Public Banks – Public Banking Institute

Government Instituted Public Banks: Protection Against Economic Downturns

June 6, 2026

Public banks are an economic and policy tool used by governments around the world for over five centuries that have re-popularized since the 2008 financial crisis for their capacity to lend to developing sectors (e.g. clean energy), support underinvested communities, and provide counter-cyclical financing. Existing research and contemporary policy discourse debates the economic functions of […]

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All Wars Are Bankers’ Wars: Iran and the Bankers’ Endgame

April 26, 2026

“The powers of financial capitalism had another far reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole.” —Prof. Caroll Quigley, Georgetown University, Tragedy and Hope (1966) Read Ellen Brown’s insightful

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How Public Banks Can Meet Public Needs

April 26, 2026

While chaos reigns at the federal level, it’s up to states and local governments to creatively hold the line, fill the gaps, and figure out new ways forward. Drawing on examples from around the country, this series explores some of the many things they could do—and are already doing. Read more here: How Public Banks

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Offensive Democracy : What a Hundred-Year-Old Bank in North Dakota Can Teach Us About Winning in Politics

March 23, 2026

In 1915, a group of North Dakota wheat farmers went to the statehouse in Bismarck to ask their legislature for help. They wanted a state-owned terminal elevator so they could sell their grain without getting fleeced by out-of-state middlemen. A state representative named Treadwell Twitchell reportedly told the farmers crowding the balcony to “go home

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A State Public Bank would Strengthen Community Lenders

March 23, 2026

Public Banks Modeled on the Bank of North Dakota will Partner with Local Financial Institutions and not compete with them. The recent critique of public banking in Crain’s by eight Illinois leaders of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) rests on a misunderstanding: the model being attacked is not the model being proposed. A public bank

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Out of the Shadows: Public Banking for Municipal Finance

March 23, 2026

In a recent essay, we advanced a proposal for sub-federal governments to sell municipal bonds to their own public banks. We took the city as our primary point of departure, but the same lessons are applicable to U.S. counties and states. Establishing a public bank that regularly purchases municipal debt, we argued, would not only significantly

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Bringing Our Dollars Home

February 16, 2026

Public Money Should Be Managed by Publicly Owned Banks We the people already own many essential services: Municipal water, sewage treatment, residential garbage and green waste pickup (actually, 30% are run by for-profit companies), parks, roads, tunnels and bridges, public schools and colleges, public transit systems, police, and fire fighting. Even some electric grids are publicly owned (15%).

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