Dilek Sayedahmed
@dileksay2.substack.com
Market Design Economist gone rogue | Senior Economic Policy Advisor at WAGE & EIC ✨ One of those academic types who prefers books over people✌🏾 Elaine Benes of economics 🫡 une montréalaise économiste qui fait des choses.
https://dileksay2.substack.com
https://dileksay2.substack.com
reading Mary Oliver is like a hug.
I hope this one finds you gently, dear reader.
I hope this one finds you gently, dear reader.
November 10, 2025 at 8:22 PM
reading Mary Oliver is like a hug.
I hope this one finds you gently, dear reader.
I hope this one finds you gently, dear reader.
I Woke Up
and it was political.
I made coffee and the coffee was political.
I took a shower and the water was.
— by Jameson Fitzpatrick.
and it was political.
I made coffee and the coffee was political.
I took a shower and the water was.
— by Jameson Fitzpatrick.
November 5, 2025 at 9:29 PM
I Woke Up
and it was political.
I made coffee and the coffee was political.
I took a shower and the water was.
— by Jameson Fitzpatrick.
and it was political.
I made coffee and the coffee was political.
I took a shower and the water was.
— by Jameson Fitzpatrick.
Elana Leopold, executive director.
Maria Torres-Springer, the former first deputy mayor.
Lina Khan, the former federal trade commission chair.
United Way's president and CEO, Grace Bonilla.
Former deputy mayor for health and human services Melanie Hartzog.
That’s it. I am sending in my CV. ✅
Maria Torres-Springer, the former first deputy mayor.
Lina Khan, the former federal trade commission chair.
United Way's president and CEO, Grace Bonilla.
Former deputy mayor for health and human services Melanie Hartzog.
That’s it. I am sending in my CV. ✅
November 5, 2025 at 8:21 PM
Elana Leopold, executive director.
Maria Torres-Springer, the former first deputy mayor.
Lina Khan, the former federal trade commission chair.
United Way's president and CEO, Grace Bonilla.
Former deputy mayor for health and human services Melanie Hartzog.
That’s it. I am sending in my CV. ✅
Maria Torres-Springer, the former first deputy mayor.
Lina Khan, the former federal trade commission chair.
United Way's president and CEO, Grace Bonilla.
Former deputy mayor for health and human services Melanie Hartzog.
That’s it. I am sending in my CV. ✅
Sir. Can I send in my CV?
🤩😮💨🤌🏾❤️🔥
🤩😮💨🤌🏾❤️🔥
November 5, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Sir. Can I send in my CV?
🤩😮💨🤌🏾❤️🔥
🤩😮💨🤌🏾❤️🔥
But when the target is someone like Zohran Mamdani—when the person is Muslim, and unapologetically so—the standards shift. The hostility becomes normalized. The racism is recast as “political debate.” The dehumanization becomes permissible. Casually normal.
November 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
But when the target is someone like Zohran Mamdani—when the person is Muslim, and unapologetically so—the standards shift. The hostility becomes normalized. The racism is recast as “political debate.” The dehumanization becomes permissible. Casually normal.
The backlash would be immediate: legal consequences, public condemnation from every sector, and institutional statements denouncing the harm.
November 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
The backlash would be immediate: legal consequences, public condemnation from every sector, and institutional statements denouncing the harm.
But it still needs to be named plainly and called out, urgently.
Because imagine, for a moment, if the same language, insinuations, and smear tactics were directed at a public figure associated with another faith or community. It’s almost impossible to picture.
Because imagine, for a moment, if the same language, insinuations, and smear tactics were directed at a public figure associated with another faith or community. It’s almost impossible to picture.
November 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
But it still needs to be named plainly and called out, urgently.
Because imagine, for a moment, if the same language, insinuations, and smear tactics were directed at a public figure associated with another faith or community. It’s almost impossible to picture.
Because imagine, for a moment, if the same language, insinuations, and smear tactics were directed at a public figure associated with another faith or community. It’s almost impossible to picture.
During Mamdani’s campaign, the level of Islamophobia—and the openly proud, blunt racism—we’ve seen across American public discourse, media, social platforms, and especially from politicians and bureaucrats—is not new to many of us.
November 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
During Mamdani’s campaign, the level of Islamophobia—and the openly proud, blunt racism—we’ve seen across American public discourse, media, social platforms, and especially from politicians and bureaucrats—is not new to many of us.
October 21, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Folks, it is here. Available everywhere. Bonne projection!
October 18, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Folks, it is here. Available everywhere. Bonne projection!
Welcome to my podcast. Thank you for listening. And find me always mentally in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days.
Bon dimanche! ✌️
Bon dimanche! ✌️
October 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Welcome to my podcast. Thank you for listening. And find me always mentally in Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days.
Bon dimanche! ✌️
Bon dimanche! ✌️
We’ve mastered optimization (thanks to school of economic thought <<mega side eye here>> but forgotten satisfaction. In chasing efficiency, we’ve lost intimacy & vulnerability—with others, with nature, with ourselves.
October 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
We’ve mastered optimization (thanks to school of economic thought <<mega side eye here>> but forgotten satisfaction. In chasing efficiency, we’ve lost intimacy & vulnerability—with others, with nature, with ourselves.
Vicious cycle entails: our economy rewards the hunger to have, not the freedom to stop wanting. True wealth is measured by sufficiency, not surplus.
A key inquiry entails: what is perfection?
The answer is: simplicity is perfection. Not more.
A key inquiry entails: what is perfection?
The answer is: simplicity is perfection. Not more.
October 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Vicious cycle entails: our economy rewards the hunger to have, not the freedom to stop wanting. True wealth is measured by sufficiency, not surplus.
A key inquiry entails: what is perfection?
The answer is: simplicity is perfection. Not more.
A key inquiry entails: what is perfection?
The answer is: simplicity is perfection. Not more.
Prominent public figures, in (social) media, governance, leadership, or in the tech industry, most of whom are ultra-wealthy, flaunt abundance as aspiration, but what they really sell is restlessness—the art of never being content.
October 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Prominent public figures, in (social) media, governance, leadership, or in the tech industry, most of whom are ultra-wealthy, flaunt abundance as aspiration, but what they really sell is restlessness—the art of never being content.
Profitable only for capital mindset tells us fulfillment is a purchase away. But the price of endless growth is spiritual depletion—a treadmill that speeds up as we tire. Exhibit A: status quo of our society.
October 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Profitable only for capital mindset tells us fulfillment is a purchase away. But the price of endless growth is spiritual depletion—a treadmill that speeds up as we tire. Exhibit A: status quo of our society.
We live in a culture that mistakes accumulation for progress, where having more is the closest thing to meaning we're sold. Yet the more we acquire, the less we seem to arrive.
October 5, 2025 at 4:25 PM
We live in a culture that mistakes accumulation for progress, where having more is the closest thing to meaning we're sold. Yet the more we acquire, the less we seem to arrive.
Normally, I do live a Woolf life, but this fine autumn I am going full on Woolf by cutting adrift, sitting on pavements, drinking coffee, dreaming, and taking my mind off of its iron fuckin cage and swim in this fine Octobre.
J'espère que vous vous joindrez à moi, mes chers amis.
J'espère que vous vous joindrez à moi, mes chers amis.
October 2, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Normally, I do live a Woolf life, but this fine autumn I am going full on Woolf by cutting adrift, sitting on pavements, drinking coffee, dreaming, and taking my mind off of its iron fuckin cage and swim in this fine Octobre.
J'espère que vous vous joindrez à moi, mes chers amis.
J'espère que vous vous joindrez à moi, mes chers amis.
“Americans are very protective of their children, maybe because it's the only country in the world with the cultural practice of school shootings.” ― Yasmin Zaher, The Coin.
*files this under Books I Wish I Had Written, volume two.*
This book is highly recommended, folks.
*files this under Books I Wish I Had Written, volume two.*
This book is highly recommended, folks.
September 25, 2025 at 10:26 PM
“Americans are very protective of their children, maybe because it's the only country in the world with the cultural practice of school shootings.” ― Yasmin Zaher, The Coin.
*files this under Books I Wish I Had Written, volume two.*
This book is highly recommended, folks.
*files this under Books I Wish I Had Written, volume two.*
This book is highly recommended, folks.
Brooklyn College—thank you for hosting me for the data talks and seminars as part of your Research Initiatives and Scientific Enhancements group. What an honor. I look forward to returning in the spring. Truly a diamond in the city—and one that deserves far better support from the city it serves.
September 25, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Brooklyn College—thank you for hosting me for the data talks and seminars as part of your Research Initiatives and Scientific Enhancements group. What an honor. I look forward to returning in the spring. Truly a diamond in the city—and one that deserves far better support from the city it serves.
Okay New York, we get it, you are pretty, but girl you are impossible sometimes. Excited to spend some quality time with my colleagues at Brooklyn College this week.
September 22, 2025 at 7:11 PM
Okay New York, we get it, you are pretty, but girl you are impossible sometimes. Excited to spend some quality time with my colleagues at Brooklyn College this week.
I gasped at the ending. An impeccable novel, whose intricate title and origins will forever stay with me. A masterclass in melancholy, subtle, piercing, and devastatingly precise. It portrays British society in all its shades: the art world, the theatre crowd, the plutocrats.
September 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I gasped at the ending. An impeccable novel, whose intricate title and origins will forever stay with me. A masterclass in melancholy, subtle, piercing, and devastatingly precise. It portrays British society in all its shades: the art world, the theatre crowd, the plutocrats.
On today’s episode of books I wish I had written.
Zaher 🤝 moi
Zaher 🤝 moi
September 21, 2025 at 3:30 PM
On today’s episode of books I wish I had written.
Zaher 🤝 moi
Zaher 🤝 moi
"Did I have a grievance? Most of us, without looking far, could find something that had harmed us, oppressed us, and unfairly held us back. I tried not to dwell on it, thought it healthier not to, though I'd lived my short life so far in a chaos of privilege and prejudice." - A. Hollinghurst.
WOW.
WOW.
September 21, 2025 at 12:32 AM
"Did I have a grievance? Most of us, without looking far, could find something that had harmed us, oppressed us, and unfairly held us back. I tried not to dwell on it, thought it healthier not to, though I'd lived my short life so far in a chaos of privilege and prejudice." - A. Hollinghurst.
WOW.
WOW.
Think tanks? Nothing good ever comes out of them.
See: Institute for “Humane” Studies, Mercatus Center, Cato Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and many many more—and always with the sparkly shiny names.
Also see: Jane Mayer’s Dark Money.
See: Institute for “Humane” Studies, Mercatus Center, Cato Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and many many more—and always with the sparkly shiny names.
Also see: Jane Mayer’s Dark Money.
September 18, 2025 at 2:14 AM
Think tanks? Nothing good ever comes out of them.
See: Institute for “Humane” Studies, Mercatus Center, Cato Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and many many more—and always with the sparkly shiny names.
Also see: Jane Mayer’s Dark Money.
See: Institute for “Humane” Studies, Mercatus Center, Cato Institute, the Manhattan Institute, and many many more—and always with the sparkly shiny names.
Also see: Jane Mayer’s Dark Money.
Hi followers,
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu—arrested last March by the fascist Turkish government for his potential to win the next election—has a message to you all from imprisonment:
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu—arrested last March by the fascist Turkish government for his potential to win the next election—has a message to you all from imprisonment:
September 12, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Hi followers,
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu—arrested last March by the fascist Turkish government for his potential to win the next election—has a message to you all from imprisonment:
İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu—arrested last March by the fascist Turkish government for his potential to win the next election—has a message to you all from imprisonment: