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slerikson.bsky.social

@slerikson.bsky.social
92 followers 60 following 16 posts
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Reposted by @slerikson.bsky.social
Ali Rıza Taşkale @alirizataskale.bsky.social · 7h
Great piece by Adam Tooze. This paragraph gets at the commercial interests behind AI’s apocalypse talk. When tech guys warn that their own products could end humanity, we should ask how the resulting fear helps them secure investment, shape regulation & consolidate power. www.ft.com/content/7b83...
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
This is a terrible, terrible idea. At least for YVR, why ruin something that works well? I am so sick of being in places that wrangle every last dime out of humans. Don’t do it, Mark! www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
cbc.ca
Canada's 4 largest airports to be opened up to private investment, Carney says | CBC News
Prime Minister Mark Carney says his government will open up Canada's four largest airports to private investment, but that Ottawa will maintain ownership of "underlying land and assets."
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The Research We Need to Understand A.I. Is Falling Apart www.nytimes.com/2026/09/06/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | We Can’t Know Our A.I. Future if We Don’t Study It
Just as A.I. is poised to change the world, we’re losing our best ways of studying what that change will look like.
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Reposted by @slerikson.bsky.social
Charlotte Clymer @charlotteclymer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
This story is a bit wild. After Elon Musk's DOGE erased decades of USAID data, it was assumed to be lost. But a Canadian college student had previously downloaded much of it in high school for a project. 4,000 PDFs. Thanks again, Canada. Yet again. www.aiddata.org/blog/before-...
aiddata.org
Before reimagining development data, remember what we’ve learned
Why we’re publishing a free, searchable, and ungated archive featuring a quarter-century of USAID evaluation reports.
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Alondra Nelson @alondra.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The technologies are new. The questions--about power, meaning, knowledge, work, who gets counted, and who is at the table--are not. Social science has been asking them all along. The essay is an argument for showing up fully to a reckoning we're already in. www.amacad.org/publication/...
amacad.org
Field Theory: AI as Social Science Question, Object & Tool
Uses of advanced artificial intelligence are changing how societies organize labor, govern, produce knowledge, and make meaning. In light of these developments, this essay argues that AI models, tools...
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The Upshot @upshot.nytimes.com · 18/03/2026
Trump Promised the ‘World’s Lowest’ Drug Prices. We Checked the Numbers. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/18/w...
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Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
"It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than under the Republicans" — Donald J. Trump, 2004 I guess even Trump is right about some things. youtu.be/oEMn40L5UN4?si=jma0yrFyeb-…
youtu.be
Republicans vs. Democrats: Who's Better for the Economy? | Robert Reich
One of the key issues this election season will be the economy. Which party’s economic vision is actually better for wor
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Clara Jeffery @clarajeffery.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
That's about half of what it cost for USAID for a whole year www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03...
nytimes.com
First 6 Days of Iran War Cost U.S. $11.3 Billion, Pentagon Says
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Reposted by @slerikson.bsky.social
Virginia Scharff @vscharff.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
This guy thought he’d never have to answer for his actions. There’s a lot of that going around. We have to hold ALL of them accountable.
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Jonathan M. Katz @katz.theracket.news · 02/03/2026
Seems like a thing more people should be mad about
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Reposted by @slerikson.bsky.social
Science Politics @sciencepolitics.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
The latest piece in the Science Politics #USAID anniversary series is out now! Susan Erikson discusses the private #finance approach to #globalhealth, noting the dystopian dangers of leaving #humanitarian aid up to wealthy #investors. sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/22/t...
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
www.cdh.cam.ac.uk/about/news/d...
cdh.cam.ac.uk
Professor Wendy Hui Kyong Chun will deliver CDH Distinguished Lecture 2026 - CDH
We are thrilled to announce that Professor Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Simon Fraser University’s Canada 150 Research Chair in New Media in the School of Communication and Director of the Digital Democracies...
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
Case and I disagree on many things. But his NYTimes piece today is a great primer for understanding why the financialization of health and its supportive services is so absolutely dangerous for humans
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 07/02/2026
“Financialization [is] the term for making financial markets and transactions ends unto themselves, disconnected from — and often at the expense of — the societal benefits that support human flourishing and are capitalism’s proper purpose.” www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Finance Industry Is a Grift. Let’s Start Treating It That Way.
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
On Jan 24, it will be a year since USAID was axed. Science Politics hosts a series of commentaries, including mine on what USAID's demise makes room FOR in US foreign policy. Hint: Speculative finance. sciencepolitics.org/2026/01/22/t...
sciencepolitics.org
The USAID Cuts Make Room for Wealthy Investors to Bet on Global Health - Science Politics
Speculative finance is supplanting conventional aid funding, enabling investors to determine the terms and conditions of new aid financing schemes.
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Reposted by @slerikson.bsky.social
Iva Cheung @ivacheung.com · 30/10/2025
@adamconover.net I just watched a presentation and panel discussion with Susan Erikson, author of *Investable! When Pandemic Risk Meets Speculative Finance – A Cautionary Tale*. PLEASE consider inviting her to be a guest on Factually!
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
Good grief, his profound arrogance and displacement of what truly matters for humans to thrive and live lives of meaning and care!
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Reposted by @slerikson.bsky.social
SFU Faculty of Health Sciences @sfu-fhs.bsky.social · 27/11/2025
"What happens when capital-market enthusiasm collides with real world economic priorities?" The Risky Science Podcast does a deep dive on the volatility of risk finance and global health crises with FHS professor @slerikson.bsky.social, author of Investible! pod.link/1825669405/e... #SFU #SFUFHS
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 19/11/2025
Can innovative finance really can save global health? Risky Science pod host, Chris Westfall, gave me the opportunity to argue otherwise! Listen to the podcast! www.riskmarketnews.com/models-prior...
riskmarketnews.com
Models, Priorities and Pandemic Finance
Also, investors double down on private credit scrutiny and a new law looks to crack catastrophe model data.
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
We must not give up on publicly funding health and wellness at home and the world. Do not relinquish care to only profit-making and ROI schemes! My latest: www.statnews.com/2025/11/05/f...
statnews.com
Beware the financialization of the global health industry
Beware of financialization when it is code for “money making money on health,” S.L. Erikson warns.
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Reposted by @slerikson.bsky.social
MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · 23/06/2025
World Bank pandemic bonds only paid out after death tolls passed a threshold. They’re part of a booming market where investors turn calamity into capital. Susan Erikson explores the murky, ever-growing world of betting on catastrophe:
thereader.mitpress.mit.edu
The Business of Betting on Catastrophe
World Bank pandemic bonds paid out only after death tolls passed a threshold. They’re part of a booming market where investors turn calamity into capital.
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The Syllabus @the-syllabus.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
Framed as humanitarian innovation, insurance-linked securities allow investors to bet on everything from hurricanes to pandemics. Our essay of the week unpacks how speculative finance turns catastrophe into a tradable asset. By Susan Erikson in @mitpress.bsky.social buff.ly/EXs3DZK
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 25/06/2025
Jacobin has a fiery issue on SPECULATION, which includes a review of my book, Investable! When Pandemic Risk Meets Speculative Finance jacobin.com/issue/specul... jacobin.com/2025/06/maki... @sfu-fhs.bsky.social @sfufass.bsky.social @mitpress.bsky.social
jacobin.com
Jacobin LogoJacobin IconA/V IconSearch IconLogin IconJSearch IconJJacobin Logo
Articles from .
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
Life-saving drugs going to waste in Sierra Leone because the US stopped distribution for treatment. Just. Stopped. Cruel. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/21/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The Waste Musk Created
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Susan Shepler @susanshepler.bsky.social · 27/05/2025
My friend @slerikson.bsky.social‬ amazing book, a multi-sited ethnography of so-called pandemic bonds --from international investor meetings to Sierra Leonean health centers -- is finally out!
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Reposted by @slerikson.bsky.social
MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
"Investable!" is a critical and sobering look at how international bankers and investors turn pandemics into investment opportunities and what we stand to lose when we rely on "innovative finance": mitpress.mit.edu/978026254935...
Book cover titled "Investable! When Pandemic Risk Meets Speculative Finance: A Cautionary Tale" by Susan Erikson, featuring an abstract illustration of a figure walking on colorful landscape.
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
Investable! is out today! Thrilled and grateful! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/757475...
penguinrandomhouse.com
Investable! by Susan Erikson: 9780262549356 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
A critical and sobering look at how international bankers and investors turn pandemics into investment opportunities, and what we stand to lose when we rely on “innovative finance.” In a world...
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Collective for the Political Determinants of Health @collectivehealth.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Trump’s nominee to run the DFC, wants to redirect USAID’s budget to Wall Street. What will this mean for global health? In the most recent blog post, first published by the McLeod Group, Susan Erikson (@slerikson.bsky.social) reflects on the financialization of aid. www.sum.uio.no/english/rese...
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
DOGE has so much to learn about government! on.ft.com/3R8b3ai
on.ft.com
Doge’s ‘villain’ fantasy is wrong about public service
Most choose to do it because the job matters
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slerikson.bsky.social @slerikson.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
Wall Street likely to benefit from USAID shuttering. More about it in my McLeod piece www.mcleodgroup.ca/2025/03/shif...
mcleodgroup.ca
Shifting Aid Money to Wall Street: The Financialization of Aid is Underway - The McLeod Group
McLeod Group guest blog by S.L. Erikson, March 12, 2025 Aid can’t be run like a private equity or hedge fund. And yet, Benjamin Black, Donald Trump’s nominee to run the US International Development Fi...
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Susan Shepler @susanshepler.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Can't wait for this amazing work by my friend Susan Erikson to be out in the world! mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9780262...
mitpressbookstore.mit.edu
Investable!: When Pandemic Risk Meets Speculative Finance--A Cautionary Tale
A critical and sobering look at how international bankers and investors turn pandemics into investment opportunities, and what we stand to lose when we rely on “innovative finance.”In a world increasi...
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