Sign in

Benjamin Braun

@benbraun.social
10K followers 1.1K following 1.2K posts

Political economist @ LSE, currently visiting professor at the Institute for Advanced Study | benjaminbraun.org

PostsRepliesMedia
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 38m
The definitive piece on this “debate”. Major public service contribution to global GDP by @newlefteviews.bsky.social. tl;dr: As anyone who’s spent time in both places knows, Europe has not fallen behind in any way that matters for actual welfare.
phenomenalworld.org
Dominik Leusder | Eurosclerosis or US Decline?
The debate about US and European competitiveness illustrates how narratives of economic decline and triumphalism tend to outrun their evidence
0113
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 23h
One of those days
0213
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 09/10/2026
Congrats Steven!! A big loss for London.
010
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Phenomenal World Books now officially publishes books. GREENBACK EMPIRE by Ho-fung Hung THE FISCAL FED by Will Bateman Both out October 29. Order your copies now: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/se...
0225
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 08/10/2026
The perfect anecdote encapsulating the relationship between this administration and the collapse of US empire does not ex...
04612
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Vincent Heddesheimer @vheddesheimer.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Germany's Die Linke won last month's Berlin election on a pledge to socialize ~220k flats owned by large landlords. A thread on why housing expropriation is a successful campaign promise, how Berlin's flats became an asset class, and what expropriation would do. 🧵
Front page of die tageszeitung (taz), 21 September 2026: Die Linke supporters cheer under the headline 'CDU enteignet' ('CDU expropriated'). Photo: Jörg Carstensen/imago.Bar chart of the 2026 Berlin state election (second votes): Linke 25.7% (2023: 12.2%), CDU 18.8% (28.2%), AfD 16.3% (9.1%), Greens 14.3% (18.4%), SPD 12.1% (18.4%), BSW 4.7%, FDP 2.5% (4.6%).
411239
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 07/10/2026
If you like democracy, this is big: @graze.social builds on the public nature of the atproto network to create (and help *anyone* create) curated feeds. The midterms project shows the possibilities of democratic information space design built on atproto. See for yourself at midterms.graze.social.
midterms.graze.social
Election Night 2026
Vetted coverage of the 2026 midterms, by state.
1214
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Ok, this is cool. We describe assets in terms of duration - think of this as the effective date of the payoff. Normally a rise in interest rates means shorter duration- a higher discount rate means lower value of farther-off payments, so the average date is sooner. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...
giftarticle.ft.com
How US mortgage bonds can trigger a ‘vicious loop’ for Treasury yields
One little cog in the bond market’s feedback machine
2297
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 07/10/2026
Should be said that the build-up of income taxation capacity is from a low base.
ft.com
The taxman comes for China’s offshore riches
The crackdown has rattled the country’s wealthiest people and the businesses in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo that manage their money
092
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 07/10/2026
Serious fiscal state capacity is when it’s shock and awe among offshore wealth holders. (“They” are the Communist Party.)
FT: One Chinese tech investor, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, says he and friends of similar high net worth were shocked by the precision with which the tax reforms target key offshore holdings and historic income, and the tight deadline set to pay.

“They have the system, they know your investments overseas . . . they can actually break open those trusts,” he says. “I think they’ve been thinking about this for a long time.”
13110
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Christoph Sorg @christophsorg.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Very excited for the kick-off conference of my new Einstein Foundation research project next week. Featuring lots of empirical work on corporate, financial and state planning and a @futurehistories.bsky.social Live Episode. Registration, timetable etc. here: buff.ly/ciCXIxB
2279
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Insurance broker Aon analysed more than 300 AI-related legal cases and found that insurers could also be on the hook to pay claims under policies covering crime, intellectual property, media liability, cyber security, & technology errors and omissions" @leeharris.ft.com www.ft.com/content/a5ca...
ft.com
Insurance claims to test Altman and Amodei liability for ‘rogue’ AI
[FREE TO READ] Insurers and lawyers weigh the cost of potential massive lawsuits and damages against the leaders of OpenAI and Anthropic
2227
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 07/10/2026
“It’s a story about a bunch of historians who were knowledgeable about emerging technologies and knew how to code … and who spent a lot of time, some of it wasted time, at a big table chatting.” On the history of Zotero. Which, unsurprisingly, is beautiful.
0388
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 06/10/2026
That’s both main intelligence services utterly and spectacularly discredited by rot from the top.
1102
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 06/10/2026
Thousands of top-level intelligence briefings for the chancellor, systematically shared by the chief of staff with Hanning, who passed them on to a foreign power for money, for more than a decade (not Russia, apparently). Discovered by chance, in an unrelated search of his property. Unbelievable.
ft.com
Former German spy chief arrested for treason
Ex-intelligence head August Hanning suspected of selling state secrets to foreign power
1214
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Julien Migozzi @jmigozzi.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Under Sarkozy, Hollande, and Macron, France became a tax haven, multiplying fiscal schemes for large firms and wealthy households. Public budgets now lack billions. Now financial markets put more pressure. Meanwhile, high school students protest because they don't have enough teachers - or desks.
1248
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 05/10/2026
If you're a non-US technocrat who thinks they're getting "strangled by interest rates" (BdF governor today), your escape routes are - a massive AI productivity boom that is very unlikely - a massive AI stock market crash that is very likely Unusual incentives, to say the least.
1215
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 05/10/2026
Takeaway #2: A stock market crash is coming; it will be major; sovereign bonds will be a hedge again. In other words, if you're an embattled issuer (looking at you, London, Paris) hang in there.
0171
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 05/10/2026
Excellent @ericlonners.bsky.social post on bond market dynamics, Japan, and the bond-equity correlation over time. Takeaway #1 ("Dalio fallacy"): The rise in yields is not about debt – unless you're unlucky enough to be a eurozone member state. ericlonergan915540.substack.com/p/the-dalio-...
2165
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Benjamin H. Bradlow @bhbradlow.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Last year, @sfjournal.bsky.social published this article that I co-authored with @tomasgold.bsky.social on the rise of Bolsonarismo in Brazil. Now, his son is poised to regain the presidency for the family and its followers. doi.org/10.1093/sf/s...
doi.org
A processual framework for understanding the rise of the populist right: the case of Brazil (2013–2018)
Abstract. How and in what sequence do social structures, contingent events, and agents’ decisions combine over time to bring about a new populist right? To
0117
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Isabella M. Weber @isabellamweber.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Wenn ein Staat im Dienst der Bürger "linke Wirtschaftspolitik" ist, was wollen dann eigentlich die anderen Demokratinnen und Demokraten!?
823570
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 03/10/2026
“Our present method of underwriting advanced technology is exceedingly dangerous. It could cost us our existence.” Guess I better keep reading.
Picture of Galbraith’s New Industrial State(1967)
1190
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Isabella M. Weber @isabellamweber.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
🗽 Like owls to Athens, we're bringing ANTI-FASCIST ECONOMICS to NYC, where Mayor Mamdani is already using public goods for the public good. Join me, David Wallace-Wells and Phenomenal World for the New York launch of my new book on October 16. It's going to be great! ❤️
3489
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 02/10/2026
Vergesellschaftung: Normale Wirtschaftspolitik mit Kosten und Nutzen, Verteilungswirkungen, Annahmen, Zeitprofilen. Sachliche Diskussion ist nicht nur möglich, sondern dem Niveau des wirtschaftspolitischen Diskurses sogar überaus zuträglich. @dezernatzukunft.bsky.social mailchi.mp/dezernatzuku...
"Opportunitätskosten. Einige haben argumentiert, dass man mit einer möglichen Entschädigungssumme—immerhin ein zweistelliger Milliardenbetrag—neue Wohnungen bauen könnte, statt existierende Wohnungen zu vergesellschaften. Diese Rechnung ist nicht offensichtlich. Eine Vergesellschaftung ist eine Bilanzverlängerung: Der Entschädigungssumme stehen die Wohnungen gegenüber. Solange diese Bilanzverlängerung sich selbst trägt, schließt sie weder eine mögliche weitere Verlängerung aus, zum Beispiel um Neubau zu finanzieren, noch verursacht sie Kosten im laufenden Haushalt."
010
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 02/10/2026
Amazing. Really makes you wonder.
100
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 02/10/2026
The stage of the Berlin-election moral panic at which domestic intelligence posts its AI-fueled fever dream of uniformed communist brigades disturbing the medieval town square peace.
1306
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Ingo Stützle @istuetzle.eurosky.social · 02/10/2026
Diese KI-Bilderproduktion passt halt perfekt zur antikommunistischen Ideologie (oder ist sie?), die auch ohne Kommunist*innen auskommt, wie der Soziologe Anton Schmidt die Tage in der @taz.de herausstellte.
14611
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Tarik Abou-Chadi @tabouchadi.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
For my new research unit Politics of Democracy at the Berlin Social Science Center @wzb.bsky.social, we have 3 open research positions. 2 postdocs: 4 + 2 years (100%) 1 doc: 2 years (75%) Starting date: 1 March 2027 (negotiable) Application deadline: 1 November
Job adjob ad
1190149
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 01/10/2026
On the other hand, there's no reason not to start a new #softbankasperformanceart thread.
130
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Mathias Larsen @mathiaslarsen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Looking forward to co-teaching a new LSE Master’s course with Donato Di Carlo @donatodc.bsky.social: (EU4B5) 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗺𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿. @granthamlse.bsky.social @lse-ei.bsky.social @gsos-lse.bsky.social
092
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
David Woodruff @dmwoodruff.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
NYT clanker Keynes is fun to watch but unconvincing. Keynes thought he had two great insights:(1)declining marginal propensity to consume implies a demand shortfall w/o investment;(2)can't count on investment b/c it's based on vibes and vibes about vibes. This is where he'd have started with AI.
nytimes.com
Opinion | What Would John Maynard Keynes Say About A.I.? The Keynes Bot Told Us. (Gift Article)
Nearly a century ago, Keynes predicted that technology would liberate us from work. To imagine what he would think of artificial intelligence today, a Princeton economist used A.I.
22210
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Robin Berjon @robin.berjon.com · 30/09/2026
The social internet — for science! I'm super excited to see @aster.id launching. It's an Atmosphere service provider (like @eurosky.social) for researchers, hosted by your friends at the @modalfoundation.eurosky.social. Why does it matter? Thread time! 🧵
17225
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 30/09/2026
Successful online spaces, explained.
071
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 30/09/2026
Exciting. If you're a researcher and still don't know about about #ATScience, it's time to get up to speed by reading this thread and following the accounts mentioned.
0133
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Eurosky Social @eurosky.social · 30/09/2026
We're so excited to see the arrival of Aster ID as a home for researchers on the open web and to welcome them to the @modalfoundation.eurosky.social family. Very lucky that we've been able to support their tech stack at Eurosky 💖
411437
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 30/09/2026
Sums it up
070
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 30/09/2026
Very poor take. The German centre is currently failing a very gentle test, catastrophically. Hard to convey the insanity of the mainstream freakout over the left’s victory in Berlin.
Why Europe's centre will hold
The 1930s are not a good guide to the politics of the 21st century
GIDEON RACHMAN
2488
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Stefan Eich @stefeich.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
New article just dropped in APSR! Leah Downey and yours truly on why people should stop using “democratize” when all they really mean is increasing market access. (Looking at you, economists! 👀) And, more positively, what a better vision of “democratization” looks like when applied to finance.
14520
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
I'm honored to deliver the 2027 Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh. Across 6 lectures, On Science, Technology, and Social Values, I will work through the claim that what we build and how we put it to use carry commitments about who counts and what matters in collective life cahss.ed.ac.uk/news-events/...
011026
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
katharinapistor.bsky.social @katharinapistor.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
My response to Yochai Benkler‘s take on transforming capitalism. Sadly, we cannot count on the state
0197
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Daniel Driscoll @danieldrisc.com · 29/09/2026
Why Carbon Taxes Failed is on the road! See book talk dates below (more to come). Next week is Central European University and Copenhagen Business School! Can't wait to see some dear friends at both places <3
2199
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Xan López @xanlopez.net · 29/09/2026
To my English-speaking friends: we just published my conversation with Fritz Bartel (@fritz-bartel.bsky.social) about the ongoing political and energy crisis. He’s one of the most interesting thinkers out there, so don’t sleep on it. youtu.be/iE3xQcYvT5I?...
youtu.be
Margen de Maniobra 02x09 - Gobernar la transición, con Frtiz Bartel
YouTube video by Círculo de Bellas Artes
1194
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 28/09/2026
What the heck Jens. Is this before or after the tipping point? Is the yellow arrow gravity?? Does the rectangle have mass???
120
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 28/09/2026
Something I've noticed about the people saying "nothing is going to change about US dollar dominance" is that they're usually not accounting for the @jvtk.bsky.social + @shahinvallee.bsky.social factor. Which is probably going to turn out to be a mistake.
072
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
JW Mason @jwmason.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I wrote a long post on "profiteering" or "greedflation" a couple of years ago, trying to think through what the economic logic is that justifies price regulation in situations like natural disasters, and how that logic might apply more broadly. jwmason.org/slackwire/in...
1287
Reposted by Benjamin Braun
Albert Pinto @70sbachchan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
NEW: The big story is not Chinese EVs everywhere —but Chinese EV factories everywhere. And its not just Chinese firms going out. Our CM-FDI database tracks every foreign Solar, Wind, EV and battery manufacturing plant built in 21st century. cmfdi.netzeropolicylab.com
119577
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 25/09/2026
Really great thread, and data.
151
Benjamin Braun @benbraun.social · 24/09/2026
The federal government threatening a state in which the left shows signs of life. Sounds vaguely familiar?
0161