Reposted by Karthik SankaranKarthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 1hThat many of the same people who are the kind of 2A extremists who have brought us to at least 1.5 guns per capita ALSO believe that the right to vote should be restricted solely to those whose self-defense is based on UFC-style combat is a bit odd. 122
Reposted by Karthik SankaranBeau @runningsignal.com · 1hIt’s cosplay. They point the finger at furries while wearing tough guy outfits from Spirit Halloween. 021
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 3hThe people behind effective altruism are borrowing so much money they’re trashing dividend stocks, which proves they’re actually anti-utilitarian. 092
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 5hSo key BZ question is exactly what needs to change in political-economy to end a requirement for punishingly high real interest rates pretty much all the time and can one arrive at an institutional consensus that is not just “do a permanent 5% primary surplus forever.” www.piie.com/blogs/realti... 130
Reposted by Karthik SankaranKen Tindell @kentindell.bsky.social · 23hThe kulcha wars come for everyone in the end. 041
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 23hFound this there, have to share here for all the sociologists/theorists/Area studies people. 140
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Because the American dream is to be a member of the Mattelstand. 1143
Reposted by Karthik SankaranKarthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026He really seems much more at ease with The Patrimonial State than with The Matrimonial State. 2153
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Very excited to be at the Blue Wave Lava Jato. 080
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026It’s “could care less” with inflection/gesture conveying opposite. Great Game should mean sideshow. Falls are precipitous, rises are vertiginous. Just say money and lives instead of Blood and Treasure. Either report Pentagon expenditures in 10 yr terms or US civilian expenditures in 1-yr terms. 030
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026He really seems much more at ease with The Patrimonial State than with The Matrimonial State. 2153
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026This is what happens when an Oracle actually wants you to invade Persia. 0163
Reposted by Karthik Sankaranettaroo.bsky.social @ettaroo.bsky.social · 03/10/2026I remember when they called the energy projects around the Caspian in the mid 90s The Next Great Game. And I was like "What was the First Great Game" and only the Brits at school knew what it was and the rest of us just shrugged. 181
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Yet again, I shriek into the void, Anglo-Russian rivalry in the HinduKush was a minor sideshow compared to Anglo-French rivalry everywhere, the Boer War as a Anglo-German proxy conflict, & above all, US expansion into the Pacific via the Spanish-American War, making it THE MAINE EVENT of the 1890s. 3222
Reposted by Karthik SankaranKarthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Link to my book talk with Liaquat Ahamed--we talked railroads, bimetallism, capital in an age of globalization alternating between nationalism and transnationalism, the geopolitics of lending to developing countries. And I snuck in a dad joke (archival not new). www.youtube.com/watch?v=phNp...youtube.comBook Talk | 1873—The Rothschilds, the First Great Depression, and the Making of the Modern WorldYouTube video by Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft 1195
Reposted by Karthik SankaranMacronin @macronin1.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Correct, but one wonders if reals are so high because such a massive part of the budget is driven by the constitution, and highly unlikely to be reformed without a major crisis…which might be bad for bondholders. 031
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 03/10/2026File under have you ever considered why capital “flowing uphill” from EMs might be a strategy for success? 110
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026BZ predicament making me realize that if markets demand c/a deficit EMs run large primary surpluses to offset interest burden of higher rates than counterfactual, it is very rational for EMs to instead target c/a surpluses that come w. lower interest rates & more fiscal space. 211
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026New Wave Of Crowding Out Leads To Crowded House. 1111
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026A famously stiff German Chancellor is the only visible male who is not wearing a tie or even a jacket? 2112
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Had not seen this when it first came out but what sweet music this is. www.csis.org/analysis/how...csis.orgHow Trade Reduces the Risk of WarA new study demonstrates the quantifiable contributions of economic integration in building sustainable global security. 1102
Reposted by Karthik SankaranDennis @bododenden.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Muesli for Bundesanleihen. "Who uses Muesli as a spread?" WIR REGELN DAS AUF UNSERE WEISE, DANKE SEHR! 011
Reposted by Karthik SankaranBrokenBanker @brokenbanker.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Marmite for Gilts, Vegemite for AGBs 0111
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026We should have a different nickname for “spread” in every EZ country. Nutella for BTPs, sobrasada for Bonos, rillete for OATs, butter (yuck) for gilts if the UK ever rejoins. 3222
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026At the extreme risk of being Stanciled (rhymes with ...) maybe one (not the only) reason sentiment is soft is that the pace of pay increases has been falling steadily for some time, despite low U3, even as serial dumbass supply shocks (TM) have pushed headline inflation up since Feb? 083
Reposted by Karthik Sankarannonrenormalizable.bsky.social @nonrenormalizable.bsky.social · 02/10/2026They have high real interest rates, but they had even higher cruzeiro interest rates. 011
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026America, Europe and East Asia over the last 60 years. 3212
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026One key to Brazilian politics is that the basic fact of (having to?) run staggeringly high real interest rates pretty much all the time constricts fiscal space (for govts of all stripes) by constantly requiring very large primary surpluses in order to keep debt dynamics from running amok. 2181
Reposted by Karthik SankaranGenevaGirl @michellev.bsky.social · 02/10/2026For the kids that weren’t around last time, it’s not a debt crisis without a Landesbank 1356
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Also, I had no idea that Joseph Chamberlain (whom I dislike more than Neville) looked like I imagined Erich von Stalhein (from the Biggles books). 040
Reposted by Karthik SankaranDouglas Irwin @douglasirwin.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Lot of discussion about MFN at the recent WTO public forum.... Some thoughts (drawing on history) here: www.thefreedomfrequency.org/p/why-most-f...thefreedomfrequency.orgWhy "Most Favored Nation" Is Losing FavorThe US and Europe say the nondiscrimination ideal fails to address security and fairness—and to restrain China. 064
Reposted by Karthik SankaranWealth of Nations @mpurves.bsky.social · 02/10/2026They are still in denile 031
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026Modern Egypt’s foreign policy is just one dam thing after another. 3141
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026I can’t vouch for the details but I was curious and I typed in a query and it turns out that earth is probably logging roughly 40 billion hours of eyeballs on screens (not counting work) every day. 141
Reposted by Karthik Sankaranwfrost @wfrost.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Neat discussion on the parallels between the late 19th century industrial boom (think railroads and canals) and today (chips and AI). At around 35mins there’s a good exploration on the intersection of deflation, monetary policy and productivity during that period vs today 292
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026White House continues with campaign to convince people that in an age of AI-led job destruction, it is honorable and lucrative to join the ranks of Plumbers. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...wsj.comExclusive | Decades After Watergate, Justice Department Reviews Whether Nixon Got a Raw DealA revisionist historian went to the DOJ headquarters to present his case that the former president and his associates weren’t treated fairly. 0101
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Links to two maps-- World per capita homicide rates ourworldindata.org/grapher/homi... and World Gini Coefficients. worldpopulationreview.com/country-rank...worldpopulationreview.comGini Coefficient by Country 2026Based on the Gini coefficient (Gini index), South Africa has the highest income inequality in 2026 while Slovakia has the lowest income inequality. 110
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026The level of state fracture/reconfiguration in the Red Sea Littoral (particularly but not exclusively on the African side) is like something from the Balkans before 1914 and again after 1990. 290
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 01/10/2026How come the Vikings never got their butts kicked? They were protected by their Asgard.* * I’m pretty sure I invented this, much to the delight of my then 8-year-old son, a Thor fan. 140
Reposted by Karthik Sankarandavid. @david.uncensored.zip · 01/10/2026They come in regular envelopes so they cant be easily id and stolen. 219035
Reposted by Karthik SankaranToby Nangle @tobyn.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Not every investment into the 1,246 AI firms they tracked came from another AI firm. And not every one of those AI-to-AI investments was a circular financing deal. But we're still talking >1/4 of investment volumes classified as circular financing. 3358
Reposted by Karthik SankaranMichael Hirson @hotpotwhynot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026That’s when you know it’s time for a 12-steppe program. (Pun stolen from @rajakorman.bsky.social) 051
Reposted by Karthik SankaranSylvia Chi 齊思涵 @sylviachi.bsky.social · 01/10/2026Today I learned some Theda Skocpol lore: 051
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Link here, posted by Gerardo Munck there. One of the most useful things I have ever read. www.some.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/u... 193
Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 30/09/2026This is known as the Theory Of The Spermanent Revolution. 141