Seminar Series on Political Economy – Spring 2026: Session #5 with Benjamin Braun
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This spring, the Political Economy Master’s programme (Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon) and PhD programme (Iscte – University Institute of Lisbon, ISEG – University of Lisbon, and FE – University of Coimbra) are hosting a seminar series on pressing issues in capitalist societies, held at Iscte from March 3 to May 28, 2026.
The series calls for an interdisciplinary perspective grounded in historical, political, institutional knowledge and imagination. It brings together leading scholars in the field of Political Economy to examine the rise of authoritarianism; the politics of quantification; the financialization of the economy and its impact on systems of provision, such as housing; the emergence of asset manager capitalism and growing wealth inequality.
Open to all, the Seminar Series on Political Economy is co-organized by DINÂMIA’CET-Iscte, the Department of Political Economy at Iscte’s School of Social Sciences, and the Portuguese Association for Political Economy.
The upcoming session "The fearful Fed: Fifty years of policing employment and fiscal policy", presented by Benjamin Braun (London School of Economics and Political Science), will take place on 28 May 2026, at Iscte, Building 4, Auditorium A306, at 18:00.
Benjamin Braun is an assistant professor of political economy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research focuses on the role of finance in capitalism, central banking, and green statecraft. He is a fellow at the Hertie School, an associate at the LSE Centre for Economic Transition Expertise (CETEx), and a policy fellow at Dezernat Zukunft. Braun is the principal investigator of the DFG-funded project “Central Banking in Hard Times,” based at the Hertie School, and co-principal investigator of the Hewlett-funded project “New Generators of Inequality: Asset Managers and Private Equity,” based at Brown University. His research has appeared in journals including Review of International Political Economy, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Energy Research and Social Science, Regulation and Governance, Competition & Change, Socio-Economic Review, New Political Economy, and Economy and Society.