For obvious reasons, the last decade provided a boost to research in the political economy of finance. It has reached areas like comparative welfare state studies which were completely untouched by considerations of private finance. Equally and perhaps more surprisingly, research in public finance hardly ever looked at instruments of debt finance, such as swaps and securitisation, which fiscal entities now use quite regularly.

This panel brings together papers that explore how private finance has penetrated policymaking, market regulation, public budgeting and the welfare state. We answer questions such as: does the role of private finance tie in with a move to the middle class welfare state, replacing ‘labourist’ (views of) welfare? What happens to the independence of central banks if their primary task is financial stabilisation rather than inflation targeting? What difference does it make to public goods provision and democratic accountability if fiscal authorities use private financial innovations to manage public debt? Do our existing theories of interest representation capture the influence of finance or do they need to include new channels, such as the pressure of imminent market panic?

The panel represents a variety of perspectives, including those who approach it from the angle of the economic sociology of financialization as well as more mainstream studies in comparative political economy.