People should know that foreign student fees cross-subsidise inadequate home student funding very heavily. There are no free lunches in British Higher Ed.

New book, coming soon! Duncan Bell & Douglas Mao, Utopia (Oxford UP, 2026) It's a short interdisciplinary volume in the recently launched OUP Literature and Politics series. global.oup.com/academic/pro...

"The government needs to take ownership of the Budget and use it to construct a convincing narrative. That means not blaming the OBR or HMT but explaining why tax reform is necessary, why it will be good for growth and public services and how pain will be fairly shared. www.ft.com/content/a06d...

"The Tiny Desk has witnessed some pretty legendary guitar solos. Shrouded in fog, this one opens with some shred played by a puppet. Only the deeply beloved 31 Minutos could pull off such a dramatic feat, even at the Desk." youtu.be/UEqTIwRrWvA?...

This truly is an excellent article. 👇

"Los hombres y los pueblos sin memoria de nada sirven, ya que ellos no saben rendir culto a los hechos del pasado que tienen trascendencia y significación; por esto son incapaces de combatir y crear nada grande para el futuro". Salvador Allende, C Diputados, 1939. Allende vive.

As far as I can tell, and as you would expect, NIESR do not mention a "50bn black hole" anywhere in their report or commentary. Who is the BBC quoting here? No indication of where the phrase has come from, or what it refers to. Nor is there a link to the interview. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Three things to note on Gilts: i. The 30yr yield is historically quite elevated at 5.6%, the 10yr at 4.7-4.8% is a bit more normal - levels that were typical in the 2000s. What's (possibly) different is it was also normal for the economy to grow at 2.5% real, 5% nominal back then.

I have a new article out on wage-earner funds, a famous attempt at economic democracy in Sweden in the 70s & 80s. It explores the funds' defeat, emphasising the issue's stronger resonance with businesses compared to workers & the Social Democratic Party journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

How do federal and state governments drive innovation in the US? My new paper @cjres.bsky.social shows how the 'Polycentric Innovation State' with multi-level, place-based policies is reshaping regional growth in places like Michigan and Maine academic.oup.com/cjres/advanc...

What a game. And what a legend Mo is. On and off the pitch.

Great. As ever, this actually isn't about 'Green Book reforms' but much more about 'clearly stated strategic policy objectives *as set set by ministers* that form the basis for any objective appraisal of projects'. But, granted, that's much less catchy.

I had to read this several times as “prioritise growth” and “hit universities over the head” are so mutually contradictory

The Telegraph has deleted the seemingly made-up article titled “We earn £345k but soaring private school fees mean we can’t go on five holidays” featuring “Al & Alexandra Moy” from its website... but, if interested, you can access an archived version here. h/t @alanrew.bsky.social archive.is/s1GPF

The early evaluations of Sure Start were rather negative - it took a long time for benefits to appear. Sometimes government has to do the right thing whatever Treasury assessment says, as there’s enough broad evidence about early years interventions

🏭💪💲 We have a few spaces left for this week's lecture on carbon politics, American power, and the almighty dollar with Mark Blyth, a political economist and Professor at Brown University, in this upcoming event titled "Burning Down the House". Register now: www.eventbrite.com/e/burning-do...

This is such a great book. Highly recommended! 👏👏👏 @jonathanpjwhite.bsky.social

It's obviously some time ago, and other things have changed, but the most negative period of public attitudes was over the 1960s and 1970s, when net migration was *negative*

Every now again it’s useful to repeat advice about accessing papers that are behind a paywall that excludes you. Email the author. My estimate is that 90% of academics are so thrilled that a living, breathing, possibly even reading, person shows interest that they will swiftly send you a copy.

Please join us on Tues 6 May at 5pm when Emile Chabal (@emile-chabal.bsky.social) will be speaking at the History & Economics Seminar (jointly with the Modern European History Seminar). Magdalene College, Cambridge. Click for further info & abstract. www.histecon.magd.cam.ac.uk/seminar_chab...

@jdportes.bsky.social do you know anything about this? “of the 108,000 people who claimed asylum in the UK in 2024, 16,000 held a student visa.” Who are they? Also: shouldn’t this mean there are 16k asylum applications denied? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

"Spending, tax, borrowing, and debt numbers... often take on the role of key standards for policy appraisal and debate... The means of policy commonly become the very goals governments want to achieve." @jtlabarca.bsky.social on Labour's fiscal framework

They like Farage but don't share his hostility to net zero. And they worry about the whole, you know, possible racism thing *uptalk for this bit*. Illuminating new research from @steveakehurst.bsky.social on "Reform-curious" Labour voters and a host of policy dilemmas www.ft.com/content/deb2...

The recent establishment of the UK’s Office of Value for Money is the latest attempt to identify “efficiency savings” in government. Yet as @mrweatherburn.bsky.social argues in a new policy paper, similar efforts in the past have been fraught with difficulties. historyandpolicy.org/policy-paper...

Public investment in the UK has lagged behind average OECD levels for over two decades. Read more ➡️ buff.ly/iPgoNzv

This moment when the penny drops that trying to implement bathroom bans is an impossibility for the former Tory Chief Secretary Simon Clarke is delicious.

The fiscal framework launched by Labour in October 2024 represents a contradictory enterprise, argues @jtlabarca.bsky.social #BlogVersion #DigestedRead #UKpol

My sabbatical leave allowed me to reflect on my professional life. As I’ve stepped into more senior roles in academia (plus gotten a bit older), I often get asked: 
“How do you keep writing academic articles, policy work, opinion pieces, while juggling everything else?” My answer: skillpower 🧵

La tendencia a la desorientación del PS Chileno en tiempos electorales es digna de estudio.

Matthei y la re legitimación del fascismo. Volviendo a los orígenes.

"Public debate on fiscal politics is commonly framed in terms of ‘black holes’, ‘maxed-out’ credit cards and household analogies. These terms hinder democratic deliberation" @jtlabarca.bsky.social on Labour's fiscal framework #BlogVersion #UKpol

Blog version of my @politicalquarterly.bsky.social piece. Labour's fiscal framework is a contradictory enterprise. The investment rule and PSNFL leave little room for non-financial public investment and constrain all non-financial public corporations. politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/towards...

Yield on 10y Treasuries back above 4.5%. We're not sure who's selling but we know who the holders are. I wrote a short post with some hopefully helpful dataviz based on TIC and financial accounts. Key points: 1. Foreign holdings as % of total: declining since 2008. benjaminbraun.org/posts/treasu...

The fiscal framework launched by Labour in October 2024 represents a contradictory enterprise, argues @jtlabarca.bsky.social #BlogVersion #DigestedRead #UKpol politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/towards...

Could you do with £10k for some humanities or social science research? We’ve opened the call for our small grants. These are assessed using partial randomisation - after applications meet our quality threshold awards are allocated at random, reducing bias www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/ba-l...

Happening today - sign up or message me if you are interested in joining!

This is an interesting piece. It makes a convincing argument that the choice of PSNFL for the fiscal rules does not do enough to incentivize investment, as it arbitrarily discriminates against state ownership and in favour of state borrowing to lend to private actors.

Starting now! Watch our event - The metrics that really matter - where we'll be discussing the fanastic new book "The Measure of Progess" by @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social with @ruthcurtice.bsky.social & @teraallas.bsky.social www.resolutionfoundation.org/events/the-m...

This is what Trump's "economists" say about how they calculated the "reciprocal" tariffs. Don[t be fooled by the equation. They commit countless crimes against economics. ustr.gov/issue-areas/... +

Very happy to share that my publication 'What's the Deal with Elites' is now available with open access on Global Studies Quarterly. In the paper, I explore the relationship between elite insecurities and critical situations in ontological security. 1/3

Self-serving nonsense from Finkelstein. As Martin Wolf wrote, in 2011 markets were saying "Borrow and spend, please." Today they're not. The macroeconomic position is completely different. This is basic Keynes (both macro analysis & the "if the facts change, what do you do"? archive.ph/Tmtjr

The Labour government claims its fiscal framework is the cornerstone of a decade of national renewal. This article, published in @politicalquarterly.bsky.social, finds that the framework is contradictory and could signal the emergence of a (minority) shareholder state. doi.org/10.1111/1467...

"The left should be clear that it's not the French establishment persecuting an inconvenient "outsider" via the law. This situation is the result of Le Pen's proven criminality, nothing else."

Fantastic article by @tomcalver.bsky.social: not only is the UK not a high-tax country, taxes on *middle-income* earners are low by international standards. If taxes are to rise - and they should - it can't/won't be just on "the rich". www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

JOB: Assistant Professorship in Digital Humanities and Film and Screen Studies @ Cambridge University www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50577/

New article in Political Quarterly: "Towards a (Minority) Shareholder State? The Labour Government's Fiscal Framework" doi.org/10.1111/1467... @campolis.bsky.social

📢 Applications are invited for a fixed-term Assistant Professorship (Lectureship) in African Politics, joined with a Fellowship at Trinity Hall, which will run until 30 September 2027. For more information and to apply: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50761/ Closing date: Wednesday 23 April 2025

It's funnny how 100 years after the General Theory, "assume the economy is always at full employment" still shapes so many economics discussions.

😂

Lots of great positions at @mpifg.bsky.social, pls share! - 2yr postdoc in wealth research - 2yr postdoc in technology & sovereignty - 3+3yr senior researcher in political economy - 3+3yr senior researcher in economic sociology - tenure/director-track group leader digitalization & society