I am a member of a small group which meets in Walthamstow every 6 weeks or so to share reading, research and ideas to  help us understand the banking system, the economy and possibilities for change.  This group was originally inspired by, and affiliated to, Positive Money* who offer a very clear analysis of the ways in which our current financial system creates debt, unaffordable housing and growing inequality.  As our group expanded, we found the quality of mutual support and shared learning was compromised when people came along with different agendas or different ideas about the purpose of the group. Most of us are already members of organisations or political parties which are open to all comers and where we expect to engage in arguments about priorities, points of view and strategies for action.  But, we also want a space  to expose our ignorance,  to express uncertainty, to listen to each other and to try articulating and exploring complex ideas in a supportive group.  We have therefore re-constituted ourselves as the Walthamstow Economics Reading Group.   If you would like to join us, please email  Walthamstowerg@groups.io  for details of forthcoming meetings and topics. 

*Positive Money is a campaigning organisation, committed to pursuing a particular agenda for reform which we have been examining critically, while exploring alternatives.   This is set out in the book, Modernising Money, by Andrew Jackson and Ben Dyson, which helped to initiate the first back-bench debate on money creation for over 100 years.    We recommend the videos on the Positive Money web site for an accessible introduction to their analysis and their proposals for change.  You can find details of local Positive Money groups on their web site.  

Previous activities and discussions have included   (Click on links for members' notes):

Reading and Research

In 2020 we've read:
Newham Council's Covid-19 Recovery Strategy and a commentary from Newham resident, Mike Shallcross
Martin Hägglund (2020) This Life: Why Mortality Makes Us Free
Stephanie Kelton, The deficit myth: modern monetary theory and the birth of the People's Economy
Tim Jackson Prosperity without Growth

In 2019 we read:
Labour's Green Indusrial Revolution Manifesto and the Green Party Manifesto
John McDonnell (ed), (2018) Economics for the Many
Yanis Varoufakis, (2017) Talking to my daughter: a brief history of capitalism
David Graeber, (2011) Debt: the first 5000 years
​Mariana Mazzucato (2018) The Value of Everything: Making and Taking in the Global Economy
​
2018 meetings focused on Public Services, the NHS in particular, drawing on various articles, including those published by the New Economics Foundation . We also read:
Hilary Cottam (2018) Radical Help: How we can re-make the relationships between us and revolutionise the welfare state
George Lakey (2017) Viking Economics
Naomi Klein (2017) No is Not Enough
Kate Raworth, (2017) Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist
Rutger Bregman  (2017) Utopia for Realists
Ann Pettifor (2017) The Production of Money: How to break the power of bankers
We looked at 2017 Manifestos from the Labour Party and The Green Party
Guy Standing (2016) The Corruption of Capitalism and (2011) The Precariat: the new dangerous class
Universal Basic Income - a summary of some initial reading
Tim Gee (2011) Counterpower: Making Change Happen
Paul Mason (2015) Postcapitalism
We looked at the implications of the Bank of England and Financial Services Act 2016 and  proposals for a Sovereign Money System which are outlined on the book, Modernising Money​ and summarised on the Positive Money web-site.  
Yanis Varoufakis (2015) The Global Minotaur  led to heated discussions about the EU in the lead up to the June 2016 referendum.
Owen Jones (2014) The Establishment 
Richard Wilkinson & Kate Pickett, (2010), The Spirit Level
 E.F. Schumacher (1974) Small is Beautiful and Katrine Marcal (2015) Who cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? 
Richard Murphy (2011) The Courageous State; John Lanchester (2010) I.O.U. Why Everyone Owes Everyone and No-one Can Pay; Michael Lewis (2011) Boomerang: The Meltdown Tour; and Andrew Ross (2013)  Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal 
Alternative economies
​
Michael's notes on Bitcoin  (to be added)

Conferences, seminars and presentations
May 2018 - two members attended a State of the Economy Conference, one of a series of  Labour Party events designed to inform their "local town" economic development plans. This conference featured Kate Raworth, Anne Pettifor, Guy Standing, Paul Mason, and others whose thoughts on economics are close t oour own.
April 2016 - three members attended the Guardian Live debate on “Europe, Austerity and the threat to global stability”  with Yanis Varoufakis, Caroline Lucas and Tariq Ali
February 2016 - one member presented ideas about Anti-Austerity Economics to his constituency Labour Party
November 2015 - three members went to a conference on Life Before debt – Organising to overcome the power of finance organised by the Jubilee Debt Campaign 
November 2015 - two members went to hear John McDonnell, Yanis Varoufakis and others talk about "After Corbyn's Victory: build the fight against austerity" organised by the Trades Union Co-ordinating Group (TUCG)
September 2015 - two members went to a talk  on 'The people's Quantitative Easing' ( or Making Money Work) with Lord Adair Turner | Chairman, Institute of New Economic Thinking,  Steve Keen | Kingston University and Chris Giles | FT
May 2015 - one member attended a "day long engagement with Thomas Piketty" at LSE 
November 2014 - some of us attended an excellent conference organised by The Centre for Labour and Social Studies 
who produce some very useful and accessible publications.

Local Politics
The group provides a safe place for us to try out ideas and presentations before taking them to a wider audience.
January 2016 - one of our members presented his notes on the question, "What is Anti-Austerity Economics?", with reference to Positive Money.  He is planning to present this to a Constituency Labour Party meeting in February.
December 2014 - two of us met with Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy, Labour shadow minister for consumer affairs, who was familiar with the Positive Money analysis but believed that their proposals for reforming banks were unlikely to succeed. Stella was sceptical about the possibility of parliament taking a greater degree of control over money creation and achieving change on the monolithic scale suggested by Positive Money.  She talked about small businesses, popular movements and alternative currencies.  She recommended reading Roberto Unger, joining the Co-op and supporting Credit Unions. 


More Links
http://prosperitas.org.uk/
ttp://www.quakerweb.org.uk/blog/    
http://streetschooleconomics.wordpress.com/debt/
http://www.taxjustice.net/
http://www.neweconomics.org/
http://www.lse.ac.uk/GranthamInstitute/green-growth/