Core Themes
I explore how money, banking and finance are organised, who shapes them, and whose interests they serve, focussing on four themes.
The Geopolitics and Future of Money and Finance
How the US, China and the EU compete over monetary and financial power, from reserve currency status and safe assets to capital markets, swap lines, sanctions and control over financial infrastructure. Topics include the digital euro and other CBDCs, stablecoins, tokenised deposits and securities, crypto-currencies, and the future of domestic and cross-border payments and settlement.
The Structural Reform of Money and Banking
Who creates our money, and with what consequences for stability, inequality and sustainable development. Topics include fractional reserve, full reserve and free banking, systemic versus ‘normal’ financial crises, and how credit creation drives house prices.
Making Money and Finance Visible
With Carlijn Kingma and Thomas Bollen, I created The Waterworks of Money, a series of maps, animations and a book that show how our financial system works and how it could be designed differently. Currently, we are working on The Laws of Capitalism.
Ownership and Multiple Value Creation
How ownership, reporting and investment can steer companies toward long-term ecological and social value. Topics include steward-ownership and protected ownership, sustainability reporting (CSRD, CSDDD) and the commercial determinants of health.
Long-Term Value Investing
How to build a robust portfolio of investments that creates lasting value. I combine classic value investing (intrinsic value, fundamental analysis, patience and a margin of safety) with newer approaches that integrate social and environmental value into investment decisions. Topics include company selection, portfolio construction, engaged ownership and long-term value creation for investors and society.
Approach
My work moves from researching the monetary and financial system to imagining and designing better alternatives, and sharing them with a broad audience. In this work, I use:
- Vision & Imagination. Today’s monetary and financial system is the result of choices, and it can be designed differently. Imagining alternatives is the first step.
- Institutional and System Change. I look at money and finance as systems governed by institutions, and ask which rules of the game need to change.
- Meaning & Awareness. Through visual work, lectures and public debate, I make the financial system understandable to a broad audience.
- Design science and interviews combined with interviews with policymakers, central bankers, regulators and practitioners to develop and evaluate concrete alternatives.