iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Dan O'Brien

The Economist @economist.com · 15/08/2026

After nine years of decline, democracy scores have risen in more than half of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. That trend may happen elsewhere, too

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Global democracy is in better shape than you think

EIU’s annual index suggests an end to the democracy recession

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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Beautiful #map by @moovelLab proves that every road does indeed lead to #Rome.

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MacGill Summer School @macgillschool.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Chief Economist at the Institute of International and European Affairs, @danobrien20.bsky.social , will speak on The New World Disorder panel at this year’s MacGill Summer School. Learn more and register: macgillsummerschool.com

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The Tonight Show @tonightvmtv.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

🗣️ “If we’re not going to cut taxes and restore them to pre-crisis levels, 18 years ago, we never will,” says @danobrien20.bsky.social. #TonightVMTV

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

Ireland needs more construction workers. Despite big infrastructure gaps, particularly in housing, the share of workers employment in the construction of buildings is only slightly above the EU average, and well below many other slower growing EU countries.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Ireland's leftward lurch is discussed in my column in The Currency today. thecurrency.news/articles/199...

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

European consumers should be able to make their own minds up on clearly labelled products and importing more US LNG makes sense for both sides, but the VAT request is bizarre and a non-runner.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

Irish exports to the US increased by a staggering 210% in February. Companies have been scrambling to get product across the Atlantic before tariffs hit. From today's CSO

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Andrius Kubilius @andriuskubilius.ec.europa.eu · 11/04/2025

Six basic principles behind the White Paper: - deterrence - no competition EU & NATO - defence industry as a resource - responsibility for European defence - autonomy of action - solidarity Full remarks ⬇️ ec.europa.eu/commission/p... 🎥 Keynote and Q&A⬇️ audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-2...

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

First month-on-month decline in US inflation since...Trump was last in office.

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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

German manufacturing could most certainly do with cheaper electricity costs…

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Trade Talks Podcast @trade--talks.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

Trump’s tariff announcement on April 2 was so big, @soumayakeynes.ft.com joined @chadpbown.com for an emergency episode. They cover history, the dollar, and even the U.S. legal system to clarify what we know about the tariff actions so far. EPISODE #207: tradetalkspodcast.com/podcast/207-...

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 06/04/2025

US tax changes incentivised American pharma companies to shift production to Ireland, ship product back home and pay tax in Ireland. On 'This Week' on RTE radio at 1.30pm later to discuss the tariff threat.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

If the world's biggest economy puts the sort of tariffs that are being mooted on all countries globally, it will arguably be the biggest economic policy decision in history. The nuclear option of economic warfare. 125-year history of US tariffs charted below.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

And unemployment just keeps falling in Europe. Yet another record low - 5.7% of the workforce is jobless. The last decade has been quite glorious for the European labour market, after decades of unemployment being a huge problem in many countries and regions.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Far more Americans think joblessness will rise that when Covid hit and employment tanked.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

European policy makers have long fretted about the continent’s savings being invested in the US stock market. Trump may be solving that issue to their satisfaction as capital flows out of American stocks and into Europe.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Today's full-year figures on asylum applications from Eurostat show that Ireland had the joint fourth highest rate per capita in Europe in 2024, with Iceland even higher curiously.

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Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

The big bearish USA / bullish European trade in one stunning chart. The March Bank of America Fund Manager Survey shows the largest monthly drop ever in US equity allocation - whilst investors are ploughing into European equities. As we say in Dutch: one man's death is another man's bread

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Adam Bonica @adambonica.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

1/🧵 Judges across ideological lines are ruling against Trump at strikingly similar rates (84% liberal, 86% centrist, 82% conservative). This isn't partisan opposition to Trump—it's the judiciary functioning as intended by cutting across partisan lines to uphold the Constitution.

Title: Both Liberal and Conservative Judges Rule Against Trump
Description: A scatter plot showing the rulings of judges against or in favor of Trump, categorized by ideology using the DIME score. The x-axis represents Judge Ideology (DIME Score), ranging from liberal (-1) to conservative (1), and the y-axis represents the case outcome (against or for Trump).
• Blue dots represent liberal judges, purple dots represent moderate judges, and red dots represent conservative judges.
• Some judges are labeled, including Rudolph Contreras, Lauren King, John Coughenour, and James Emanuel Boasberg on the liberal to moderate side, and Carl Nichols, Richard J. Leon, and Joseph N. Laplante on the conservative side.
• A note mentions that Boasberg, though slightly right-leaning, was initially appointed by George W. Bush.
• The visualization suggests that judges from both ideological backgrounds ruled against Trump.

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Daniel Keohane @keohanedan.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Exactly, the agricultural culture in France really reminds me of Ireland, the rural Ireland I grew up in and live again in today. L’Irlande profounde and La France profounde, as de Tocqueville noted, are very similar in many ways.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

The EU exports more than it imports in all main categories of manufactured goods because 32 million people work in the sector - the second biggest industrial base in the world after China.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 16/03/2025

Another great Danish/European company, of many. Europe has a scaling problem for sure, but it actually manufactures far more than the US.

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Simon Kuestenmacher @simongerman600.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

Population density across South America by @pythonmaps. Star shaped distribution pattern of people in Argentina looks rather pretty on this map.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Central bankers live in fear of an ‘unanchoring of inflation expectations’. Looks like the tariff insanity has cut the anchor entirely.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

On today's Ireland-US Oval Office meeting * As 'good' as could have been hoped for. * None of the animus shown towards some other countries/leaders * Tariffs on April 2 still coming and a huge threat * Not an issue for now, but care needed not to allow appearance of being peeled from the EU.

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Justin Wolfers @justinwolfers.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

I believe this is a world first: An intra-day tariff chart.

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Marc Polymeropoulos @mpolymer1.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

WSJ Ed Board: “We said from the beginning that this North American trade war is the dumbest in history, and we were being kind.” www.wsj.com/opinion/dona...

wsj.com

Opinion | How Do You Like the Trade War Now?

Trump is furious that Canada won’t take his tariffs lying down.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

US tariffs announced over the past six weeks represent a bigger increase than in 1930. Discussing this and the wider US geopolitical U-turn in my column. thecurrency.news/articles/181...

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Kaja Kallas @kajakallas.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Russian missiles keep relentlessly falling on Ukraine, bringing more death and more destruction. Once again, Putin shows he has no interest in peace. We must step up our military support – otherwise, even more Ukrainian civilians will pay the highest price.

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Daniel Keohane @keohanedan.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

So it might not be entirely clear, that Poland will acquire nuclear weapons. Can understand Polish desire to have nuclear weapons in the current evolving geo-strategic environment. But it would kill the NPT, and encourage nuclear proliferation to others in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Meant to include the charting of the World Social Values survey in the @data.ft.com re the discussion of the American right's liking of Russia and Putin.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Today's column in The Currency looks at the ideas on the right of America's political spectrum, their influence on the geopolitical U-turn the US has taken under Trump and where this could go from global, European and Irish perspectives. thecurrency.news/articles/181...

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Americans expect the US inflation rate to surge to 4.3% by February of next year, and for very good reason (tariffs). When central bankers see this sort of 'unanchoring' of inflation expectations they start thinking of hitting the (higher) interest rate brake.

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Katie Martin @katie0martin.ft.com · 04/03/2025

Deutsche is Going There, noting the lack of a big USD rally on the latest tariffs shock

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Max Bergmann @maxbergmann.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

This is going to be an epic collision with the biggest losers being US tech companies. It would be one thing if the Trump admin didn't plan to dramatically reduce forces in NATO and walk away from Ukraine. Then the US might have leverage. But EU can live fine without US social media companies.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 02/03/2025

If US tariffs Ireland and not the UK, what happens to Northern Ireland? US could exempt NI exports to US despite it being in the EU market, but not certain. Certain is that US imports to NI would be subject to any applicable EU retaliatory tariffs.

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Owen Winter @owenwntr.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

After the AfD's surge on Sunday, far right parties are the most voted-for of any grouping in Europe, for the first time in history: www.economist.com/graphic-deta...

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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 01/03/2025

I think what makes this moment feel so big and groundbreaking is that even those among us who have been talking about the need/danger of a Europe without the US for a long time, were usually in the mindset of a US disinterested in Europe. But not a US actively hostile to Europe& European interests.

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Ursula von der Leyen @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu · 28/02/2025

Europe is ready to take greater responsibility for security and defense. At the same time we want to strengthen security cooperation with trusted partners. That’s why we’re exploring a future Security & Defence Partnership with India.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

The Wall St Journal's editorial on The Washington Post's change of editorial direction.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

The top 10% of earners do half of the consumer spending in the US. Links to equivalent figures for Europe appreciated, if they exist.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

Lots of talk that European businesses moving to the US for lower energy costs, more opportunity etc. Foreign direct investment data from recent years don't show any exodus. In fact, US stock of FDI in Europe grew more last year than visa versa.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 20/02/2025

The northern frugals are moving towards common debt issuance for defence.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

@rikefranke.bsky.social Just emailed you and saw the bounce back. Many congratulations. Dan

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 17/02/2025

Following a surge in Irish goods exports up to November, there was a surprisingly big fall in December. Expected a further increase, as firms could be expected to get product into the US ahead of tariffs. Will be interesting to see what the US data show.

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Dan O'Brien @danobrien20.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

Article 29:9 of the Irish Constitution rules out Ireland joining common EU defence. A referendum is needed to change this.

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