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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 23/02/2026

New paper out! in which we look at what it means for a social system to be dependent on economic growth - with public finance as one example 😏

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 13/01/2026

Für das @surplusmagazin.de habe ich über die Interessen der US-Ölkonzerne hinter Trumps Überfall auf Venezuela geschrieben - es gibt nämlich keine 🤓 der Take ist mittlerweile nicht mehr ganz neu, aber die historische Einordnung vielleicht schon: www.surplusmagazin.de/trump-imperi...

surplusmagazin.de

Venezuela: Imperialismus als Performance

Trump inszeniert sich als Imperialist. Doch dem Überfall auf Venezuelas Öl fehlt die kapitalistische Logik.

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 12/01/2026

Vielen Dank für den positiven Take, @zeit.de @lauraewert.bsky.social ! Beim "anderen Weg" (Restaurants kochen freiwillig für Arme) wäre ich skeptisch. Aber: wir stellen als Kiezkantinen-Team der Berliner Linken bald unser ausführliches Konzept vor und freuen uns, wenn ihr das weiter begleitet!

zeit.de

Kiezkantinen: Der Staat hat gekocht

Die Linkspartei will in Berlin mit staatlichen Kiezkantinen gegen Armut und Einsamkeit kämpfen. Dabei gäbe es noch einen anderen Weg an den gemeinsamen Esstisch.

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Reposted by Christopher Olk

lilian mauthofer @becomingothers.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

not sure why biscotti would choose such heavy reading for our vacation but apparently @christopher-olk.bsky.social recommended it

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 19/05/2025

thanks, Joscha - and thanks for spotting the mistake in the stylised CEX balance sheet!

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Reposted by Christopher Olk

Clara Heinrich @cheinrich.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

I am happy to share that my first article was published in Business & Politics earlier this year! It’s availabe as a open access article here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal... I summarise some key insights form the paper below👇 1/x

cambridge.org

Beyond formal politics: the epistemic facet of business power | Business and Politics | Cambridge Core

Beyond formal politics: the epistemic facet of business power - Volume 27 Issue 1

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

For now, I am very excited to share this product of almost 4 years of work, and grateful to Romain, Jeff, @andreabinder.bsky.social and many others who have been intellectual and personal companions throughout!

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

We need much more research to establish the direction(s) of causality, identify interactions, and understand the structures, histories and monetary institutions (e.g. offshore finance) that affect resource flows (and vice versa). Do get in touch if you are interested!

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

If any meaningful global sustainability transition requires limiting resource transfers (#carbonleakage etc.), this in turn requires structural changes to the global monetary system. On the flipside, changes in the global currency order mean changes in global resource flows.

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

In the paper, I use some simple regression models to test these hypotheses, control for additional factors, and rule out alternative explanations. In short, it looks a lot like currency hierarchy is causally linked to asymmetric resource transfers. But what does that imply?

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

Moreover, lower price levels in the South also directly cause ecologically unequal exchange. My new interpretation of the 'exorbitant privilege' explains how this asymmetry too might be a consequence of currency hierarchy.

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

In short, interest rates are higher for lower-ranking currencies. It looks like higher rates in the South nurture extractivism, hamper industrial upgrading, create various dependencies ('financial subordination’), and drive net resource outflows!

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

What if currency hierarchies and ecologically unequal exchange are causally linked? @RomainSvartzman & Jeff Althouse suggested this (www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1...). My article builds on their idea by specifying, formalizing and testing causal hypotheses.

tandfonline.com

Greening the international monetary system? Not without addressing the political ecology of global imbalances: Review of International Political Economy: Vol 29 , No 3 - Get Access

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

However, we also know that the structure of the global monetary system is characterized by a 'currency hierarchy': Countries that issue internationally acceptable currencies have relatively lower interest rates and higher price levels - again, a dollar 'costs' less!

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

What we knew relatively little about is why these asymmetries persist, i.e. why prices and exchange rates do not adjust to equilibrate the differences in factor costs and productivity (as mainstream economics would predict).

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

We know that Global North countries import more biophysical resources (land, energy, labour, ...) from the South than vice versa. This is because the North gets more money per exported resource, i.e. a dollar 'costs' fewer resources (s/o @kendricklamar: youtu.be/y8kEiL81_R4?...)

youtu.be

How Much A Dollar Cost

Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupHow Much A Dollar Cost · Kendrick Lamar · James Fauntleroy · Ronald IsleyTo Pimp A Butterfly℗ 2015 Aftermath/Inte...

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/05/2024

🧵Very excited to share my new open-access article in @WorldDevJournal: Looks like currency hierarchies are a key driver of asymmetric resource transfers from South to North, and that the causal mechanism has to do with the diverging 'prices of money': www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

sciencedirect.com

How much a dollar cost: Currency hierarchy as a driver of ecologically unequal exchange

Asymmetric transfers of biophysical resources from the Global South to the North are a key obstacle to sustainable development. The underlying causal …

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 08/01/2024

Wir suchen eine*n Studentische Mitarbeiter*in (SHK) für unsere Forschungsgruppe zur (Geo-)politik des Offshore-Finanzsystems! Hier ist der Call, gerne teilen: www.fu-berlin.de/universitaet...

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 20/10/2023

Die AK ist die beste linke/linksradikale deutschsprachige Zeitung. Abo lohnt sich enorm. ❤️

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Reposted by Christopher Olk

Hanno Hauenstein @hahauenstein.bsky.social · 14/10/2023

Diese großangelegte deutsche Externalisierungskampagne dieser Tage, Antisemitismus auf „Fremde“ auszulagern, so gut wie jeden Ausdruck palästinensischer Selbstbestimmung & Geschichte stummzuschalten und die Dehumanisierung einer ganzen Bevölkerungsgruppe abzunicken, ist wirklich mehr als gruselig

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Christopher Olk @christopher-olk.eurosky.social · 03/10/2023

new paper with @jasonhickel.bsky.social & Colleen Schneider: We can fund Universal Public Services, a Job Guarantee and rapid de-carbonization, all without GDP growth or inflation! Here's how: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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