Writing & Speaking
Democrats Are Ditching Class, and It’s Costing Them Working-Class Voters, Jacobin
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Automation and the radicalization of America, The Brookings Institution
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The Problem of Inequality in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, TEDx
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2022
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An unequal embrace of digitalization may contribute to recession risk, The Brookings Institution
Digitalization is rapidly changing U.S. labor market dynamics. Beyond increasing the number of workplaces that require digital skills and engagement with computers, the spread of new technologies has reshaped worker power and the relationship between labor market tightness and wage growth. In particular, this has manifested in anti-competitive, winner-take-all dynamics and skill-biased technological change, both of which have suppressed wage growth. These dynamics have been well documented by economists like David Autor and Daron Acemoglu. Read more at this link. Democrats Are Ditching Class, and It’s Costing Them Working-Class Voters, Jacobin
Neither mainstream American political party has a compelling message for working-class voters. As a result, voters are starting to vote in line with their cultural opinions, not their class interests. Unfortunately, that’s good news for the Right. Read more at this link. Cracking down on the gamification of finance, OMFIF
Above all, the case of Robinhood and order flows presents a cautionary tale for the future: in a digital economy, increased access does not always indicate increased fairness. Read more at this link. What are central bank reserves for? OMFIF
Central banks are prepared to deploy fewer of their reserves during a crisis. This is one of several notable findings from OMFIF’s Global Public Investor 2022 report. Amid significant global chaos and crises, these results may appear surprising. The forces that underlie this shift, moreover, provide an interesting example of the complicated dynamics central banks face in their attempts to simultaneously ensure economic security while offering signalling and guidance about the state of the macroeconomic and financial system. Read more at this link. Fed presidents cautiously optimistic for a soft landing, OMFIF
The central question facing the US economy right now is whether the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes will produce a hard or soft landing. Will the interest rate increases choke investment, employment and consumption, spurring recession? Or will the Fed be able to reduce inflation without sending the economy into a downturn? While consumer confidence is plummeting and most economists predict recession, there are strong cases to be made for both predictions. Read more at this link. Inflation blame game, OMFIF
Amid declining real wages, accumulating household debt and the looming prospect of recession, the problem of inflation is now firmly in the arena of US partisan politics. It is yet another issue defined by clear political divisions between Democrats and Republicans. And like many other partisan conflicts, a politically motivated understanding of inflation threatens Washington’s ability to develop a coherent response. Read more at this link. Corporate US making consumers pay for inflation, OMFIF Corporate leaders have been heard bragging about strong results to investors on recent earnings calls. Amid historically high inflation of roughly 8.5%, it is unsurprising that corporations would pass along some of the burden in higher prices. Yet the ‘marvellous’ and ‘successful pricing strategies’ company executives have been lionising are a step beyond that. Indeed, as Andrew Callahan, chief executive officer of food company Hostess, recently said in an earnings call, ‘when all prices go up, it helps.’ Read more at this link. Regulators racing to keep up with digital IDs, OMFIF The promise and risks of digital identification create a quandary for regulators, innovators and policy-makers who fret about cybersecurity and data protection. This was a key finding from a panel focused on digital IDs as part of a broader discussion of digitalisation and the economy at OMFIF’s Digital Monetary symposium. The panellists – echoing some of the key findings from OMFIF’s recent report on data – offered a generally optimistic picture of the future of digital ID. Read more at this link. Biden administration right to limit stock buybacks, OMFIF
In late March, the Biden administration decided to encourage Congress to pass legislation curtailing stock buybacks. Stock buybacks — when a company purchases its own stock, increasing its price — have grown in popularity. The first quarter of 2022 saw a record quantity of buybacks. This trend has triggered the ire of a broad coalition, from the self-proclaimed democratic socialist Senator Bernie Sanders to Larry Fink, the chief executive officer of BlackRock. Read more at this link. Shift towards isolationism poor solution to effects of war, OMFIF
Amid Russia’s war on Ukraine – a conflict that has divided the global north and south, let alone great powers – a shift towards self-reliance is striking many governments as a way of avoiding significant economic vulnerability and volatility. This is leading many economists to wonder if the era of globalisation, interconnectedness and comparative peace is coming to an end. Read more at this link. Inverted yield curve does not prove US recession imminent, OMFIF
In March, the yield on two-year US Treasury bonds exceeded the yield on 10-year bonds. This inauspicious signal — one that has preceded seven of the past eight recessions — has had economists, policy wonks and investors gawking at the prospect of a future economic downturn, amid an already-unsettling period of inflation and political tumult. Read more at this link. Why the labour market won’t fuel US inflation, OMFIF
Despite low unemployment and high inflation, fears that tight labour markets will drive inflation higher are misplaced. The US Federal Reserve holds a dual mandate of maintaining full employment and price stability. It should thus be little surprise that the present moment of tight labour markets and significant inflation are of great concern to some economists, who worry labour market-induced price increases are on the way. Read more at this link. US employment polarisation tempers worker power and inflation, OMFIF
Will tight labour markets in the US contribute to growing inflation? This is a growing concern among a handful of economists and commentators. Last week, the Wall Street Journal fretted that there is a risk of ‘a tight labour market, with demand for workers far outstripping the supply, generat[ing] wage growth that keeps inflation above the Fed’s 2% target.’ Read more at this link. Cocktail of private debt and inequality makes US more vulnerable to stagflation
There is little question that the Ukraine crisis is a portentous event for the global economy. The combination of rising prices and stifled growth is presenting central banks and governments with a dilemma about the possible emergence of stagflationary pressure. Yet the macroeconomic conditions – decades in the making – that have left the US economy vulnerable to economic shocks have remained under-discussed. Chief among these is the rise in private debt and wealth inequality. Read more at this link. Crisis may push European central banks to favour US reserves, OMFIF
Developments in the Russo-Ukrainian war are spurring a review of priorities among central banks. Amid the humanitarian crisis and accompanying sanctions on Russia, reserves managers are not only reconsidering their growth outlook and inflation expectations, they are also reconsidering their willingness to orientate their portfolios around European assets, bonds and currencies. Read more at this link. |
2021
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Automation and the radicalization of America, The Brookings Institution As digital technology accelerates, there are questions about who is most likely to lose jobs due to automation and what the overall future of the US economy looks like. These questions are worth asking—particularly after a pandemic that appears to have hastened the automation of many tasks in American industries.... Read more at this link. How Artificial Intelligence affects people and places, Goethe Institut
Wir wissen nicht, wie es euch geht, aber wir sind nach fast einem Jahr Covid-19 hungrig nach Input, nach Vernetzung und danach, wieder neue, unbekannte Gesichter zu sehen – um die Selbstisolation wenigstens für ein paar Stunden zu unterbrechen. Für das große Finale der wöchentlichen Online-Serie Couch Lessons wollen wir euch – mitten im zweiten Lockdown – zu einer ganz speziellen Veranstaltung einladen. Am 18. Dezember könnt ihr mit uns eine neue, interaktive Online-Plattform erkunden und an über 30 kleinen Diskussionen mit Expert*innen im Bereich Künstliche Intelligenz teilnehmen. See more at this link. |
2020
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America’s House of Debt: US private debt is making inequality worse and the recession deeper, Dollars & Sense
The U.S. economy is in a bad way. An unprecedented pandemic-borne recession that saw the highest rate of swift job loss in history has strained a system—marked for decades by almost unfathomable inequality—to a breaking point. Read more at this link. |
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Artificial Intelligence: Inequality, Power & Politics, Goeth Institut
Technological innovations have led to disruptions throughout history. On the one hand, machines promise higher productivity and thus social prosperity, while on the other they perform tasks that were previously done by humans. Jobs are disappearing. The gap between rich and poor is widening. Developments in the field of artificial intelligence are also challenging society. AI can exacerbate economic inequality on a large scale. But it can also combat it effectively, for instance by using vast amounts of data to calculate the ideal tax burden for each individual citizen. Properly used, AI can function not as an adversary but as a partner of humanity. Watch here: Interview: Pascual Restrepo, The Brown University Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Pascual Restrepo is an assistant professor at Boston University. His research focuses on the impact of technology on inequality, as well as labour markets and economic growth. Prior to joining BU’s faculty, he was a Cowles Foundation Fellow at Yale University, and earned his PhD in Economics at MIT. Besides research work, he has given numerous lectures at conferences, workshops and seminars across the country. Read here. Interview: Andre Perry, The Brown University Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Andre Perry is a fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, a scholar-in-residence at American University, and a columnist for the Hechinger Report. His work centers around issues of race, structural inequality, and education. His book, Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities, was published earlier this year, and he has had his work featured in MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN, among others. Read here. Interview: Walter Scheidel, The Brown University Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Walter Scheidel (pictured) is a historian at Stanford University as well as the author of eighteen books, including “The Great Leveler”, which presents a history of economic inequality from “the stone age to the twenty-first century”. In the book, which won a number of awards, Scheidel argues that inequality has historically only ever been reduced by “four horsemen”: plague, civil war, mass military mobilization, and government collapse. Read here. |
2019
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The Problem of Inequality in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, TEDxProvidence
In the early 20th century, the US saw a period of extraordinary growth, but also extraordinary inequality. This was the Gilded Age. And although that inequality was a result of a number of forces, it was also a product of technological change and automation of the time. Today, we are in the midst of a massive shift towards a greater reliance on digital technology, and artificial intelligence seems to promise another wave of disruption. What does that future have in store for the gap between in America's rich and poor? How will AI affect that gap? And why should we care? Interview: Yanis Varoufakis, The Brown University Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Yanis Varoufakis is the co-founder of DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement) as well as the former Minister of Finance for the Greek government. Additionally, Varoufakis has written several books including his most recent work Adults in The Room: My Battle With Europe’s Deep Establishment, which is a first-hand account of Europe’s hidden agenda and a call to arms to renew European democracy. Read here. Thesis Presentation: Is This Time Different? Artificial Intelligence and Inequality, Brown University
Defense of undergraduate thesis on artificial intelligence, the future of work, and how digitalization may exacerbate inequality. Interview: Paul Krugman, The Brown University Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Paul Krugman is an economist and writer, who currently serves as professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics, and as an op-ed columnist for The New York Times Read here. Philosophy, Politics and Economics is not overrated, The Brown Daily Herald
JPPE’s focus on PPE stems, not from admiration of Oxford, but instead from a genuine belief in the ideals of the interdisciplinary approach. The Journal has taken rigorous steps to separate itself from PPE’s history at Oxford and promote inclusion both on campus and off. Read here. |
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Interview: Steven Pinker, The Brown University Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Steven Pinker is an experimental psychologist who conducts research in visual cognition, psycholinguistics, and social relations. He grew up in Montreal and earned his BA from McGill and his PhD from Harvard. Currently Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard, he has also taught at Stanford and MIT. Read here. |
2018
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How will artificial intelligence affect income inequality? TEDxBrownU
Is this time different? Artificial intelligence is capturing the curiosities, hopes, and fears of people all over the country. Will AI spur extraordinary improvements in security, healthcare, and convenience all while creating new industries, boosting US productivity, and improving quality of life? Or will AI cause millions of workers to become redundant, catalyze massive unemployment, and undermine the socio-economic fabric of American democracy? |
2017
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Empty language poisons political discourse, The Brown Daily Herald
Political discourse has a language problem. Though it’s easier than ever to share ideas and engage in conversation, almost any prolonged discussion about national or global issues will involve some semantic ambiguity and misunderstanding. Read here. Dollar and Cross: Why Evangelical Support for Donald Trump is Unsurprising, Brown Political Review
The election of Donald Trump forced a reckoning among American Evangelical Christians. Faced with a candidate who seemed to at least superficially embody many of the characteristics Evangelicalism condemns, it appeared that Trump’s candidacy would puncture the trend of consistent Evangelical support for the Republican Party. Read here. A capricious “conscious” conservative, The Brown Daily Herald
Amid [David] Cameron’s professional championing of the liberal 21st century order, he made fatuous claims that dispelled his almost transfixing charm and aura of reason. Read here. Aid in Fragile States, Brown Political Review
There are many reasons to be optimistic about global poverty rates. As The Economist reported, “between 1990 and 2010, [the number of people in poverty] fell by half as a share of the total population in developing countries, from 43% to 21%—a reduction of almost 1 billion people.” Read here. The narcissism of social media politics, The Brown Daily Herald
By looking inwards toward our own reasons for political engagement on social media platforms, we might become a bit more understanding of one another and genuine in our compassion. Read here. Interview: Peter Hitchens, Brown Political Review
Peter Hitchens is an English journalist and author who has published six books, including “The Abolition of Britain,” “The War We Never Fought,” and “The Rage Against God.” Read here. The case against pure economics, The Brown Daily Herald
We should remember that economics is best understood as a component, not the sum, of the social sciences. Read here. Utilitarianism and the Market Economy, Brown Political Review
It seems clear that capitalism has increased human prosperity and standards of living. But it is an imperfect mechanism. In the absence of the guiding hand of governmental policy, working toward the end of determining the socially optimal utilitarian outcome, a state would cease to function effectively, inevitably consuming itself as it descends into socially sub-optimal market-borne outcomes. Read here. The conservative assault on free speech, The Brown Daily Herald
If there was ever a time for free-speech advocates to direct their criticisms and opposition chiefly towards progressives, that time has passed. And though I believe that the left should undoubtedly do more to become receptive and open to conservative viewpoints, the notion that the left is engaging in some widespread movement that seeks to limit free speech is a misguided straw man. Read here. Progress and Regress: Emperor Franz Joseph and the Rise of Austrian Fascism, Brown Political Review
In the late 19th century, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria oversaw a period of unprecedented intellectual and cultural growth in the capital city of Vienna. Read here. The End of Nietzsche’s Will to Power: Dominion and Efficacy, Episteme
The notion of a ‘Will to Power’ is foundational for Friedrich Nietzsche, both through his use of it as an explanation for ressentiment as well as for cosmological, biological, and psychological phenomena. Read here. The Fall of the Republic, Brown Political Review
The declaration that “tyranny naturally arises out of democracy” is the famous, anti-democratic thesis of Plato’s Republic. While the Ancient Greek philosopher’s criticisms of direct democracy have led to the widespread denunciation of such systems of government, the specter of absolute democracy continues to gnaw at political institutions worldwide, remerging as a referendum. Read here. |
2016
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Educated, Yet Excluded: Why Access to Education for Iranian Women is Not Enough, Brown Political Review
As Iran works to strengthen its economy in the aftermath of the JCPOA, it will inevitably come to the most apparent of realizations: Long run growth is only possible when women are given opportunity in the workforce. Read here. Avoiding the free speech debate, The Brown Daily Herald
With the immediately provocative title “Should Free Speech be Limited on College Campuses?” the discussion between Greg Lukianoff, president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and Stanley Fish, visiting professor of Law at Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, was marketed by the Political Theory Project as a two-sided exploration of an obviously controversial and relevant subject. Read here. Tyranny in Britain, Brown Political Review
“We’re out.” With this laconic declaration, the Daily Mail delivered Friday’s simple, momentous truth to a polarized Britain; the torrent of patriotism and triumph on one side was matched only by the apocalyptic lamentations of the other. Read here. Interview: Jang Jin-Sung, Brown Political Review
Jang Jin-Sung is the is the pseudonym of a former North Korean propaganda poet and government official who defected to South Korea in 2004. Read here. The Armenian Genocide as a Precedent, Brown Political Review
On the eve of the Holocaust, Hitler addressed a gathering of Wehrmacht commanders at his home in Obersalzberg, just a week before the invasion of Poland and the forthcoming extermination of around 90 percent of Polish Jews. Read here. Burning Down the House of Saud, Brown Political Review
The maintenance of the House of Saud’s power is contingent on a multiplicity of factors, including the results of the upcoming US elections, which will presumably affect US-Iran relations and America’s relationship with Israel, as well as the ability of the royal family to cater to orthodox Sunnis in the country. Read here. Gross National Happiness in Bhutan, Brown Political Review
In the Western World, where politics are becoming increasingly polarized, absolutist, and divisive, Bhutan can provide a lesson in the perils of utopianistic constructs. Read here. The Illusory Portrait of North Korea, Brown Political Review
The abjection of the North Korean people is a modern tragedy that can be countered by the global community, but only if we repress the urge to imagine the country as an infernal prison in which an indoctrinated people ceaselessly hail the name of their oppressor. Read here. |
2015
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Interview: Noam Chomsky, The Student Life
Noam Chomsky, a linguist and philosopher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, outspoken political commentator, and activist, has been perhaps the most well-known intellectual critic of U.S. and Western foreign policy. For over 70 years, Chomsky has been a critic of the borders drawn between Israel and Palestine. Read here. Interview: Richard Wolff, The Student Life
Described by The New York Times Magazine as “America’s most prominent Marxist economist,” Richard D. Wolff has been a strong advocate for Marxist alternatives to American capitalism. As a former professor at Yale University, New York University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and current visiting professor at The New School in New York City, Wolff has been an activist for Marxism and an advocate for criticism of mainstream capitalist conceptions of economics. Read here. |
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