[3] A prime example of such change is the revision of older, culturally established attitudes towards and common/ecclesiastical law regulation of self-interest and usury as documented by English historian R.H. Tawney in "Religion and the rise of capitalism".
Where medieval morals had restrained private profit in the maintenance or lending of the common currency, the new heuristic established both practices as enlightened and patriotic without explicit provision for the external restraint of potential abuses.
Observing that modern moneys are anchored at the center by sovereign authority, Desan argues that they are basically public projects: creating a medium allows a government to measure resources and mobilize them.
When a unit holds predictable value, demand among individuals to use it in private exchange also increases, accounting for the premium that money offers in cash services.
Desan identifies private banking activity as a design choice within the financial architecture, analogous to minting on demand in commodity money worlds.
[8] More generally, Desan critiques neoclassical economics on the ground that it naturalizes existing arrangements and reifies "the market" as a sphere with a self-evident structure.
[1] With Elizabeth Bartholet and James Cavallaro, Desan co-authored and organized an Open Letter to the U.S. Congress Concerning Human Rights Abuses at Abu Ghraib (presented June 16, 2004), signed by 509 law professors.
Desan co-signed the 2014 public statement by members of the faculty of Harvard Law School that objected to the "Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures" imposed by the central university administration as insufficient to project the values associated with due process.
[12] In 2017, Desan authored a letter signed by 81 Harvard Law School colleagues condemning President Trump rhetoric that incited violence.