Financial Power, Public Trust, and Democratic Erosion

Anat Admati, Professor of Finance, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, will give a public lecture at the University of Iceland´s Aula on Wednesday 18 June from at 11 am. The title of her lecture is “Financial Power, Public Trust, and Democratic Erosion” and it is organized by the University of Iceland and Bifröst University.

Abstract

Financial institutions play a central yet under-examined role in the decline of democratic governance and accountability. Drawing on insights from political economy and recent global developments, Anat Admati will trace how distorted incentives and weak oversight mechanisms have allowed key players in finance to undermine the rule of law, fuel public disillusionment, and deepen governance failures. She will also discuss how scholars and practitioners can push back against these forces.

Jón Atli Benediktsson, the rector of the University of Iceland, gives the opening remarks and Guðrún Johnsen, the dean of the Department of Business at Bifröst University, will introduce Anat and her work.

The event will be moderated by Sigríður Benediktsdóttir, Senior Lecturer at SIPA Columbia University and assistant professor at the University of Iceland´s Faculty of Business Administration.
Refreshments will be offered after the lecture.

The lecture is open but guests are kindly asked to register for the event.

About Anat R. Admati

Anat R. Admati's current research, teaching and advocacy focus on the complex interactions between business, law, and policy, with a focus on governance and accountability. She is the co-author, with Martin Hellwig, of the award-winning and highly acclaimed book The Bankers’ New Clothes: What’s Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It (Princeton University Press, 2013, expanded edition 2024). In 2014. She was included in Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world and in Foreign Policy Magazine as one of 100 global thinkers.

Admat is the George G.C. Parker Professor of Finance and Economics at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. At Stanford she is also a Faculty Director of the Corporations and Society Initiative (CASI) and for the Program on Capitalism and Democracy (CAD) at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). She is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)'s Systemic Resolution Advisory Committee.