capital
Global capitalism is the dominant form of economic organization but is unable to address problems such as climate change, wealth inequality, and financial and price instability. Our work in this area develops and implements cutting-edge thinking designed to address these failures of capitalism’s institutional architecture.
The foundational principle of Universal Capital is predistribution–that a more functional economy is one in which wealth is broadly shared as it is being produced rather than produced unequally and redistributed later. Building such an economy requires reimagining the governing institutions of contemporary capitalism. Convening academics, practitioners, and advocates, and working through a range of practices from blue-sky ideation to concrete program analysis and policy design, the program has conducted and promoted research on social wealth funds, pensions, green and public banking, and public infrastructure.
Our current work focuses on institutions that coordinate production, financing, welfare, and consumption. We aim to develop new visions of stable and egalitarian economic futures and find measurable variables that can help move these forward. We call this “the designer economy” – a system that opens itself to public understanding of both the potential and the tradeoffs in a continuously evolving future.
Outputs
Public Equity Stakes in U.S. Economic Policymaking
For Everyday Citizens to Save Democracy, It’ll Cost Money. Here’s Where It Can Come From
Public Banking Efforts Are Gaining Momentum and Clarity in California
City Council Wants a Study Into Creating a Los Angeles Public Bank
Coordinating the Supply Side: Creating a Systemic Industrial Policy for the 21st Century
The Origins of Biden’s Most Important Policy, Explained
When The Blue-Collar Backbone Meets Generative AI
Interest and Rationing: Price Controls in Theory and Practice
The Designer Economy
USC Berggruen Fellow Isabella Weber Leads Transnational Evolution in Ideas on Inflation, Economic Policy As Germany Adopts “Gas Price Brake”
Re-Opening the Coordination Problem: Beyond Neoliberal Organization Workshop Report
Re-Opening the Coordination Problem: Beyond Neoliberal Organization Workshop Report
Berggruen Fellows Aim to Reinvent Governance, Imagine Radically Different Futures for Global Systems and Institutions
How Social Housing Can Save California From a Recession
A World Where Finance Is Democratic
‘It’s a Trillion-dollar Question’: Saule Omarova — Biden’s Withdrawn Banking Nominee — Ponders a ‘Fannie Mae’ for Climate Change
Saule Omarova’s Plan for “Public Venture Capital”
The National Investment Authority: A Blueprint
Berggruen Institute’s Saule Omarova Releases Plan to Reimagine US Finance and Investment
Policies for Cooperative Ownership in the Digital Economy
