An instant classic.

WEEKEND READ: What is the price of oil — the real one?

"My attempt to shed light into the PHYSICAL and FINANCIAL oil markets, and why you can pick up a barrel of crude for $78 in Kansas or $286 in Sri Lanka."

Terrific piece, TY @javierblas.bsky.social
Gift Link: www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

People will be closely studying how Hungary's opposition pulled off their win in such a pro-incumbent system. Important to note that the theme was corruption. Democrats need to get much better at calling out Trump's corruption.

I spent 16, SIXTEEN years fighting this crap.

I can’t believe it 😭

Our student protest against Viktor Orbán’s autocratic takeover in December 2010. The banner reads: WE ARE THE FIRST GENERATION WHO GREW UP WITH THE RULE OF LAW — LET US NOT BE THE LAST ONE.

BBC headline: Hungary to create new media watchdog. Students rallied for freedom of speech in Budapest.

Orbán took power in April 2010. We organized our first protests against him that December. I was 22, in undergrad, lucky to be in a community of students ready to resist.

Looking back, no wonder this moment feels so heavy. 🧵

screenshot of the article heading at https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/geopolitics/2026/03/the-world-energy-shock-is-coming

The economic fallout from the Strait of Hormuz isn't a hypothetical — it's already there. Most people in Europe and the US just can't feel it yet. A threat on our new @newstatesman1913.bsky.social article: what's heading our way, and why the burden won't be shared equally. 1/

In the New Geo-Economic Order, Price Shocks Are Here to Stay The US-Israel war with Iran has made energy prices soar across the globe. In a world increasingly dominated by imperial war and great-power conflicts, inflation will become an ordinary feature of poli...

Some thoughts on the age of mass disruption and how and to what extent we can prepare for future energy and commodity shocks. In short: I’m not terribly optimistic about the prospects of all but a few countries or about the source of the disruptions ebbing.

jacobin.com/2026/03/pric...

Does decarbonization still have a future? 6.30pm Thurs 19 March | Mark Blyth, Dr Benjamin Braun | Ticket Required | Free public event at LSE

Just in case anyone is around London tomorrow and has nothing to do on the second nice day of 2026 weather-wise you can always come see me do this: www.lse.ac.uk/european-ins...

Spoiler alert. Despite everything, it does.

As states weaponize supply chains, warnings of deglobalization and aggregate welfare losses have proliferated. But neither has materialized: trade volumes remain high and supply chains continue to span the globe. This paper argues that the surprising resilience of aggregate trade obscures a large-scale redistribution creating K-shaped divergence among firms navigating geoeconomic reordering. Who wins and who loses depends on two dimensions of corporate power: the strategic indispensability of what firms produce and their organizational capacity to reconfigure operations around geopolitical constraints. Because strategic designation attaches to specific outputs rather than broad industry categories, these capacities vary sharply among firms nominally facing identical pressures. Drawing on an original dataset of over 21,000 corporate earnings calls annotated using large language models alongside firm-level financial data, I demonstrate that sector membership explains remarkably little outcome variance. Adaptation operates hierarchically within industries, not between them. Firms controlling chokepoints or possessing reconfiguration capacity capture concentrated gains; those lacking strategic position bear recurring adjustment costs. As these costs cluster in regions previously affected by deindustrialization, supply chain restructuring risks intensifying the geographic polarization that fueled political demand for economic statecraft in the first place.

War is reshaping global markets. I have a paper under review that asks: who wins or loses when supply chains meet geopolitics, and what are the political implications?

Since the world is changing faster than our overburdened peer-review system can handle, here's the 📃 + a🧵
osf.io/preprints/so...

Norwegian new passenger cars sales by type: Monthly

US new light-duty vehicle sales by type: Monthly

Tale of two petrostates.

Data from @robbieandrew.bsky.social: robbieandrew.github.io/carsales/

Meanwhile, Spain's massive investment in renewables is paying dividends now: with prices for Spanish industry and consumers low and stable compared with other European economies.

www.ft.com/content/ac77...

📣 Publication day! The first paper from my project on Europe’s EV battery roll-out is finally out

I unpack how the EU’s EV battery boom is entangled with sacrifice zones—investment in Serbia & Hungary de-risked through autocracy.
www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

Huge congrats. Can’t wait to read.

New from Picketty's lab: The world can raise incomes toward global equity & stabilize the climate under "under very strict conditions"

—reduction of work hours
—consumption shift toward immaterial sectors
—major change in food habits
—a fast energy transition requiring massive low-carbon investment

What a day to cover this topic.

Short version: Financial hegemony is when you don't need to start wars to get what you want; and also when, if you 𝘥𝘰 start a war*, your borrowing cost goes down and your currency goes up.

* Which you'll be tempted to start one regularly.

Big congrats, Rosie!! Incredibly insightful contribution and helpful for us all.

I have a new review paper out in @environmentalpol.bsky.social! ✨

What would it actually take for states to pursue green transformations? I identify 5 capacities — planning, disciplinary, strategic, legitimation and adaptive — and their respective policy elements, capabilities and institutions

New piece for @phenomenalworld.bsky.social, written with @jacktaggart.bsky.social and @tomchodor.bsky.social! It's an attempt at grasping the dismantling of multilateral global governance, in light of intensifying geopolitical rivalries, resurgent state capitalism, and hegemonic crisis. Link below:

The Chinese Factory That Opened in the U.S. and Clobbered Its Rivals President Trump has pressured trading partners for investment in U.S. manufacturing plants. What if local industries can’t compete?

This WSJ story about a Chinese auto-glass plant in Ohio is interesting less as a China story than as a window into the challenges of U.S. industrial policy going forward. 1/

www.wsj.com/business/tar...

New definition of sovereignty dropped

Thanks, Ilias!

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

New article out in Politics & Society with @danieldrisc.com and @maxkiefel.bsky.social : "Internationalizing Industrial Policy: How China and the United States Use State Capacity to Secure Critical Minerals for Electric Vehicles"

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Failed in exactly the sense you say: politically. Emphasis is just that military power is a well-worn and politically comfortable lever. That's all. Hope you're well btw, its been good to see your work spread since we met a couple years ago.

Thanks for the brilliant feedback, my friend :)

Thanks Rosie!!

🚨 The political economy of finance summer school is back, 3rd year running! Better still: We're bringing it to London via @lse-ei.bsky.social.

𝐓𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐜: Finance & democracy
𝙳̲̲𝚊̲̲𝚝̲̲𝚎̲: 4-5 June 2026
𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦: March 1. Link below.

We've got brilliant instructors as usual. Please spread the word!

Big intellectual debt to your work!

Perhaps of interest @maxwillems.bsky.social @advaitarun.bsky.social @thoatley.bsky.social @jeffcolgan.bsky.social @mattomildenberger.bsky.social @leahstokes.bsky.social

Perhaps of interest @rosiecollington.bsky.social @trgn.bsky.social @basakkus.bsky.social @annahehenberger.bsky.social @lenseabrooke.bsky.social @mazzucatom.bsky.social @christianelliott.bsky.social @bhbradlow.bsky.social @bentleyallan.bsky.social @luukschmitz.bsky.social

Perhaps of interest @nilskupzok.bsky.social @mbabic.bsky.social @iliasalami.bsky.social @katemcnamara.bsky.social @jonasnahm.com @toddntucker.com @triofrancos.bsky.social @senojerialc.bsky.social @danmertens.bsky.social @timoseidl.bsky.social @adamtooze.bsky.social @johannespetry.bsky.social