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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Ben Zaranko @benzaranko.bsky.social · Aug 31

There's an important debate to be had on the wisdom of simultaneously increasing employer NICs, the minimum wage and employment rights. The jobs market does look weaker. But an alternative reading of this chart is that employment has just continued on its pre-election trend?

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Diane Coyle @dianecoyle1859.bsky.social · Sep 1

This kind of descriptive analysis is v interesting- well worth a read

Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Sep 1

What makes recent technological developments so devastating is not their novelty, but rather that the political economy of developed democracies is already set up to ensure the proceeds of growth are not widely shared.

You can download the full article for free here:
doi.org/10.1093/ser/...
[5/5]

Prosperity and inequality in mature knowledge economies

Abstract. In the 1990s, policymakers in affluent democracies viewed the ‘knowledge economy’ as a solution to economic stagnation and social exclusion. Yet,

doi.org

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Sep 1

What makes recent technological developments so devastating is not their novelty, but rather that the political economy of developed democracies is already set up to ensure the proceeds of growth are not widely shared.

You can download the full article for free here:
doi.org/10.1093/ser/...
[5/5]

Prosperity and inequality in mature knowledge economies

Abstract. In the 1990s, policymakers in affluent democracies viewed the ‘knowledge economy’ as a solution to economic stagnation and social exclusion. Yet,

doi.org

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Sep 1

This is not (just) a story about generative AI displacing new graduates: it is a story about how knowledge work has been transformed and squeezed by successive technological advances, such as cloud computing and the platformisation of the digital economy. [4/5]

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Sep 1

Moreover, even those sectors that were supposed to epitomise the new high-skill, high-wage paradigm in which 'what you earn depends on what you learn' have in fact become increasingly capital-intensive over time, denying skilled workers a higher share of the proceeds of growth. [3/5]

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Sep 1

My new article, free to read in the Socio-Economic Review, explores productivity and inequality trends in advanced democracies from 1995 through to the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic. It exposes how the knowledge economy nowhere lived up to its promise of inclusive growth. [2/5]

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Sep 1

***New article announcement!***
Prosperity and inequality in mature knowledge economies

Barely a week goes by without new reports of generative AI displacing high-skilled knowledge work. But this is part of a trend stretching back more than 20 years. [1/5]

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Aug 26

Will AI eliminate high-skilled, high-paid knowledge work? If the recent past is anything to go by, yes. My new article explores how knowledge work has already become more capital-intensive since the early 2000s, undermining hopes of inclusive prosperity: doi.org/10.1093/ser/...

Prosperity and inequality in mature knowledge economies

Abstract. In the 1990s, policymakers in affluent democracies viewed the ‘knowledge economy’ as a solution to economic stagnation and social exclusion. Yet,

doi.org

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Jul 16

A reminder of the impermanence of currency hierarchies from the US Commercial and Financial Chronicle, 1 December 1877: 'in the great exchange markets of the world... our paper is not current and never will be.'

The South was never in spite of all her troubles in a position of such genuine promise as now She has forced to learn economies in production she can grow cotton now profitably at a low price although she used to get poor on it at a high one she has also learned to grow a large crop the labor question is in great measure solved on her soil and her position in the world's markets was never so favorable as now Her great staples are the equivalent of gold in a peculiar sense the governing price of cotton to day is a gold one in the great exchange markets of the world where our paper is not current and never will be The dream of all Southern publicists has always been for direct commercial relations with England Perhaps this is more than a dream perhaps not but what can be more foolish than to insist upon spurning and excluding the currency of mankind in order to cling to the non exportable paper which is the worst foe the country has

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Economics Observatory @econ-observatory.bsky.social · Jul 7

💰One-off wealth taxes: what can we learn from history? @nickod.bsky.social
TODAY on the Economics Observatory👇

One-off wealth taxes: what can we learn from history? - Economics Observatory

In the wake of crises that have caused national debts to grow rapidly beyond ‘normal’ levels, the idea of drawing on private wealth in order to pay down those debts has sometimes gained currency.

buff.ly

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Philipp Golka @pgolka.bsky.social · Oct 15

The #climate crisis leads to unprecedented losses & damages to real and financial #assets. But the dynamics and consequences of asset stranding are only poorly understood.

If you want to change this, please join
@trgn.bsky.social, @vapunkt.bsky.social & me for our #SASE2025 Mini-Conference (1/2)

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · May 19

Really looking forward to this online seminar with Quinn Slobodian, author of Crack-Up Capitalism and Hayek's Bastards, 5pm BST on Weds 4th June.

It promises to be a fascinating discussion of neoliberalism and its discontents. The link to sign up (for free!) is:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/professor-...

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · May 13

Excellent (if depressing) article from the FT. Fixating on skills supply in the "knowledge economy", without considering other bottlenecks (housing/transport, access to capital, access to intellectual property/data etc), is tantamount to pumping air into a punctured tyre.

www.ft.com/content/cd13...

Is the UK failing its graduates?

Young people are bearing the brunt of a long-term slowdown in the labour market, data shows

www.ft.com

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · Apr 9

The lesson of Donald Trump’s business career would seem to be, to adapt Keynes, that Donald Trump can remain irrational longer than Donald Trump can remain solvent.

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Valentina Ausserladscheider @vapunkt.bsky.social · Mar 10

📢 Next week is our first seminar of the @psabcpe.bsky.social online series with fantastic @ankehassel.bsky.social talking about Growth Strategies And Welfare Reforms: How Nations Cope With Economic Transitions💡Please sign up 💻 & share widely ‼️

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Sander Tordoir @sandertordoir.bsky.social · Mar 3

The European Union remains a funny animal.

Outside observers: rich place, lots of industry, lower debt levels than US/China. Should be able to rearm quickly and cheaply if they coordinate decision-making.

Leaders on the inside: I don’t trust my neighbour so let’s bicker while the house burns down.

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Feb 12

"Man rejects means, demands end."

Extract from the guardian website, reading Trump says more tariffs coming and calls for lower interest rates"

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Nick Garland @npjgarland.bsky.social · Feb 7

This was an excellent piece by @craigpberry.bsky.social & @nickod.bsky.social on the relationship between equality and innovation, busting the idea that the two need be in tension:
journals.lwbooks.co.uk/renewal/vol-...

The productivist welfare state: how tackling inequality can unleash innovation - Lawrence Wishart

In UK welfare debates, equality and economic growth are often treated as opposites: one inevitably comes at the expense of the o

journals.lwbooks.co.uk

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Duncan Weldon @duncanweldon.bsky.social · Feb 5

Lost much of the afternoon to this.
It’s excellent.

Journal of Law and Political Economy @jlpe.bsky.social · Feb 5

The Intellectual Origins of the Modern International Tax Regime: Edwin R. A. Seligman, Economic Allegiance, and the League of Nations’ 1923 Report by Ajay Mehrotra escholarship.org/uc/item/3qn3...

The Intellectual Origins of the Modern International Tax Regime: Edwin R. A. Seligman, Economic Allegiance, and the League of Nations’ 1923 Report

Author(s): Mehrotra, Ajay | Abstract: In March 1923, a group of prominent political economists and tax law experts gathered in Geneva, Switzerland to discuss the post–World War I framework for a new i...

escholarship.org

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Jan 29

If you're interested in DeepSeek and the competitive landscape around generative AI, you might find this article from a while back interesting: journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

(Feeling particularly smug about this passage this week...)

By contrast, with second-order network effects, there could come a point when it becomes difficult to improve the quality of connection between any given individual and the things to which they might be connected (products in online retail, webpages in a search engine, diagnoses in a diagnostics app, responses to a prompt in generative AI). Beyond a certain level, additional data may cease to affect results, instead serving primarily to confirm matches. This means that incumbency advantages associated with second-order network effects do not always grow indefinitely. The risk of markets tipping irrevocably on this basis alone is thus limited, and there may be less need for privacy-invading and/or innovation-curtailing interventions to preserve competition. Conceivably, multiple organisations could acquire the number of users necessary to provide an adequate quality of matches.

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Jérôme Deyris @jdeyris.bsky.social · Jan 27

📊 Last week, we released our new central bank speeches database, which almost doubles the coverage of the @BIS_org
database.

We also released a tool to facilitate research on central bank communication: meet the #CBSpeeches explorer! Four tools for the price of one (=free!)

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

George Dibb @georgedibb.bsky.social · Dec 18

Really recommend this excellent rebuttal to the 'Foundations' essay

It shouldn't need pointing out but you really can't wonder at the ability of France, South Korea, or post-WW2 Britain at building things *and* argue that the state simply can't do things

open.substack.com/pub/energyne...

Without Foundation

A critique of the essay Foundations by Bowman, Southwood and Hughes

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · Dec 12

💯 As I tell my students, having AI write your philosophy paper is like sending a robot to the gym for you and expecting to reap the health benefits.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · Dec 12

Writing is thinking.

It’s not a part of the process that can be skipped; it’s the entire point.

Anna E. Clark @annaeclark.bsky.social · Dec 11

This is what's so baffling about so many suggestions for AI in the humanities classroom: they mistake the product for the point. Writing outlines and essays is important not because you need to make outlines and essays but because that's how you learn to think with/through complex ideas.

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Nick O'Donovan @nickod.bsky.social · Dec 12

Really interesting which parties have sharp variations in support across ages groups and which don't (Lib Dems relatively cross-generational in appeal; Reform cross-generational among men only).

Tim Bale @timbale.bsky.social · Dec 12

Handy graphic - voting by age and gender, #GE2024 (Source: www.politicshome.com/news/article...).

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Reposted by Nick O'Donovan

Nicole Sykes @nicolesykes.bsky.social · Dec 8

Andy Haldane says “Today’s Great Division is a slow puncture, silently undermining us over more than half a century.”

“Malign neglect of social capital has sowed the seeds of many of today’s largest problems, economic, social and spatial. “

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