Incredible from Santi Ruiz interview with Jennifer Pahlka about government hiring processes and how absurd they can be.

TBH, I wouldn't be shocked if many large corporations also have unintended perversities built into their initial screening of job candidates
statecraft.pub/p/how-to-actua…

I would add - and Matt Darling 🌐🏗️ I'm sure would agree - that the most important question is always 'why is fast food more expensive?' If the answer is: because the business model depends on worker desperation to keep prices low, then perhaps higher prices isn't a bad thing.

A guy who’d been homeless completed a program that helped him find a job, and he told me he’d hung the certificate on his wall “Like I’m sure you did with your high school diploma.” And it got me thinking about how this kind of “I don’t care about my diploma” flex looks to others

🇨🇳 - China’s share of global production capacity is now above 80% for 11 clean technologies
• Massive Chinese investments mean that China's clean tech rise may not be over
• Beijing also invested US$546bn in its own energy transition in 2022, around half of global financing

Some thinking about the UK Labour Party with Matthias Matthijs in Foreign Affairs. Not paywalled. The term ‘homeopathic Bidenomics’ comes from Jonathan Hopkin. Credit where it’s due: foreignaffairs.com/united-kingdom…

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In my latest piece for the FT, I argue that there are two very different trade-related conflicts involving China that are too often conflated. On the one had is the problem of excess capacity in certain industries.

ft.com/content/879f5d… via @ft

For too long, antitrust has focused on consumer welfare & overlooked the ways concentration harms workers.

Today, we're seeing 'a real focus on making sure we're using antitrust tools to support worker power in labor markets,' Elizabeth Wilkins tells Emily Peck
axios.com/2024/04/29/the…

'Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted'

Latest data (from the World Inequality Lab) show inequality in India has reached alarming levels, last seen in colonial times.
The colonial masters had managed to persuade people that such inequality was good for them. Luckily, everybody couldn’t be fooled & colonialism ended.

Excited to share what I've been up to this year!

On the cover of this week's The Economist is a 6-part special report on India’s economy by Tom Easton+me. It asks

- What it would take for India beat 6% growth?
- And is Modi up to the task?

🧵on the key arguments 1/

The Chips Act has been surprisingly successful at spurring an investment boom. My latest for the Financial Times

ft.com/content/267561…

the European derisking state is a flailing state project, undermined by macrofinancial straightjacket of the Euro - Macron knows this, and has been trying to change course for a long time.

It's going to get worse w wave of far/right parties about to get into European Parliament

Large rate differences in monetary policy (and expected nominal interest rates) have led to a very large move in the yen -- absolutely, and relative to other Asian currencies (which generally are more heavily managed)

h/t Mike Weilandt for the chart

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1. Williams-Sonoma claimed its products were made in America even though they were made in China.

A repeat violator, Williams-Sonoma will be required to pay a record penalty.

ftc.gov/news-events/ne…

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Interesting study suggesting that there is no evidence that higher public debt levels are associated with lower economic growth. I am not especially surprised because there are so many different conditions under which debt can emerge.

Still can't quite digest that a former and possible future American president is telling the supreme court that he should have immunity to kill political rivals. Utterly surreal.

🚀On the heels of Microsoft's new Phi-3-mini, I'm excited to be featured in Marketplace discussing the shift towards smaller AI models! These systems promise efficiency and privacy, perfect for specialized applications. 🚀Dive in: marketplace.org/2024/04/23/the… #AI #TechTrends

I deleted a tweet because it was angrily glib, but the earnest point is that sending armed national guard troops to break up peaceful student protests is a terrible and dangerous idea.

Horrifying doesn't even begin to capture this

So Harvey Mansfield taught his last class at Harvard. Took his course almost 50 years ago. He was a mesmerizing teacher. A few stories from that time. + harvardmagazine.com/2023/04/harvey…