Benjamin Braun @BJMbraun Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Benjamin Braun

@BJMbraun

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Political economist | @MPIfG_Cologne | Researching central banking, asset management, green macrofinancial regimes & more | benbraun on the blue site

https://t.co/TEd9EkMc2P

Joined September 2015

Don't wanna be here? Send us removal request.

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@BJMbraun

Benjamin Braun

2 months

What if a central bank were tasked with governing a *very* non-optimal currency area? And if that agent waged a long campaign to free itself from structural constraints through 'structural reforms'? Our answers, finally out in @PoPpublicsphere ! Short 🧵

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@BJMbraun

Benjamin Braun

1 month

I hear there's a debate about a certain superpower's government-subsidized overcapacity that far outstrips domestic demand and that is flooding global markets and stoking conflict. Glad the issue is finally on the table.

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Benjamin Braun

5 months

The Green party foundation just withdrew from the ceremony for the Hannah-Arendt prize it was going to award to @mashagessen this Friday. For an essay in the New Yorker. Hannah Arendt! Masha Gessen!! In the New Yorker!!! German liberals have truly, completely, lost the plot.

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Benjamin Braun

5 months

Stunning, eminently teachable final scene in the badass ZDF documentary about German billionaires. Asked if he ever felt shame for doing things like flying to his yacht in his private yet, Capri-Sun guy asks back: "Should we have gone on foot? What's the alternative."

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Benjamin Braun

3 months

Besides Germany's support for the war, the reason I've been so horrified by the discourse here is that it exposed a level of ignorance, conformism & racism among elites far worse than I had thought. Was all obviously there before. Feels shameful to have been caught by surprise.

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Benjamin Braun

30 days

If your German friends or professional contacts are not talking about this nonstop, consider asking them why.

@hahauenstein

Hanno Hauenstein

30 days

Within a week in Germany, Nancy Fraser was stripped off her professorship for signing a letter, Ghassan Abu Sitta was denied entry at the airport to give a lecture, and Helen Fares lost her journalist job for promoting non-violent boycott as a means of protest.

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Benjamin Braun

24 days

Striking parallels between the Berlin and Columbia crackdowns: Shockingly authoritarian, bizarrely disproportionate and clearly aimed at spreading fear, possibly not legal, enacted at high cost to the respective institutions/governments. Real home front fighting vibes.

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Benjamin Braun

2 months

I am so ashamed, and so furious. The irresponsibility of the German politicians who joined this pile-on beggars belief, and is matched only by their stupidity. They need to all step down and never run again, for anything, ever.

@yuval_abraham

Yuval Abraham יובל אברהם

2 months

A right-wing Israeli mob came to my family’s home yesterday to search for me, threatening close family members who fled to another town in the middle of the night. I am still getting death threats and had to cancel my flight home. This happened after Israeli media and German…

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Benjamin Braun

6 months

We're at the point where what counts as admirable speech in Germany sounds perfectly insane and racist to non-German ears. A gigantic rightward lurch, fueled by idiocy and ignorance, and everyone's cheering. I've felt deeply unsettled for weeks and things keep getting worse.

@jrhopkin

Jonathan Hopkin

6 months

I’ve now watched this 10 minute speech twice, and I can still barely believe my ears. You could write a PhD thesis on it, and I wish someone would. It takes literally 7 minutes to express any view on the killing of civilians in Gaza, and even then does little more than grudgingly

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

Summary of the #PandoraPapers

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Benjamin Braun

3 months

Brutal, and beautiful SUV vote data. Solid evidence that climate politics is not about culture war but class war. Seems that anyone who's wandered Paris even just for one Erasmus year ages ago could have predicted this exact result, down to the eight shades. h/t @picharbonnier

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Benjamin Braun

4 years

What is asset manager capitalism? (How) does index fund dominance change the political economy of corporate governance? This has taken me forever. It's a first working paper, focused on the United States. Brief summary below. 1/

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Benjamin Braun

5 months

What the Böll event puts on record is that these people's refusal to even *look* at Gaza – let alone *think* seriously about it – is categorical. There is no intellectual justification. Only narcissistic projection and (the flip side) dehumanization of Palestinians. Revolting. 1/

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Benjamin Braun

8 months

Perfection

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

Turns out @ARTEfr has 25 minutes of high-quality color footage of Mao's proclamation of the People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square on 1 October 1949. Apparently was lost/forgotten for 70 years.

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Benjamin Braun

2 months

And this is only what foreign leaders are willing to say *publicly*, with a German head of government standing right next to them. Hast there been a more profound and unmitigated foreign policy disaster in German post-war history? I seriously doubt it.

@MacaesBruno

Bruno Maçães

2 months

A stunning exchange in Berlin between Scholz and Anwar Ibrahim. We live in a new world. Germany just didn’t get the memo. The contrast in public speaking ability also striking

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

We all know this in 🇩🇪 academia (or else are deluding ourselves): Temporary employment + third-party funding dependence = wildly inefficient machine designed to mass-produce mediocre research. "Nice" to see #IchBinHanna message published in @Nature .

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Benjamin Braun

25 days

Incredible, brutal self-indictment by Draghi (although Trichet takes the biggest hit). Speech in Brussels yesterday. I’ve never seen anything like it from anywhere near the top of the ECB. And we just spent five years digging around. Extraordinary.

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@BJMbraun

Benjamin Braun

2 months

What if a central bank were tasked with governing a *very* non-optimal currency area? And if that agent waged a long campaign to free itself from structural constraints through 'structural reforms'? Our answers, finally out in @PoPpublicsphere ! Short 🧵

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@BJMbraun

Benjamin Braun

5 months

Time to announce that I'm extremely happy that I'll be joining @LSEEI as assistant professor of political economy in Sept 2024. They (we!?) just announced two additional jobs: in European politics & policy and, again, in political economy. Do apply, it's a fantastic department.

@LSEEI

LSE European Institute

5 months

🚨 NEW JOB VACANCIES! 🚨 The European Institute is recruiting for two new roles ⬇️ 1️⃣ Assistant Professor in European Politics and Policy: 2️⃣ Assistant Professor in Political Economy: 📅 Closing date: 18 February 2024 #LSEEI

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Benjamin Braun

16 days

Carolin Fohlin is one of the economists whose work I admire the most. I saw her speak in 2016 at @goetheuni when she was a guest professor for financial history. She's a leading scholar of the history of German finance and corporate governance. She knows what fascism looks like.

@UICProfWatch

Natasha Barnes

17 days

@MiddleEastEye Here’s @EmoryUniversity economics professor Caroline Fohlin knocked to the ground with her head on the concrete. Her glasses are thrown off. She shouts “I’m a professor” #Gaza #Protesters

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Are asset managers powerful? I'm excited that my attempt at an answer is now published (open access). Summary: 1) Exit-based power is down 2) Control-based power is up 3) ...but also more visible: AM power is constrained by politics. More in 🧵

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Benjamin Braun

30 days

Today's @wirklagenan 🇵🇸 congress in Berlin gives a measure of state repression in 🇩🇪: 1) 2500 police deployed to shut it down shortly after start 2) @GhassanAbuSitt1 , rector of University of Glasgow, forcibly stopped at the airport Not saying this lightly: It's time to panic.

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Benjamin Braun

5 months

I thought it was an excellent piece. I hope it'll be translated and published in German.

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Benjamin Braun

7 months

A list of financial data sources, curated for their usefulness for political economy. Official statistics as well as datasets compiled by organizations and academic researchers. Originally assembled for my #IPEofMoFi course at @thehertieschool .

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

I've updated my US university endowment charts to add my 2 ¢ on the circular-economy aspect of the Griffin g(r)ift: More than 50% of the gifts made by people like Griffin to places like Harvard are handed back, the very next day, to people like Griffin. It's a beautiful thing.

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Benjamin Braun

4 years

"It is becoming more and more difficult to communicate the scale of the crisis even to ourselves." 10,000 words from Arundhati Roy in @thenation manage to do just that though. Read. Share.

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Benjamin Braun

3 months

Some facts from the Chilean 'laboratory of neoliberalism' are truly wild: It's telling enough that it took a military dictatorship to privatize the pension system. The true chef's kiss, however, is that the military itself *opted out and stayed in the public PAYGO system*. Alone!

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

I’ve spent enough time recently documenting the ECB’s fixation on labor costs and structural reforms to confirm that this is a pretty big deal.

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Benjamin Braun

3 months

When you look your friends inside the garden in the eye, see blood thirstiness and cowardice, and realize you've been the jungle all along.

@RosieBirchard

Rosie Birchard

3 months

Update: EU's Borrell on US+Israel: "If you believe too many people are being killed, maybe you should provide less arms" "Everybody goes to Tel Aviv begging" "Netanyahu doesn't listen to anyone. They're going to evacuate. Where? To the moon?" "Stop saying please & do something!"

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Let's take a minute and appreciate that we've come a long way. Only a few years ago: A handful of Post-Keynesians and three IPE people banging on about how "monetary policy is *actually* super political" Today, Financial Times:

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Benjamin Braun

4 years

No we don't. No it won't. 1/3

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Benjamin Braun

1 month

Super big-shot German social theory Prof Doktors who in six months of killing & suppression of protest have said *nothing* in public sign the Nancy Fraser letter. Sorry but this is important: Your societal function was to be *first* in line. You’re literally last. We blame you.

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Am 3.1. brachte die @SZ einen unsäglichen Text von Nikolaus Piper zum wirtschaftspolitischen Diskussionsbeitrag von @IsabellaMWeber . Da die SZ unseren Leserbrief bisher nicht veröffentlichte, posten wir ihn hier.

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Benjamin Braun

6 months

A fun thing indeed – couldn't be more excited to announce: @MkBlyth and I are organizing a 'Political economy of finance summer school'. June 17-21, in Providence: 2 days for PhD students, 3 for early-career scholars. With the finest instructors. Please share & apply!

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@MkBlyth

Mark Blyth

6 months

Here's a fun thing @BJMbraun and I are doing this summer. A "what you need to know about finance" workshop for PhDs and early career researchers. Details here:

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

Strongest assessment yet from @ecb : "If we compare the relative contribution of unit profits and unit labour costs to domestic price pressures over a longer horizon ... the effect of profits on domestic price pressures has been exceptional from a historical perspective." 🔥🔥

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@ecb

European Central Bank

1 year

What really drives inflation? Profits or wages? When prices are high, workers request higher wages, so firms raise prices again… and so on. If this “tit-for-tat” approach continues, everyone ends up poorer. Read #TheECBblog to find out why

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Eine Professorin, die denkt und spricht wie ein junger Mensch, im Fernsehen. Für das Publikum verwirrend: So etwas gibt es? Ja, überall auf der Welt. Nur bei uns nicht. #IchbinHanna Wer @IsabellaMWeber zuhört, bekommt eine Vorstellung von den gesellschaftlichen Kosten.

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Benjamin Braun

4 years

Our core message is simple: nature is the last, vast refuge for financial capital in search of yield, and that's why we are going to prevent mass extinction by selling all creatures to hedge funds. 3/3

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Among the many data points that show just how much of an outlier Germany is, this one's a real stunner: Over the past quarter century, no other EU country has gone to greater length to keep its public sector wage bill down. State planning capacity? We don't even have teachers.

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Benjamin Braun

5 months

It's clear that Albrecht and Scholz know nothing, want to know nothing, and feel very pleased with themselves for it. They expose the intellectual & moral bankruptcy of the Staatsräson consensus. Here's the entirety of Albrecht's case against Gessen. Abhorrent, garbled nonsense.

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Hard to overstate just how bizarre I find this faith in a pension system consisting of vast capital pools invested via asset managers all over the world, and the deep distrust in public pay-as-you-go systems managed by democratically elected governments.

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

For New Labor Forum I wrote about what’s wrong with funded pensions. It's a crucial question for many countries, and yet the debate is often confused. I focus on one issue: Pension funds are financialization machines. Open-access link & a short 🧵

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Benjamin Braun

4 months

A high-level commission, established by the Bundestag, to determine how German institutions, across state, media, and civil society, went off the rail so catastrophically over Gaza.

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Benjamin Braun

5 months

I know that at least some colleagues who weren't aware that I was on my way out of Germany have wondered why I was committing career suicide in broad daylight. I hope this will reassure them that I've not gone insane, on the contrary: I've quite carefully weighed the costs.

@BJMbraun

Benjamin Braun

5 months

Time to announce that I'm extremely happy that I'll be joining @LSEEI as assistant professor of political economy in Sept 2024. They (we!?) just announced two additional jobs: in European politics & policy and, again, in political economy. Do apply, it's a fantastic department.

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

Bob Mundell, writing on an optimum desk area

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

Draghi’s Recovery Plan for Italy mentions productivity and competitiveness 50 times. What is it – Keynesian investment program or good old structural reform? Both! To see why, let’s take a *little* step back: Draghi’s 1976 PhD dissertation at MIT. Bear with me. 1/n

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

Starke Recherche über einen heftigen Fall von #MeTooScience . Die @UniCologne sieht extrem schlecht aus, die Argumentation ihrer Justiziarin bei der "Vernehmung" ist ein Skandal. Hoffentlich bald ohne Paywall, @derspiegel ? Bis dahin, das wichtigste im 🧵.

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Benjamin Braun

1 month

“It’s so important that Germans understand something of the complexity and breadth of Judaism.” Thank you, @hahauenstein , for giving Nancy Fraser the opportunity to say this. That it needs to be said continues to fill me with shame, and rage.

@hahauenstein

Hanno Hauenstein

1 month

As Nancy Fraser spoke to me about her recent cancellation at the University of Cologne, she explained why she considers Germany's unconditional allegiance to Israel to be a betrayal. And why she’s far from repentant about signing open letters in solidarity with Palestine.

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@BJMbraun

Benjamin Braun

2 years

Economics

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

This by @YasminRafiei is a huge achievement. She zooms in on a specific private equity firm buying & restructuring a specific care home. It’s the only method to show that the PE model is, by any legal standard a regular person would recognize, criminal.

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When Private Equity Takes Over a Nursing Home

After an investment firm bought St. Joseph’s Home for the Aged, in Richmond, Virginia, the company reduced staff, removed amenities, and set the stage for a deadly outbreak of COVID-19.

www.newyorker.com

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

Man muss etwas weiter ausholen, um die polit-ökonomischen Konsequenzen der Aktienrente zu erfassen – für das Machtgefüge zwischen Kapital und Arbeit, und für die Finanzialisierung der Grundlagen für ein gutes Leben im Alter. Das mache ich hier. Mini-🧵

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Die Aktienrente ist eine Finanzialisierungsmaschine

Gesundheit, Pflege und Wohnen sind das Fundament einer guten Altersvorsorge. Doch durch die von der FDP beworbene Aktienrente, werden genau diese Bereiche als Renditeobjekt ausgeschlachtet.

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Benjamin Braun

5 months

Albrecht is representative: A growing class of self-identifying arch-liberals who espouse illiberal, tribal, islamophobic views. They do not hide it: Here's Fücks, head of Böll for 20 years, on the Gessen event. He justifies Gaza by the "joint liability of a nation". Sick stuff.

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Benjamin Braun

2 months

Falls es abstoßendere Fragen gibt als die von Rapp und Schult und abstoßendere Antworten als die von Roth, ich könnte sie mir nicht ausmalen. Zeugnis eines von Realitäten losgelösten Wahnzustands. Die Frage stellt sich: „Wie lassen sich diese Leute noch erreichen?“

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

I don't think people are always aware of just how important US pension funds are for the hedge fund and private equity sectors. A solid 25% of alternative AUM are pension money. Add non-profits and local government and you're above 40%. My favorite data find in a while.

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

In political economy we have focused so much on showing why financialization happened and that it increases inequality that we’ve overlooked that extreme wealth inequality makes financialization inevitable. @AtifRMian et al. make this point powerfully.

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How the 1 Percent’s Savings Buried the Middle Class in Debt

Research suggests that when the rich bank, the rest borrow.

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Tomorrow I'll start teaching a new course on the international political economy of money & finance at @thehertieschool . Since we'll start with imperialism and will end on growth models, this @PikettyLeMonde chart on net foreign assets will be our alpha & omega. #IPEofmofi

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Benjamin Braun

6 years

These are now the words of a #RiksbankPrize winner. #PaulRomer #NobelPrize

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

FAZ in a nutshell: Eurobond? Never, it'll kill us all. Eurobomb? Bring it on.

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Benjamin Braun

5 months

Das beste ÖRR Produkt seit Jahren. Die letzten beiden Segmente sind schlicht ein Geniestreich: "There Is No Alternative" aus zwei Perspektiven: 1) TINA, SPD Perspektive: - KK: "Die *meisten* Menschen in Deutschland... - @jochenbreyer : "Warum tut die SPD nichts dagegen?" - KK:

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Benjamin Braun

4 years

The discussion of the economic effects of the PSPP is wild. Reads like it was dictated from certain graves in Freiburg and Vienna. Warning: Some content may be offensive to non-ordoliberal eyes. 1/n

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Benjamin Braun

1 month

Oh wait: Hearing that the debate is not actually about the most lethal weaponry mankind has ever devised. It's about overcapacity in the technologies that are our only hope for survival as a species, you say? That's so bad. God help us. It must end.

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Benjamin Braun

5 months

News: IDF dropped 200+ 2000lb bombs with 3000ft damage radius on Southern Gaza during the time when it had instructed civilians to flee there. German news: Police confiscates illegal firecrackers in Berlin-Neukölln. "Pro-Palestinian activists" said to have shown interest.

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

Social democrat: No firecrackers, nurses busy with pandemic. Free-market liberal: As people of the Enlightenment we are going to blow off our digits when the firecracker industry needs us to. Christian democrat: Gotta drive away those evil spirits.

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

The Blackstone real estate trilogy, by Brett Christophers. All open access. (And yes, these all came out within six weeks.)

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Benjamin Braun

4 years

‘German banks' supply of patient capital is the lifeblood of the German growth model’ <-- Core proposition in political economy Here (new & open-access), Richard Deeg and I argue that export-led growth actually wreaked havoc on German banking. 1/n

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Benjamin Braun

4 years

It’s a Eurodollar world & the Fed is in charge. How did we get here? @ArieKrampf , @steffenmurau & I went to the @BIS_org archives, results now out in @RIPEJournal . Bottom line: Central banks were deeply entangled with the Eurodollar from the get-go. 1/n

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Benjamin Braun

10 months

🚨Come work with me: 3-year postdoc position in our project "Central banking in hard times"🚨 🇫🇷-🇩🇪 project funded by ANR & DFG Team: @MatthiasThiema3 , @deyris_j & I Place: @thehertieschool – in BERLIN! Deadline: 15 August Link: Please share!

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Benjamin Braun

2 months

The @economyandspace theme issue I've been editing with Brett Christophers is out: 'Taking stock [sorry couldn't help it] of asset manager capitalism'. Open access! It's been a privilege working with these scholars – we're *very* happy with the result! A 🧵 on the contributions.

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Benjamin Braun

23 days

Andere Journalist*innen könnten hinfahren und so berichten. Mit selbst recherchierten Informationen aus erster Hand. So viel Respekt für @hahauenstein .

@hahauenstein

Hanno Hauenstein

23 days

Over the past few days, Israeli settlers have devastated Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank. Anwar Saloudeh's house was totally destroyed. When I asked him how he felt seeing this, he said: no words. It would probably take 15 years to earn the money for rebuilding.

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

"Braun’s papers on this subject are fascinating, and nerds will want to read them in full. Mere dorks, however..." ... should read this fantastic piece on how and why asset manager capitalism is different. Thank you, @EricLevitz , for engaging w/ my work!

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Modern Capitalism Is Weirder Than You Think

Three asset managers now collectively own a big chunk of nearly every corporation. As a result, capitalism no longer works as advertised.

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

Yes crypto is down but so are water pipes serving 800,000 people in Gaza, 17 hospitals and clinics are damaged, and more than 200 Palestinian lives have been extinguished.

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

High net-worth people: carbon offsets will save us. Also high net-worth people: Why yes we’ve been buying land, lots of it. Heads you pay us for offsets, tails you pay us for drinking water.

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

“Unrelenting pressure to spread the fabric of market economy” (Polanyi, 1944) “Structural reforms...change the fabric of an economy” (ECB) “will continue to cajole governments into implementing [structural] reforms” (Duisenberg) NEW paper & a short 🧵

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

It's here, @KaiKodden ! The perfect gift for friends & family – for the content if they're into political economy, or simply for the vista of the Canary Wharf financial district. Honestly, the paperback with 20% off atm is kind of a good deal:

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Benjamin Braun

2 months

Not sure exactly what to make of the fact that as Germany's international reputation approaches a post-1940s low as a result of our government's steadfast support for the mass killing of civilians, our main remaining global asset is the actress currently on screen as Frau Höss.

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Benjamin Braun

2 months

In welchem Universum leben diese Leute

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

*Opens FT* Let's check in on the finance-led green transition *Closes FT*

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

Dispelling the most fantastical of all finance myths: that hedge and private equity funds assume "entrepreneurial risk" and deserve (tax) credit for that. Truly Orwellian finance speak that couldn't be further from on-the-ground reality.

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Benjamin Braun

9 months

I've taught #IPEofMoFi twice now, and have revised and tweaked many things along the way – ready to share the syllabus. Hope it's useful to some. Suggestions welcome for the next iteration.

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Benjamin Braun

5 years

So three former central bank (deputy) governors wrote a paper for BlackRock, reportedly to be discussed at Jackson Hole. A short thread about how #AssetManagerCapitalism meets #CentralBankCapitalism . Or: How to go from monetary policy taker to monetary policy maker. 1/n

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

Now we know: After late capitalism comes space Marxism

@therecount

The Recount

3 years

Jeff Bezos: "I wanna thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all this."

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

2021 in a nutshell: John Kenneth Galbraith, via only a couple of earthly intermediaries, dunking on Krugman in defense of @IsabellaMWeber 's writing on price controls. Happy New Year everyone!

@StephanieKelton

Stephanie Kelton

@StephanieKelton

2 years

What follows is a THREAD, posted on behalf of Professor James Galbraith, who is not on Twitter but who asked me to share his reaction to this.

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

Reading Wages of Destruction for first time (blown away). Now that I've confessed: The unsettled Reichsbank claims under the clearing system forced on European countries from mid-1940: Is it my blinkered eyes or was this essentially TARGET 0.5 (with coercion & reversed signs)?

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Why banks are monetary policy hawks, while asset managers are doves. Banks make more money when interest rates rise, asset managers make (much) less.

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Thank you, @adam_tooze ! Couldn't have wished for a more cracking summary of my thoughts on asset manager capitalism. I'll take the opportunity for a brief 🧵on recent work on the topic by stars such as @adribuller , @MadisonECondon , @franziscooi , @lenorepalladino & @NataschaZwan .

@adam_tooze

Adam Tooze

2 years

Asset Manager Capitalism shapes our world. Evolving since the 1990s it reached a new pitch after 2008 Chartbook #82 just dropped. Featuring work of @MkBlyth @BJMbraun @DanielaGabor @sanha926 @investigate_eu @RobinWigg

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

It's happening, @KaiKodden ! Coming in Dec 2022. Featuring @KnafoS @sahildutta @abinder1 , @AufAnfang @fichtner_jan @johannes_petry @MatthiasThiema3 @metz_caroline @florence_dafe , @ZoePhillipsW @ArjanReurink @javiergb_com @benjlemoine @KatharinaPistor .

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

To understand the rise of asset manager capitalism as a #corpgov regime, this is my favorite chart: the structure of US corporate equity ownership. I updated it to 2021 and added domestic hedge funds (subtracting that amount from households). Lately, the action has been in ETFs.

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

Public vs private. One is a notoriously stupid way of allocating capital.

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Untenured in the underfunded 🇩🇪 university system & getting stuck every week on your long-distance commute on the underfunded 🚆 system -> righteous anger All of the above *plus* peer-reviewed knowledge of the political economy of export-led growth -> constant, debilitating rage

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Benjamin Braun

1 year

When you write about the pension-financialization nexus you're hoping to be read by the Dutch. Which is why I didn't blink when @FTM_nl said that in addition to an interviewer they were going send a photographer, too. Interview now also in English.

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The formidable power of pension assets is making the financial sector more powerful while increas...

In the past fifteen years, global pension assets rose from 24 to 48 trillion dollars. What are the consequences for society of this monetary tsunami, always seeking out greater returns? The German...

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Running with the asset manager capitalism project has always felt like a risky endeavor for a political scientist. It still does, but @MkBlyth engaging with and promoting my work on this is incredibly encouraging. Maybe one day I'll learn how to do presentation like this.

@MkBlyth

Mark Blyth

2 years

Some folks at Brown asked me to given them an overview of the work of @BJMbraun on Asset Manager Capitalism. So I did, throwing in a few of my own extensions, observations, and puts. If you want to know why Blackrock et al rule the world, give me 20 mins:

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

Bizarro finance capitalism: Blackstone is buying out the same hotel chain for the *third* time in 18 years.

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

Eine wissenschaftsfeindliche "progressive" Koalition. Dass @Bundeskanzler und @BMWK dies scheinbar widerspruchslos hinnehmen, zeigt die horrenden Kosten der Koalition mit der FDP und des Abtretens des BMF an Lindner. Bitter, dass all das bis ins Detail vorhersehbar war. /END

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Benjamin Braun

2 years

My adult life began with Schröder running for chancellor. It's incredibly depressing to think that the man's 24-year journey into total moral bankruptcy makes for an excellent prism through which to tell the story of Germany's stunningly large contribution to the polycrisis.

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Benjamin Braun

3 months

As a result of the rot having been exposed in this way, of course, one's faith in these elites' capacity to grapple with, let alone tackle, gigantic political challenges is shattered. A radicalizing experience (that compounds the radicalizing experience of the euro crisis).

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Benjamin Braun

4 years

The title for this should have been “The death of the folk theory of money.” With hindsight, the revolution in the discourse on money (creation) looks like the most consequential legacy of the early QE years. Title unchanged, but finally open access:

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

Econ: Carbon tax is great, even oil majors are on board. Exxon: "Carbon tax isn’t gonna happen. [So] it’s an easy talking point to say 'I’m for a carbon tax.'" Incredible @UE undercover scoop.

@UE

Unearthed

3 years

REVEALED: How Exxon held back climate action for decades, and is still doing it today. We went undercover with Exxon’s lobbyists to expose the truth. Watch and share.

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Benjamin Braun

6 months

Head of SPD ditches Bernie, book fair cancels Palestinian author, academic prize juries backtrack – does it ever cross the minds of our Staatsräson ultras that there's not going be any foreign intelligentsia to boycott because the foreign intelligentsia is going to boycott *us*?

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Benjamin Braun

18 days

Calling the German government's decision to halt UNRWA funding "monstrous" offended a Berlin blob person so much he called me "unhinged" on here. Which is funny because never in my life have I been more hinged.

@AuswaertigesAmt

Auswärtiges Amt

@AuswaertigesAmt

18 days

Wir begrüßen den @MinColonna -Bericht zu @UNRWA , dessen Empfehlungen rasch umgesetzt werden müssen. Wie andere Partner, nehmen wir die Zusammenarbeit mit dem UN-Hilfswerk in #Gaza in Kürze wieder auf. Details in unserer gemeinsamen Erklärung mit @BMZ_Bund 👇

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Benjamin Braun

3 months

Ein autoritäres race to the top, und alle marschieren mit.

@hahauenstein

Hanno Hauenstein

3 months

Beeindruckend. Dass Aussagen über Besatzung, Apartheid und Waffenstillstand antisemitisch gewesen sein sollen, wird jetzt schlicht und einfach als gegeben hingenommen. Und starker Staat @MarcoBuschmann macht Drohkulisse gegen progressive Kunstler*innen. Viktor Orbàn lässt grüßen.

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Benjamin Braun

3 years

Academic consequences of legal origins: If you're at an English law elite university you get to say that Chinese law is of German origin and be cited a lot.

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