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drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James
@drscottjames.bsky.social
1.2K followers 390 following 230 posts

Reader in Political Economy, King’s College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-scott-james
IPE of finance and tech, monetary politics, City of London
BANK POLITICS (OUP, 2023)
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/bank-politics-9780192898609?cc=gb&lang=en& .. more

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Political science 38%
Economics 34%
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drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · Mar 18
New article with Lucia Quaglia on how EU banks and EU regulators engaged in ‘noisy geopolitics’ by leveraging the digital sovereignty agenda to push for tighter controls on (US) bigtechs. Part of a special issue on ‘Transformation of Banking’ in Competition and Change
doi.org/10.1177/1024...

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 1d
open.substack.com/pub/theprice...
The Dollar is Stronger than we thought
New data shows we've been here before
open.substack.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 1d
The dollar’s longue durée

25-year cycles of de/redollarisation?

Reposted by Jonathan Portes, James Scott

duncanweldon.bsky.social
Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · 1d
Hhhmmm.

Can’t see any of the likely successors making *major* changes to borrowing. You might get more taxes & more spending.
And don’t rule out a more pro-growth attitude to immigration.

www.ft.com/content/c855... Starmer camp warns leadership challenge risks economic chaos
Starmer camp warns leadership challenge risks economic chaos
Investors also signal concern at prospect of a more leftwing government
www.ft.com

Reposted by Benjamin Braun, Jonathan Hopkin, James Scott , and 2 more

mkblyth.bsky.social
Mark Blyth @mkblyth.bsky.social · 4d
Applications are open for the Finance Summer School 2026. Last two have been at Brown. This one is at LSE thanks to LSE European Institute and Huth Initiative, plus the Berkeley Program on Finance and Democracy. Stellar Line up. Apps open: forms.gle/WsEVk4Yy52Dn...

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 5d
Huge if true

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 6d
Dedollarization or Redollarization? with Jeff Frieden, Rogoff et al
www.youtube.com/live/M6vebFZ...
Dedollarization or Redollarization? | World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2026
YouTube video by World Economic Forum
www.youtube.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 6d
Our stablecoins, your problem
katie0martin.ft.com Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 6d
a lot of americans are convinced we need to re-invent the entire financial wheel just because they're still paying for things with cheques. This is a you problem/skill issue, guys

Reposted by James Scott, Pepper D. Culpepper

katie0martin.ft.com
Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 6d
a lot of americans are convinced we need to re-invent the entire financial wheel just because they're still paying for things with cheques. This is a you problem/skill issue, guys

Reposted by James Scott

powelljr.bsky.social
Jeff Powell @powelljr.bsky.social · 6d
The stablecoin war: Wall Street vs crypto over the future of money - www.ft.com/content/0fe2... via @FT
The stablecoin war: Wall Street vs crypto over the future of money
Banks say rules governing the digital currency are a risk to financial stability. Are they just trying to stamp out competition?
www.ft.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 8d
History doesn’t repeat or rhyme, it just tortures us
alanbeattie.bsky.social Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 8d
This works best if you imagine a delusional eccentric who has watched too many motivational videos shouting at themselves in a mirror.

Reposted by James Scott

alanbeattie.bsky.social
Alan Beattie @alanbeattie.bsky.social · 8d
This works best if you imagine a delusional eccentric who has watched too many motivational videos shouting at themselves in a mirror.

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 8d
The more cynically minded might view Trump’s reluctant reconciliation with dollar stability - backtracking on Mar a Lago, appointing Warsh, etc - as creating monetary space for greater geopolitical adventurism in 2026

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 9d
A transition not a rupture
peark.es George Pearkes @peark.es · 9d
Trump officially picks Warsh as Fed Chair
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Kevin Warsh to be the CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM. Kevin currently serves as the Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, and Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a Partner of Stanley Druckenmiller at Duquesne Family Office LLC. Kevin received his A.B. from Stanford University, and J.D. from Harvard Law School. He has conducted extensive research in the field of Economics and Finance. Kevin issued an Independent Report to the Bank of England proposing reforms in the conduct of Monetary Policy in the United Kingdom. Parliament adopted the Report's recommendations. Kevin Warsh became the youngest Fed Governor, ever, at 35, and served as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 until 2011, as the Federal Reserve's Representative to the Group of Twenty (G-20), and as the Board's Emissary to the Emerging and Advanced Economies in Asia. In addition, he was Administrative Governor, managing and overseeing the Board's operations, personnel, and financial performance. Prior to his appointment to the Board, from 2002 until 2006, Kevin served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and Executive Secretary of the White House National Economic Council. Previously, Kevin was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Morgan Stanley & Co., in New York, serving as Vice President and Executive Director. I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best. On top of everything else, he is “central casting,” and he will never let you down. Congratulations Kevin! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP 27 ReTruths 90 Likes Jan 30, 2026, 6:48 AM

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 9d
So we started Trump’s ‘Janarchy’ with Maduro, detoured via Greenland and Davos, and end with Kevin Warsh

Agency meets structure, a love story

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 9d
Wait
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
How a billionaire with interests in Greenland encouraged Trump to acquire the territory
US president’s friend Ronald Lauder – who first proposed Arctic expansion – is now making deals in the island
www.theguardian.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 9d
Capital called, it wants the Fed back

Reposted by James Scott

financialtimes.com
Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 9d
Kevin Warsh, the Fed chair nominee forged by the 2008 financial crisis ft.trib.al/sdyW6DT
Kevin Warsh, the Fed chair nominee forged by the 2008 financial crisis
Trump’s pick will take the reins of the world’s top central bank during one of the most consequential periods in its history
ft.trib.al

Reposted by James Scott

peark.es
George Pearkes @peark.es · 9d
Trump officially picks Warsh as Fed Chair
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Kevin Warsh to be the CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE SYSTEM. Kevin currently serves as the Shepard Family Distinguished Visiting Fellow in Economics at the Hoover Institution, and Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a Partner of Stanley Druckenmiller at Duquesne Family Office LLC. Kevin received his A.B. from Stanford University, and J.D. from Harvard Law School. He has conducted extensive research in the field of Economics and Finance. Kevin issued an Independent Report to the Bank of England proposing reforms in the conduct of Monetary Policy in the United Kingdom. Parliament adopted the Report's recommendations. Kevin Warsh became the youngest Fed Governor, ever, at 35, and served as a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from 2006 until 2011, as the Federal Reserve's Representative to the Group of Twenty (G-20), and as the Board's Emissary to the Emerging and Advanced Economies in Asia. In addition, he was Administrative Governor, managing and overseeing the Board's operations, personnel, and financial performance. Prior to his appointment to the Board, from 2002 until 2006, Kevin served as Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, and Executive Secretary of the White House National Economic Council. Previously, Kevin was a member of the Mergers & Acquisitions Department at Morgan Stanley & Co., in New York, serving as Vice President and Executive Director. I have known Kevin for a long period of time, and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the GREAT Fed Chairmen, maybe the best. On top of everything else, he is “central casting,” and he will never let you down. Congratulations Kevin! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP 27 ReTruths 90 Likes Jan 30, 2026, 6:48 AM

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 9d
Narratives of dollar declinism also underestimate the probability that dominance actually strengthens: not because the US suddenly rediscovers functional politics but scale of geoeconomic risks facing Europe (far right, Russia) and China (debt mountain, energy constraints)
Don’t bet on dollar dethronement
If you want to see how entrenched the US currency is in the global system, look at the foreign exchange swap market
www.ft.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 10d
What has arguably changed is that the quiet politics of finance now confronts not just the noisy but the personalist, vengeful and extractive politics of MAGA

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 10d
An element of trying to reinvent the wheel here when theories of instrumental power / power of inaction vs structural power of markets still does a pretty good job
Chartbook 431 Convening, staging, acting ... and was it never about Greenland and mainly about the Fed? Which Davos-theory won?
To matter or not to matter?
open.substack.com

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 11d
Great, thanks Jens

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 11d
True, although I was also thinking of shadow money instruments, like MMF shares (which are stablecoin like) backed by bonds, repos, commercial paper, etc, which would presumably rely on private tokenisation

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 11d
Obviously the post-2008 lesson is that all this private offshore credit ultimately needs to be backstopped with CB money via digital dollar swap lines, repo, etc. In which case ‘full spectrum digital dominance’ for the dollar means CBDC + stablecoins + tokenisation are complements not substitutes

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 11d
One for
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drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 12d
So maybe there’s a structural logic to the US Genius Act, driven by the needs of shadow finance.

Whereas CBDCs make more sense for Europe and China with much less private / offshore issuance.

But then doesn’t this constrain the further internationalisation of the euro / renminbi? 🧐

Ends.

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 12d
But I don’t see how you digitalise the dollar-based shadow financial system without the vast issuance of private stablecoins or tokenised assets covering MMF shares, repos, etc.

Am I missing something? 3/n

drscottjames.bsky.social
Scott James @drscottjames.bsky.social · 12d
How do you digitalise the offshore dollar system or private / shadow money?

Retail and wholesale CBDCs work for pure public (cash) and public-private money (commercial bank liabilities). 2/n