Nic Johnson
@tiltingatm3.bsky.social
teaching fellow in Law, Letters, Society @uchicago
Reposted by Nic Johnson
It pains me to inform you that the $100 million of U.S. Treasuries the Danish teachers and academics pension fund has announced it will sell are about all the U.S. bonds held by the country’s pension fund sector.
Turns out Denmark’s pension funds have been staying away from U.S. bonds all along.
Turns out Denmark’s pension funds have been staying away from U.S. bonds all along.
January 20, 2026 at 10:30 PM
It pains me to inform you that the $100 million of U.S. Treasuries the Danish teachers and academics pension fund has announced it will sell are about all the U.S. bonds held by the country’s pension fund sector.
Turns out Denmark’s pension funds have been staying away from U.S. bonds all along.
Turns out Denmark’s pension funds have been staying away from U.S. bonds all along.
Reposted by Nic Johnson
Financial war in response to trade war and territorial threats? More and more people appear to be calling for it. So I updated my post on U.S. Treasuries holdings—now with the latest data.
benjaminbraun.org/posts/treasu...
benjaminbraun.org/posts/treasu...
January 19, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Financial war in response to trade war and territorial threats? More and more people appear to be calling for it. So I updated my post on U.S. Treasuries holdings—now with the latest data.
benjaminbraun.org/posts/treasu...
benjaminbraun.org/posts/treasu...
Reposted by Nic Johnson
On Financial Parasites in International Mercantile-Imperialism. open.substack.com/pub/digressi...
On Financial Parasites in International Mercantile-Imperialism.
A few days ago (recall) I noted that I am re-reading J.A.
open.substack.com
March 19, 2025 at 4:07 PM
On Financial Parasites in International Mercantile-Imperialism. open.substack.com/pub/digressi...
This should be the most basic starting point for thinking about political economy. Everyone needs to read Istvan Hont, John Shovlin, Walter Scheidel, David Stasavage, and Thomas Oatley and catch up
See also www.bostonreview.net/articles/aft...
See also www.bostonreview.net/articles/aft...
March 10, 2025 at 7:24 PM
This should be the most basic starting point for thinking about political economy. Everyone needs to read Istvan Hont, John Shovlin, Walter Scheidel, David Stasavage, and Thomas Oatley and catch up
See also www.bostonreview.net/articles/aft...
See also www.bostonreview.net/articles/aft...
Reposted by Nic Johnson
So you're telling me Jabba was no Maimonides when it came to economic matters?
March 7, 2025 at 3:22 PM
So you're telling me Jabba was no Maimonides when it came to economic matters?
Teaching ends next week for me, at least for this year, so to keep the ball rolling I’m going to start hosting an “American constitutionalism and money” brunch, DM me if you’re in Chicago and interested
March 6, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Teaching ends next week for me, at least for this year, so to keep the ball rolling I’m going to start hosting an “American constitutionalism and money” brunch, DM me if you’re in Chicago and interested
Reposted by Nic Johnson
To be fair to the man’s comment about globalists and the selloff bsky.app/profile/raja...
Yes, but why would financial markets care if someone tried to undo overnight about four decades of the geospatial organization of global capitalism?
March 6, 2025 at 9:51 PM
To be fair to the man’s comment about globalists and the selloff bsky.app/profile/raja...
Extremely funny that the only John Rawls book in the UChicago bookstore is this one
March 6, 2025 at 10:42 PM
Extremely funny that the only John Rawls book in the UChicago bookstore is this one
So this is fascinating: Greek, Italian, Muslims and Jewish Mediterranean merchants all had the same economic culture in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The only place where theological differences seem to matter is in the distribution of risk in the principle-agent relationship.
March 6, 2025 at 7:53 PM
So this is fascinating: Greek, Italian, Muslims and Jewish Mediterranean merchants all had the same economic culture in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The only place where theological differences seem to matter is in the distribution of risk in the principle-agent relationship.
Do Mont Pelerin types have any love for Cordell Hull? I feel like they should, but haven’t seen any
March 4, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Do Mont Pelerin types have any love for Cordell Hull? I feel like they should, but haven’t seen any
This is the Dems secret weapon. Funny !!!
This is the Dems secret weapon. Funny !!!
“Sorry, chap, you’ve got to take one for the team,” the King said.
March 3, 2025 at 9:24 PM
This is the Dems secret weapon. Funny !!!
Reposted by Nic Johnson
Pet Peeve alert.
The Melian dialogue expresses might makes right. Fair. But Thucydides' wider argument is that if you act on this, before long you lack friends in time of need; the Athenians had it coming.
The Melian dialogue expresses might makes right. Fair. But Thucydides' wider argument is that if you act on this, before long you lack friends in time of need; the Athenians had it coming.
March 1, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Pet Peeve alert.
The Melian dialogue expresses might makes right. Fair. But Thucydides' wider argument is that if you act on this, before long you lack friends in time of need; the Athenians had it coming.
The Melian dialogue expresses might makes right. Fair. But Thucydides' wider argument is that if you act on this, before long you lack friends in time of need; the Athenians had it coming.
Reposted by Nic Johnson
“I am definitely happy this stuff is buried for now,” Bhaskar Sunkara said in an interview. “I hope it doesn’t come back.”
March 1, 2025 at 6:44 PM
“I am definitely happy this stuff is buried for now,” Bhaskar Sunkara said in an interview. “I hope it doesn’t come back.”
unreasonably excited for a second before realizing professor Robert F. Taft was not Senator Robert A. Taft. Not quite as bad as the "Arthur Burns" situation they had going on in the twentieth century, but still wrong on principle that they let this happen
March 1, 2025 at 5:11 PM
unreasonably excited for a second before realizing professor Robert F. Taft was not Senator Robert A. Taft. Not quite as bad as the "Arthur Burns" situation they had going on in the twentieth century, but still wrong on principle that they let this happen
Reposted by Nic Johnson
Atlanta Fed GDPNow forecast of 2025Q1 GDP growth took a big nose dive yesterday from a forecast of 2.3% GDP growth rate to -1.5% GDP contraction.
What is underneath that?
www.atlantafed.org/cqer/researc...
What is underneath that?
www.atlantafed.org/cqer/researc...
March 1, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Atlanta Fed GDPNow forecast of 2025Q1 GDP growth took a big nose dive yesterday from a forecast of 2.3% GDP growth rate to -1.5% GDP contraction.
What is underneath that?
www.atlantafed.org/cqer/researc...
What is underneath that?
www.atlantafed.org/cqer/researc...
Very sensible review post on the feudalism debate from @markkoyama.bsky.social with this neat graph
open.substack.com/pub/markkoya...
open.substack.com/pub/markkoya...
Feudalism as a Contested Concept in Historical Political Economy
“The tyrant feudalism must be declared once and for all deposed and its influence over students of the Middle Ages finally ended” (Elizabeth Brown, 1974)
open.substack.com
February 28, 2025 at 4:52 PM
Very sensible review post on the feudalism debate from @markkoyama.bsky.social with this neat graph
open.substack.com/pub/markkoya...
open.substack.com/pub/markkoya...
Reposted by Nic Johnson
I think our friends in the US just needs a Divine Beast for their boycotts...
Etymology: In Cantonese, 罷 means strike/boycott while 鷲 is a pretty archaic name for an eagle. 罷鷲 is a homonym of the phrase ‘let it go’/ ‘so be it’.
Source: TG (Oct 2019)
Source: TG (Oct 2019)
February 28, 2025 at 1:48 PM
I think our friends in the US just needs a Divine Beast for their boycotts...
The otherwise sober and even-keeled Schumpeter mega hates Locke
February 23, 2025 at 10:36 PM
The otherwise sober and even-keeled Schumpeter mega hates Locke
Reposted by Nic Johnson
digressionsimpressions.substack.com/p/on-althuss...
On Althusser's Machiavelli, and on Machiavelli as educator. With some Foucault
On Althusser's Machiavelli, and on Machiavelli as educator. With some Foucault
On Althusser's Machiavelli, and on Machiavelli as educator.
Machiavelli is domesticated by Althusser in his riveting booklet, translated by Gregory Eliott (1999) as Machiavelli and Us. (This Verso edition received a subsidy of the French Ministery of Foreign A...
digressionsimpressions.substack.com
January 20, 2025 at 8:54 PM
digressionsimpressions.substack.com/p/on-althuss...
On Althusser's Machiavelli, and on Machiavelli as educator. With some Foucault
On Althusser's Machiavelli, and on Machiavelli as educator. With some Foucault
Reposted by Nic Johnson
Ah, dissertation fieldwork w/central bankers--a unique social ecosystem that requires reading between the lines & stepping carefully. So great to see how far CB scholars have moved beyond my initial efforts to understand the politics at work in things purportedly apolitical like monetary policy.
Back to European integration teaching with my favourite quote about the path towards the Maastricht Treaty from inside the Committee of Central Bank Governors (from @katemcnamara.bsky.social’s Currency of Ideas)
January 6, 2025 at 4:31 PM
Ah, dissertation fieldwork w/central bankers--a unique social ecosystem that requires reading between the lines & stepping carefully. So great to see how far CB scholars have moved beyond my initial efforts to understand the politics at work in things purportedly apolitical like monetary policy.
Reposted by Nic Johnson
[Perry Mehrling voice:] “Consider: You’re amphibiously landing but there’s no water – you’re dead. It’s all about liquidity.”
December 20, 2024 at 9:03 PM
[Perry Mehrling voice:] “Consider: You’re amphibiously landing but there’s no water – you’re dead. It’s all about liquidity.”
Reposted by Nic Johnson
Is there an Industrial Policy Bluesky yet? How do I become a part?
December 6, 2024 at 8:03 AM
Is there an Industrial Policy Bluesky yet? How do I become a part?