An actual quote from the Secretary of State for Business and Trade Too often people go to university to ‘explore research and knowledge’ Look forward to Wes S saying 'too often people go to hospital to have operations' or Heidi Alexander saying 'too often people go to the station to catch a train'

Man I long for the day when I get to write opening paragraphs that aren't endless variations on "well, we know that the world is on fire".

Letter of the day (in the Times)

An impromptu panel here at #FfD4...

📝NEW POLICY BRIEF: With tax now the main source of dev't finance, countries are under pressure to raise tax revenue fast. But done poorly, these could have damaging effects. The key is to tax smarter - but how? ➡️ ow.ly/2VCf50Wg8NU #FfD4 #Tax4Dev #TaxResearch

NEW RESEARCH: Are Pakistanis supportive of wealth taxes? Here is what we found⬇️ 1️⃣Support for wealth taxes cuts across class, income and gender 2️⃣It increases when people feel that taxes are spent well and transparently 3️⃣Trust in the state drives support Find out more: www.ictd.ac/publication/...

If you're coming to #FfD4 in Seville next week and are interested in talking the future of tax & development, get in touch! I'll be there with a wonderful delegation of the @ictdtax.bsky.social - and we have a side event well worth checking out: www.ictd.ac/event/ffd4-s...

📰New data: Is there public support for new #progressive and #wealth_taxes in Pakistan? Our policy brief dissects brand new public opinion data on a range of wealth and progressive tax proposals, based on a survey of 7500 voting-age Pakistanis. What do we find? (1/...) www.ictd.ac/publication/...

Really nice to see that the Journal of Borderland Studies considers 'Smugglers and States' a "must-read for scholars of political economy, border studies, and state formation". If that's you, the book is available here: cup.columbia.edu/book/smuggle...

Your email will not find me.

Despite the expansion of border fences, these barriers 'shift criminal dynamics, destabilize border communities, and have far-reaching implications for regional trade relations.' #humanRights

For those working on border governance: Centre Experts @maxgallien.bsky.social, Shalaka Thakur & Co-Director @weigand.bsky.social offer a valuable analysis in @foreignpolicy.com on what border walls actually achieve - and what they don’t 👇

Since the end of the Cold War, the number of border walls and fences around the world has sextupled. But do they actually work? In this piece for @foreignpolicy.com, Shalaka Thakur, @weigand.bsky.social and I draw on our research and share some scepticism foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/23/b...

UK must impose sanctions on Israel to meet legal obligations, say more than 800 lawyers www.theguardian.com/world/2025/m...

This blithe attitude- oh we'll figure out if current migrants have to wait five more years or not, maybe they'll satisfy our nebulous economic contribution requirement and get fewer. It cannot hold. No-one high skilled will come to a country making it up as it goes along. www.ft.com/content/7bad...

christ, what a day to be an immigrant cursed with the ability to read

Lazy weekend rexommendation: always a sucker for coming of age but really enjoyed this book, it's got a unique voice, poetry, wit and force that stays with you.

This, so very much this. Having researched borders and their porosity for a decade - it is really stunning how resilient the myth of the 'complete border control' is, and how much chaos and and nonsense it has caused. It has never existed historically, and is entirely unreasonable to aim for now.

Even accepting the premise that AI produces useful writing (which no one should), using AI in education is like using a forklift at the gym. The weights do not actually need to be moved from place to place. That is not the work. The work is what happens within you.

"With #aid declining, FfD4 must include a concrete commitment to scale up investment in #tax systems" - as we are heading into the critical phase of #FfD4, a timely and insightful blog by @giuliamascagni.bsky.social @ictdtax.bsky.social www.ictd.ac/blog/aid-dec...

We are delighted to announce that Max Gallien has been named as the recipient of the 2025 APSA-IPSA Theodore J. Lowi First Book Award for his first book titled SMUGGLERS AND STATES. buff.ly/4G316B6 @maxgallien.bsky.social @ipsa.org @apsa.bsky.social

Just a little over one week to submit your abstract for the 2nd Annual Historical Political Economy Conference at @usc.edu, co-sponsored by @usccis.bsky.social and the USC PIPE Collaborative. Keynote Address by @saumjha.bsky.social. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #econsky #polisky

"Western democratic partners of Tunisia have been strikingly and shamefully muted as Mr Saied’s campaign of repression has unfolded." A sharp and clear @theguardian.com view on Kais Saied's authoritarianism in #Tunisia: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

None of this is surprising in a #Tunisia that has become deeply authoritarian. But it is worth to continuously note the depth and extent of this regime's paranoia and vindictiveness, and the pain it insists on inflicting on its opposition. www.reuters.com/world/africa...

Good news on steel, can MPs please do universities next Saturday?

Congratulations to IDS researcher Max Gallien who has won the Theodore J. Lowi First Book Award for his book Smugglers and States! 👏 🥳 👏

Published in my @columbiaup.bsky.social series- congratulations and well-deserved!

My book on "Smugglers and States" has won the Theodore J. Lowi First Book Award by @apsa.bsky.social and @ipsa.org. I'm surprised and honored and thrilled to be in the company of some really great books that won in recent years. www.ipsa.org/na/news/max-...

I was going to get the train today. But I am increasingly concerned at the deficit I’m running with Great Northern Rail. I buy a lot from them and they purchase nothing from me. Tempted to apply a 20% tariff. Sure my tickets will cost 20% more but it might mean I buy fewer and reduce the deficit.

Well that is unfortunate

Much food for thought after a productive workshop on armed group taxation at @unu-wider.bsky.social with a fantastic crowd, @apvjustino.bsky.social, @maxgallien.bsky.social, @ashleyajackson.bsky.social, @tbandulairwin.bsky.social, @yguichaoua.bsky.social, @jessietrudeau.bsky.social and many more.

Spent the last two days in deep conversation about tax and conflict with this brilliant group in Helsinki, @unu-wider.bsky.social. More on our meeting and work here! www.wider.unu.edu/event/tax-co...

Helsinki asking me questions about academia

Had the privilege to review @maxgallien.bsky.social's absolutely fantastic new book 'Smugglers and States: Negotiating the Maghreb at Its Margins' @columbiaup.bsky.social. Please contact me if you can't access the review - or, simply, just get his book: doi.org/10.1111/deve...

How much #zakat is being paid in #Pakistan during #Ramadan? Our research estimates the total is over 600 billion rupees - more than the state's main social support grant (BISP), more than the state collects in excise duty or in official development aid. Read more here: www.ictd.ac/blog/pakista...

Mahmoud Khalil shouldn’t need to be a perfect victim for everyone to rally for his rights. We need to be building broad coalitions and rejecting divisive framing. abuaardvark.substack.com/p/coalitions...

There are many reasons to be worried about the relationship between #tax and #informality. But after a workshop with policymakers, CSOs and researchers from >20 countries, Vanessa van den Boogaard and I instead discuss 3 grounds for optimism - and how to make them real. www.ictd.ac/blog/reasons...

Friends and colleagues in Cambridge - I'll be at the Centre of Development Studies on Thursday talking about "Smugglers and States": www.devstudies.cam.ac.uk/events/smugg...

Anyone on here got experience with using high resolution satellite data (or any recommendations among the various providers)?

This month, we are celebrating all things #informality and #tax - an ICTD research theme led by @maxgallien.bsky.social and Vanessa van den Boogaard. Why not start by watching this interview with them both? www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxrO...

Looking forward to this next week - St Antony's College is very much where this book started, so it feels really special to get to take it back there!

Keir Starmer on 2021 aid cuts:

📖 🚣 📖 Two more book talks coming up: If you're at Oxford or Cambridge in March, I'll be popping over to chat about "Smugglers and States - Negotiating the Maghreb at its Margins"! 🗓️ OX: 4 March, 17:00 (St Antony's / MEC) 🗓️ CAM: 13 March, 15:00 (CDS SG1/2) Details below:

Petition to subvert the cultural clout of AI by officially pronouncing it "aiiii"

It looks like the rumours are true looks the new POLITY score for the US (one of the most used measurements of democratic status in political science) is indeed 0 - its lowest score since 1789, and it is no longer designated a democracy following a 'Presidential Coup' post January 20th.

Excited to share a new @ictdtax.bsky.social policy brief on simplified tax regimes in Africa, written with ICTD, WIEGO & World Bank colleagues and calling for a new policy conversation on one of the most widely applied and least understood tax types on the continent. www.ictd.ac/publication/...

Well would this not be the perfect moment for the UK government to correct that mistake and announce a return of development aid to 0.7% GNI... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Get your free book!

We are hiring pre-docs at the Reimagining the Economy Program at Harvard www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/wien...