The Mac­rofin­ance of the Green Trans­ition

Course content

This course examines the macro-financial foundations of the green transition, situating climate change within political economy and macroeconomics. The shift away from fossil fuels raises profound questions about how states, central banks, and financial markets can mobilize and allocate capital for decarbonization while safeguarding stability and growth. Students will explore how ecological constraints disrupt conventional macroeconomic assumptions about growth, inflation, and investment, and how new forms of state–market relations are emerging in response.

A central theme is the contested politics of financing. The course analyzes the rise of the “derisking state” and the Wall Street Consensus, where public institutions are reconfigured to guarantee returns for private investors in green infrastructure. This approach is contrasted with more dirigiste strategies such as those seen in China and elsewhere in which governments directly mobilize credit creation and industrial policy to steer structural transformation. The tension between these models highlights different pathways through which macro-financial regimes can support or hinder the ecological transition.

The course introduces students to debates over fiscal space, monetary policy, and macroprudential regulation in the Anthropocene. Key topics include carbon pricing, stranded assets, transition risks, financing green industrial policy, and the distributive consequences of green finance. Empirical cases from Europe, the United States, Brazil, India and China illustrate how diverse macro-financial architectures condition opportunities for green industrialization and reveal the influence of financial lobbies and fossil incumbents.

By integrating ecological realities into the study of macroeconomics and political economy, the course equips students to critically assess institutional choices, financial architectures, and power struggles that will shape the future of the global green transition.