If true, we might as well bury the concept of rule of law conditionality. The EU cannot keep letting itself be blackmailed by Orbán into unfreezing funds withheld over rule of law violations in exchange for lifting his veto, unless it truly wants to lose all credibility as a guardian of EU values

⏳Beyond thrilled to co-launch the 2nd Max Planck Summer School for Women in Political Economy next week — with this *incredible* lineup of female talent 🙌 @dustinvoss.bsky.social @mpifg.bsky.social

Why, oh WHY, does "frugal" Germany have so little regard for physical capital?

CITYPERC is organising a workshop on the Economic Project of the Far Right on October 6 at City, University of London. To join us in person or via Teams sign up here www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cityperc-w...

1/ New report from @bentleyallan.bsky.social's Net Zero Policy Lab: As the US withdraws from green tech industries and pressures allies to follow suit, China is stepping in to power the developing world's energy transition. The scale is staggering. www.netzeropolicylab.com/china-green-...

"Democratic resistance is a long battle that must be fought through many stages and in many arenas. There are no “silver bullets.” Success may at times have to be measured in terms of delays or limits imposed on backsliding ..." www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclu...

Really enjoyed reading this article. This was a particularly useful insight.

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

A few quick impressions from @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu's State of the Union address: ec.europa.eu/commission/p... /

Brad Setser: "Big July for China's auto exports: just over 750,000 vehicles, or an annual pace of (gulp), 9m vehicles -- which works out to around 8m passenger cars Forecasts that China's auto export boom would end in 2025 were premature ..." nitter.net/Brad_Setser/...

Anything in the middle?

Did a pod with the Drilled folks on carbon dominance as what unites US domestic and foreign policy: drilled.media/news/anti-re...

Point taken, but it's important that this was a battery factory (🌮, GOP) and that the Korean EVs are much better than the German ones, like for like.

German carmaker when Korean carmaker gets raided by secret police: “Not concerned at all. Actually hell yes! Gotta follow the rules!!“ on.ft.com/4gzdDlT

I'm hiring two Post-Doctoral Fellows in International Political Economy/Economic Sociology as part of the ADD project funded by the Velux Foundation. The posts are linked to an AI Sustainability package led by Christina Lioma at KU and me at CBS, drawing insights from comp sci & political economy.

refreshing read by @martinsandbu.ft.com calling out EU leaders in their bullshit on.ft.com/4fS6IDC

Check out a new piece by @mkblyth.bsky.social and me: 'Trump’s Global War on Decarbonization'. The Strategy? BLOCK Chinese green tech, PUSH US fossil fuels. @projectsyndicate.bsky.social prosyn.org/RE8I5Ix

China’s dramatic surge of investment into the “new three”—EVs, batteries, and solar—is expected to crush oil demand by 5 million barrels a day by 2030. Here are the Chinese EVs "going out". BYD has already become a household name. What does this look like in 10 years? www.ft.com/content/f867...

Solar is EU's biggest power source for first time Solar booms that no one saw coming --Netherlands and Hungary --- are now over 40% solar, higher than Spain! Installation boomed once policy became supportive few years ago @palmapolyak.bsky.social @janfichtner.bsky.social www.ft.com/content/0894...

My book is out today! Read my stuff! academic.oup.com/book/60584?l... … The book looks at the long-run evolution of policy around monopoly and competition in the US and France over the 20th century, using extensive archival research to track the main policy actors who changed it at key moments.

The White House wants the jobs and inflation guy they pick to assert that the USA is BOOMING, and the interest rates guy they pick to make the case to cut rates hard, and they need a third guy to explain that these two guys can't both be right on.ft.com/4mH6lyf

18/Tariffs are -paid largely by Americans -not reindustrializing america but deindustrializing -not creating jobs but losing jobs - not helping small business but hurting importers But tariffs *are* -concentrating power in trumps hands and in his chosen firms wapo.st/4my4bAL

btw if anyone’s looking for beachreads, I enjoyed these a LOT 📚🤓

11/ I suspect Trump and millions of americans think this way bsky.app/profile/atru...

"First, please please please let’s move on from the Harry Potter references." Kevin Munger is the best. Period. His response to the Economist article is great: kevinmunger.substack.com/p/i-guess-th...

Our colleagues Al Jazeera reporters Anas al-Sharif & Mohammed Qraiqeh, & cameramen Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal & Moamen Aliwa have been killed in a strike on a tent for journalists near Al Shifa hospital. They worked relentlessly through bombing & hunger to document this war. Please remember them

Great discussion here. The lede is buried halfway through:

1/ Reporting from WSJ provides insight into how recent trade agreements were negotiated and what remains unresolved. The pattern: accelerated timelines have left significant technical details for later negotiation, creating uncertainty for businesses. www.wsj.com/economy/trad...

He was murdered by Israeli forces, during one of their regular attacks on starving civilians waiting for humanitarian aid. www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a... Refusing to call it what it is does not make it any less true.

We're now inviting proposals for the New Thinking in Industrial Policy Conference, November 6–7, 2025, at Columbia University! It is a great opportunity to present and discuss the latest research on industrial policy across the social sciences.

Which will be finished first?

The Commission just approved a €11bn French state aid scheme to support offshore wind. Competitive bidding, direct price support via two-way CfDs, and resilience criteria to curb reliance on Chinese tech. This is the way. ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Is the climate strategy behind the IRA dead after the GOP's massive cuts to its clean energy subsidies? In my new piece for @foreignaffairs.com, I argue: No! www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

These two are some of the very rare good takes I've seen so far.

von der Leyen frames $750 billion commitment to buy *more* US LNG as “more affordable energy from the US” vs getting gas from Russia. Reminder: European governments paid over $1000 Billion to fossil fuel companies since Ukraine war @picharbonnier.bsky.social adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...

Again, the thing folks need to spend a lot more time pondering - instead of obsessing about the end of 🇺🇸 power/hegemony - is that 🇺🇸 power/hegemony is going to persist in a much uglier, unilateralist, & selfish form

I think it’s worth noting this piece generated the most unsubscribes I’ve seen in a while, and the newsletter version had the lowest open rate in many months. These horrors persist in part because too many people go to great pains to avoid them.

The lesson of Hungary is this: We cannot claim to care about democracy only when it costs nothing. President Trump, like Mr. Orban, no doubt believes that everyone can be bought. America’s elites are proving him right.”

"The consolidation of a US reactionary political coalition of fossil capital, monopoly tech, and natsec hawks makes a lot of sense in the context of a existential battle to control global systems of energy, innovation + production" – @triofrancos.bsky.social www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...

What a group 🥹❤️

We ran some initial estimates on what today’s EU budget proposal could mean. The numbers aren’t official yet, so details might still change - but the overall picture looks a lot more positive than I expected. Three quick takeaways:

🇩🇪 says no to common defense debt. 🇫🇷 is tightening its belt. Capital markets union is years away. Where, I ask again, are the safe assets going to come from to enable the 🇪🇺 to rival/replace the 🇺🇸 as the main international reserve currency?

Very good example of EU budget-related cheap talk by the Swedish PM: First, here are all the things I want more money for. Second, I am not ready to pay more. Third, this means other things become less important - but I won’t tell you which ones and where I would cut.

“The postwar order rested on three pillars: American hegemony, the fossil-fuel energy system, and an open, multilateral trading order. America has now attacked each pillar at the foundation of its hydrocarbon global order.” — New: @katemac.bsky.social & I www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...

YNWA 😢🖤

Made me think of this classic

This comparsion in the NYTimes today is pretty stark. China is racing ahead to be a high-tech exporter of 21st century technologies, while the US is doubling down on being a petro-state exporting the technologies of the 19th century: www.nytimes.com/inte...

"Since 2023, Chinese companies have announced $168 billion in foreign investments in clean energy manufacturing, generation and transmission, according to Climate Energy Finance" “They are dominating these markets” “Market dominance can be a form of soft power” ⚡️⚡️⚡️ www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The most accurate description of Magyar Nemzet. “Chaos at Budapest Pride,” read a banner headline in Magyar Nemzet, a media outlet that serves as Fidesz’s version of the Soviet communist party newspaper Pravda. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/28/w...