The standard model of liberal, representative democracy is increasingly being challenged from the bottom and the top. In a new paper @Party Politics, Gidi Rahat and I seek to explain why political parties differ in the conception of democracy they advance. doi.org/10.1177/1354...

🚨 Just published in Socio-Economic Review! 🚨 @sasemeeting.bsky.social The "power to pollute" and "post-neoliberal" climate finance By Benjamin H. Bradlow and Aishwarya Swamidurai The article is available open access at the following link. doi.org/10.1093/ser/...

Iran. Venezuela. Iraq. Oil leads to bad governance and greed, which leads to friction with the United States, which makes military conflict more likely. goodauthority.org/news/is-oil-...

After months of wrangling and an epic list of delays, the Commission has finally released its Industrial Accelerator Act. This could turn into one of the EU’s most consequential industrial policy files in years - and the proposal is honestly not a bad place to start. Some quick thoughts:

Bill Connolly died yesterday and he was one of the good ones. It kills me that he was taken while our politics are like this. He deserved to outlive the bastards. I guess we’ll have to take it from here. But let me say: for depth of understanding, empathy & moral clarity, this man had few rivals /1

With great sadness, I learned of the passing of William E. Connolly yesterday, one of the most influential political theorists of our time. Bill was one of my most important mentors. He pushed me to study climate change when others discouraged me and when there was little interest in the subject ...

Sobering statistics for ABDs and TT. 67% of ABDs didn't get placed. Placement was only 38% TT.

If the US wants to regain industrial strength, it must learn from China’s approach to A.I./robotics. Treat it as factory infrastructure that policy must help deploy, not just research tech that lives in data centers. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

China automates while America hesitates. I have a piece in the NYT today arguing that America's strategy to compete with China in manufacturing is fundamentally misconceived — and that we're heading toward a reckoning we're not prepared for. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2026/02/24/o...

The Biden Admin directed hundreds of billions to clean energy/manufacturing. Did these investments shift public opinion? We find that these projects are visible but not traceable: People notice nearby investments, but connect them to Governors, not Biden. Thread 👇 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

🚨New piece in Politics & Society! w/ @maxkiefel.bsky.social @mathiaslarsen.bsky.social Internationalizing Industrial Policy: How China and the United States Use State Capacity to Secure Critical Minerals for Electric Vehicles 🇨🇳 🇺🇸 doi.org/10.1177/0032...

This is an excellent reminder that no matter what happens with AI or data centers, we are going to need a *lot* more electricity in the future.

EIA: 99%+ of new US capacity in 2026 will be solar, wind + storage

This is a fantastic Keith Bradsher piece on China’s most cutting edge products, including flying taxis and car-sized lunch delivery robots. It crystallizes for me how much the *key* underlying hard-tech innovation is battery production. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

People keep saying this.

Industrial decarbonization isn’t just hydrogen with its tough (impossible?) economics. Most processes can be decarbonized via electrification and other heat tech, often already cheaper and more efficient, or could soon be, thanks to electrotech learning curves & supporting policies ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Clean heat technologies not only slash climate pollution—they also create billions in public health benefits. To learn more about how we can cut pollution and clean up manufacturing, join today's webinar with @heinrich.senate.gov and @whitehouse.senate.gov at 4 ET / 1 PT: bit.ly/industrial-e...

China has achieved first-mover advantage in autonomous, connected, electric (ACE) vehicles. The US response has been tariffs and market isolation. A new CFR paper by @profdavidhart.bsky.social argues this is a trap—we need to compete, not retreat. 1/ www.cfr.org/report/compe...

US risks ceding future of world’s largest manufacturing industry to its geopolitical rival unless it changes course. #Compete #DontRetreat www.cfr.org/report/compe...

New Policy Brief! A joint publication of @bst-europe.bsky.social , @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social , and @delorsberlin.bsky.social. We analyze how recent shifts in US trade and industrial policy are changing the prospects for Europe’s clean tech industry, which is getting squeezed from two sides:

New piece for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social on Chile's green industrial policy efforts and its role in the global energy transition. Can resource-rich countries become relevant players in the upcoming global green economy? Full analysis: www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/lit...

The Climate Lab at Columbia's Center for Political Economy is organizing next year’s Climate Pipeline Project (May 14-15), a top venue for junior climate scholars (and tenured folks who want to see what they’re working on). Abstract deadline is tomo! politicaleconomy.columbia.edu/news/call-pa...

Wonderful piece from Katie Brigham at Heatmap on our new tool—the Clean Industrial Capabilities Explorer. She captures its central motivation so well: we created this tool to help countries understand their manufacturing bases and design more targeted industrial policies.

And now..in our regular discussion of how climate change is really geopolitics...I give you @triofrancos.bsky.social and her fabby new book: player.captivate.fm/episode/16cc... In other words - The new Rhodes Center Podcast is up...

Bill Gates, Tony Blair, CFR are rethinking climate change in the Trump era: more "realistically." Can we dismiss this trend or do we need to understand what it means global climate politics? 🧵 @fgenovese.bsky.social and I write for @iojournal.bsky.social #IOFoGG www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

I'm on @heatmap.news Shift Key this morning to talk all about "Bubble or Nothing" and the fragility of the data center investment boom! heatmap.news/podcast/shif...

Clean Energy accounted for all electricity growth this year. Gas/Coal were basically a wash and will be for years to come for electricity generation. We need to ramp up batteries because they are 90% cheaper than distribution grid upgrades which is the main reason we have rate increases.

Im Papier des Koalitionsausschusses steht, dass die EE-Ausbauziele "unverändert ambitioniert" bleiben sollen. Wenn das heißen soll, dass sie unverändert bleiben, wäre das eine gute Nachricht - denn im 10-Punkte-Plan von Katherina Reiche klang es noch so, als ob sie abgesenkt werden sollen.

Good thread from Dave about the new IEA "Current Policies Scenario" making a lot of the headlines. Here is a very quick mock-up I made of what this scenario assumes for solar PV additions through to 2035, with historical context. I'll let you decide whether this seems likely.

Pleased to have my research featured in @nytimes.com reporting on China's role in a global green transition www.nytimes.com/2025/11/10/c...

Despite Trump, green investors are seeing "glory days", say analysts at Jeffries. 🎁🔗 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

For a long time, Congress linked farm subsidies and food stamps when it passed a multi-year farm bill. That coalition is now effectively dead, but it is still worth noting which counties depend on farm subsidies, SNAP, or both.

Industrial policy is back — and it's changing fast. What started as "green" strategy is now a global race for clean tech competitiveness and economic security. But do we actually know what works? That's what we're asking at the New Energy Industrial Strategy (NEIS) Center. /1

❇️ Check out our new OA article in the BJPS! You'll find everything you love (hate?) like public perceptions of climate policy risk, IO backlash, devolution concerns, and trust politics in the UK. Tldr: climate blacklash should be read through regional lenses. Past thread: bsky.app/profile/fgen...

The Columbia New Thinking in Industrial Policy Conference is coming up Nov. 6-7. We have a great program lined up: cdep.sipa.columbia.edu/sites/cdep.s... Conference page: cdep.sipa.columbia.edu/content/new-... Registration: docs.google.com/forms/d/18HK... Please register by Oct. 30.

BIG launch this week--the book is available, free, online at our @cssn.org website: cssn.org/news-researc...

New open-access book out on energy transitions in the Global South! We are proud of its author, CSL affiliate and former postdoc @kathrynchelminski.bsky.social climate.watson.brown.edu/news/2025-10...

If Germany doesn’t put in place a pro-competitive industrial policy for cars, centred on market building, the country may well end up down the line giving messy bailouts, regulatory rollbacks in response to mounting political and union pressure - only for the sector to wither anyway.

🚨New publication out in @reggovjournal.bsky.social @danielk24.bsky.social & I show that the support for green subsidies by unions & business interest groups in the 🇺🇸 & in 🇩🇪 goes hand in hand with the support for eco-social policies. Open access here: doi.org/10.1111/rego... A summary below 👇

Short version: using two county-level difference-in-difference strategies, we show that the Act had significant employment effects that began with a Senate precursor bill (USICA) and anticipated the actual CHIPS awards. Check it out. Final version will be posted soon.

It was a real pleasure to present at the @brookings.edu BPEA conference on Thursday, a new paper on the employment effects of the CHIPS Act in the US, with @josephestiglitz.bsky.social and @bilgeerten.bsky.social. Video, slides, and preliminary draft are here: www.brookings.edu/events/bpea-...

Today is publication day! EXTRACTION: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism is officially out with @wwnorton.com - find it at a bookstore near you or order online💚📚 wwnorton.com/books/978132...

Renewables are winning — because they are cheaper and better. Trump has little to no effect so far. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

🌍 New in @nature.com: The geoeconomic turn in decarbonization, with data from Simon Evenett et al. and @industrialpolicy.bsky.social @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social @natureatcal.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵

Always hard to calibrate the "OMG, climate risks much larger than thought" with "decarbonization is unstoppable" Here's our attempt to say it all in one slide: business.columbia.edu/insights/cli... @columbiabusiness.bsky.social

Thrilled that my first article is out in @jeppjournal.bsky.social ☺️ It looks at why renewable energy buildout in Europe has been *so* unsteady - tracing the evolution of/conflict over the regime for RE derisking over the last two+ decades... It's open access! 👉 doi.org/10.1080/1350... Short 🧵 ...

New Paper out in Development & Change (open access): "Opportunities for Latecomer Technological Catch-up in the Era of Renewables Capitalism" with @lindsaywhitfield.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @devandchg.bsky.social

Submission deadline for the Columbia New Thinking in Industrial Policy Conference is this Friday, Sept. 12, 11:59pm ET. Congressman Ro Khanna (@khanna.house.gov) will be the keynote speaker. Send us your papers!