Research with an Impact
Our MA and MS programs provide instruction grounded in the measurement and understanding of income and wealth inequality—which are at the core of the research and coursework offered at the Levy Economics Institute. The Institute is well known for its work in macroeconomic theory and policy analysis, the development and exploration of alternative measures of economic well-being and income and time poverty, and its continuing efforts to extend the work of Distinguished Scholars Hyman P. Minsky and Wynne Godley.
Our Location
Bard College is 90 miles (two hours) north of New York City and approximately 50 miles (one hour) south of Albany, with Amtrak service to Rhinecliff, New York, about nine miles south of Annandale.
Land Acknowledgment for Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson
Developed in Cooperation with the Stockbridge-Munsee Community
In the spirit of truth and equity, it is with gratitude and humility that we acknowledge that we are gathered on the sacred homelands of the Munsee and Muhheaconneok people, who are the original stewards of the land. Today, due to forced removal, the community resides in Northeast Wisconsin and is known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. We honor and pay respect to their ancestors past and present, as well as to future generations, and we recognize their continuing presence in their homelands. We understand that our acknowledgment requires those of us who are settlers to recognize our own place in and responsibilities toward addressing inequity, and that this ongoing and challenging work requires that we commit to real engagement with the Munsee and Mohican communities to build an inclusive and equitable space for all.
Traveling to Bard
Bard is 90 miles (two hours) north of New York City and approximately 50 miles (one hour) south of Albany, with Amtrak service to Rhinecliff, New York, about nine miles south of Annandale.
Distinguished Scholars
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Hyman P. Minsky was a Levy Institute Distinguished Scholar from 1990 until his death in 1996, establishing two of the Institute's ongoing research programs: Monetary Policy and Financial Structure and The State of the U.S. and World Economies. He rejected conventional economic ideas, such as the efficient market hypothesis, in favor of what he called the financial instability hypothesis that held that over a prolonged period of prosperity, investors take on more risk until lending exceeds what borrowers can pay off from their incoming revenues. When overindebted investors are forced to sell even their less-speculative positions to make good on their loans, markets spiral lower and create a severe demand for cash—an event that has come to be known as a "Minsky moment."
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Much of Wynne Godley’s work focused on the strategic prospects for the US, UK, and world economies, and the use of accounting macroeconomic models to reveal structural imbalances. He published extensively. His 2007 book Monetary Economics: An Integrated Approach to Credit, Money, Income, Production, and Wealth (with Marc Lavoie) is an elaboration of his classic textbook Macroeconomics, written in 1983 with Francis Cripps. With it, Godley aimed to revive the tradition of macroeconomics practiced by the original Cambridge Keynesians, in combination with the theory of asset allocation pioneered by James Tobin.
Special Events
Throughout the year the Levy Institute organizes workshops, symposiums, and seminars. These events offer Levy graduate students an opportunity to experience real-world discussions on employment policy, economic development, financial instability and crises, financial regulation, economic theory, and the gender implications of macroeconomic processes and policies, among other issues.