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Intangible Capitalism: How Accounting Turns Licences Into Assets

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · 26d

#Intangible #Capitalism: How Accounting Turns Licences Into Assets

democracychallenged.com/2025/09/12/i...

Capitalism in the twenty-first century runs on intangibles: patents, software code, algorithms, brands. Yet what really matters is not the ideas themselves, but how they are recorded in the books. …

Why the EU–US Trade Truce Puts Ireland’s Pharma Model at Risk

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Aug 29

The era of #tax arbitrage has narrowed. #Tariffs and rules of origin are now doing the work of industrial policy. For #Ireland, the challenge is ensuring its #pharma sector remains more than a paper hub in the eyes of both #Washington and the #OECD.

democracychallenged.com/2025/08/29/w...

The EU–US trade truce leaves generics untouched but puts branded drugs—the core of Ireland’s export engine—at risk, with multinationals ready to shift production and tweak transfer pricing to prote…

Silicon Sovereignty: Industrial Policy and the Post-Neoliberal Turn

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Aug 28

The age of neoliberal hands-off economics is giving way to state-led tech geopolitics.

Silicon Sovereignty: Industrial Policy and the Post-Neoliberal Turn

democracychallenged.com/2025/08/28/s...

The age of neoliberal hands-off economics is giving way to state-led tech geopolitics. For decades, neoliberal orthodoxy insisted that governments should stay out of the business of building indust…

Winner Takes All: How the Top 1% of Firms Capture the Profits

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Jul 24

Corporate profits in the US are more concentrated than ever.

These figures (see in the blog post) show a structural shift: competition is giving way to #oligopoly #capitalism. What does this mean for policy, #taxation, and #democracy?

democracychallenged.com/2025/07/24/w...

The US corporate landscape has morphed into a winner-takes-all economy, where a handful of multinational firms control the lion’s share of profits and market power. The data is stark. Across all US…

New collection in DRI - Democracy Challenged - Digital Repository of Ireland

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Reposted by Democracy Challenged

Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) @dri.ie · Jul 3

We are delighted to share that @ucdlibrary.bsky.social have ingested a new collection into the Repository - Democracy Challenged, an @erc.europa.eu funded project led by @aidanregan.bsky.social.

Find out more: dri.ie/news/new-col...

A man presenting to an audience, gesturing as he explains his topic to the engaged group of listeners.

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Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Jul 4

We are very happy that our project got added to @dri.ie.

Browse our repository here: repository.dri.ie/catalog/0v83...

Read the DRI's post about us: tinyurl.com/3fhs6pwv

The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is proud to announce the addition of the Democracy Challenged blog series to its ever-growing archive of socially significant collections. This collection, prod...

tinyurl.com

The G7’s Corporate Tax Escape Hatch: Fuelling Inequality and Killing Trust in Democracy

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Jul 3

The G7’s Corporate Tax Escape Hatch: Fuelling Inequality and Killing Trust in Democracy

democracychallenged.com/2025/07/03/t...

In June 2025 the G7 quietly unraveled one of the boldest tax reforms ever attempted. The OECD global minimum tax was designed to curb profit shifting. A single clause now exempts United States mult…

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Jul 2

Reminder: Today at 4pm CET (3pm Irish time) @aidanregan.bsky.social will moderate this virtual session for the 2025 @sasemeeting.bsky.social conference.

Virginia Doellgast @vdoellgast.bsky.social · Jun 3

@sasemeeting.bsky.social featured (virtual) panel with Michèle Lamont and Wolfgang Streeck - moderated by @aidanregan.bsky.social. Democracy after globalism: States, social movements, and recognition claims. 10:00-11:30 EDT/ 16-17:30 CET - Wed, 2 July virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/37937/...

Venetian Billionaire: How Amazon Built the Empire That Made Jeff Bezos one of World’s Richest Men

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Jun 27

Jeff #Bezos is throwing a $40M wedding—but the real story is how #Amazon made $3.6T (2014–2024) and paid just 9% U.S. #tax on $197B profit. IP tricks, transfer pricing, and tax laws made him rich - and let him stay that way.

tinyurl.com/yw7f6xef

As the world’s richest guests descend on Venice for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s lavish wedding, the scene is already drawing protest. And rightly so. Behind the €40 million party, the security …

Tesla’s Tax Machine: How Musk’s Empire Grows While U.S. Revenues Shrink

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Jun 17

Tesla’s Tax Machine: How Musk’s Empire Grows While U.S. Revenues Shrink

democracychallenged.com/2025/06/17/t...

Between 2014 and 2024, Tesla generated more than $34 billion in global pre-tax profit. In most jurisdictions, that would translate into a meaningful tax contribution. In Tesla’s case, it produced a…

How Ireland became the Saudi Arabia of siphoned-off global profits

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Jun 13

Recent the @economist.com piece highlights insights from @aidanregan.bsky.social on Ireland's multinational profits vs. real economic activity.

Worth reading both:
Economist article 👉 tinyurl.com/yv9r2wk3
Aidan’s post 👉 tinyurl.com/347b4mhw

The Emerald petro-state is riding high off tech and pharma—for now

www.economist.com

The Billion-Dollar Battle Over IP and Tax Power

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Jun 13

The Billion-Dollar Battle Over IP and Tax Power democracychallenged.com/2025/06/13/t...

When a U.S. tech giant charges its Irish subsidiary a fee to use pre-existing software, that charge which is called the “buy-in payment” can shape where billions in profits end up,…

Vanishing Act: Strip Out Pharma and Ireland, and Over 40% of the EU’s U.S. Trade Surplus Disappears

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · Jun 5

Save the date! @aidanregan.bsky.social will moderate a round table discussion at this year's @sasemeeting.bsky.social conference. Participation is possible online.

Virginia Doellgast @vdoellgast.bsky.social · Jun 3

@sasemeeting.bsky.social featured (virtual) panel with Michèle Lamont and Wolfgang Streeck - moderated by @aidanregan.bsky.social. Democracy after globalism: States, social movements, and recognition claims. 10:00-11:30 EDT/ 16-17:30 CET - Wed, 2 July virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/37937/...

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Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 30

Repost due to typo:

The pharma industry is a cornerstone of EU-US trade — and Ireland plays a key role at the heart of it. 🇪🇺🇺🇸💊🇮🇪

Vanishing Act: Strip Out Pharma and Ireland, and Over 40% of the EU’s U.S. Trade Surplus Disappears

democracychallenged.com/2025/05/29/v...

#Trade #Pharma #Ireland

The transatlantic trade relationship is often framed in terms of a stark imbalance: in 2024, the European Union ran a €198.2 billion goods trade surplus with the United States. On the surface, this…

A Primer on Intangible Capital – What’s There to Know?

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 26

We’ve written a lot about intangible assets in our case studies. Time to step back and ask: what makes intangibles special - and how are they reshaping modern capitalism?

A Primer on Intangible Capital - What’s There to Know?
@linusze.bsky.social

democracychallenged.com/2025/05/26/a...

with Aidan Regan In recent weeks, we’ve repeatedly discussed intangible assets and their role in the complex tax strategies of multijurisdictional corporate groups (MJGs). Intangibles were central …

The Mirage of Substance: The Legal Scaffolding Behind Ireland’s Corporate Tax Boom

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Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 19

The Mirage of Substance: The Legal Scaffolding Behind Ireland’s Corporate Tax Boom democracychallenged.com/2025/05/19/t...

Since the closure of the Double Irish scheme in 2015, nearly $1 trillion in IP-related assets have been shifted into the Irish subsidiaries of US multinationals. This transfer has driven an extraor…

Ireland’s Phantom Prosperity: The GDP Mirage and the Real Economy

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 15

Ireland’s Phantom Prosperity: The GDP Mirage and the Real Economy democracychallenged.com/2025/05/14/i...

Ireland’s economic success story is, on the surface, dazzling. The country’s GDP — the broadest measure of economic activity — reached €510 billion in 2023, making it one of the richest countries i…

From Brave New World to Apple vs. Brussels: How Media Fragmentation Shapes Our Reality

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 13

From Brave New World to #Apple vs. #Brussels: How Media Fragmentation Shapes Our Reality

New blog post by Oscar Barrera-Rodríguez, Lakshmi Menon and @aidanregan.bsky.social. They unpack the reactions sparked by last year’s landmark #tax ruling.

democracychallenged.com/2025/05/13/f...

with Lakshmi Menon and Aidan Regan What happens when one tax ruling sparks six national narratives? From Orwell’s censorship to Huxley’s information overload, Apple’s €13B showdow…

Capital vs. labour: The effect of income sources on attitudes toward the top 1 percent

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 13

Check out the article our team's Oscar Barrera-Rodríguez recently published in the European Journal of Political Economy.

"Capital vs. labour: The effect of income sources on attitudes toward the top 1 percent"

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#EJPE #politicaleconomy #inequality

We conduct a randomized online survey to study how information on the share of top earners' income derived from capital and labour affects attitudes t…

www.sciencedirect.com

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 11

New article by @aidanregan.bsky.social in @businesspost.bsky.social examining Ireland's tax model and the pivotal role of intellectual property in its increasingly precarious economic strategy.

www.businesspost.ie/analysis-opi...

Aidan Regan: The ground is shifting on Ireland’s economic model – it’s time we woke up to the risks

Business Post View: Ireland’s time as a sanctum for profit-shifting may be nearing its final act

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 6

11/ 🗞️ Editorial View

“Ireland’s time as a sanctum for profit-shifting may be nearing its final act.”

www.businesspost.ie/analysis-opi...

Our GDP, that once-hallowed metric of national wellbeing, has become an absurd fiction—bloated, distorted, and unfit for purpose

Editor’s note: The Business Post lays bare the full-scale of Ireland’s economic vulnerability

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 6

10/ ✍️ Editor’s Note

Why @businesspost.bsky.social launched this investigation — and what it reveals about Ireland’s dependence on tax arbitrage

www.businesspost.ie/analysis-opi...

Our in-depth investigation exposes in unprecedented detail just how that supercharged-but-fragile economy has been built, the complex financial engineering underpinning it

Aidan Regan: The inside story of how Ireland became Coca-Cola’s multibillion-dollar tax shelter

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 6

9/🥤 Coca-Cola: A forensic look at Coca-Cola’s €10bn Irish shelter

www.businesspost.ie/analysis-opi...

For years, multi-jurisdictional groups have relied on complex international structures to manage their tax obligations

One IP, two balance sheets: How VMware’s Irish engine turns global growth into local losses

Democracy Challenged @democracychall.bsky.social · May 6

8/ 🖥️ VMware Case Study

One IP, two balance sheets: how VMware turned global growth into Irish losses and paid no tax.

www.businesspost.ie/analysis-opi...

When the rights to VMware's IP were onshored to Ireland, the income streams had to come with it, with a sharp surge in intangible assets on the company’s balance sheet