NYC pensions' $4B housing plan raises affordability questions - PitchBook Comptroller Mark Levine's new initiative will use pension fund money to invest in affordable housing, but there's a risk the plan could have the opposite effect than intended.

"a key issue is the mechanism for investing the money. Closed-end funds...They have a finite life, after which the fund manager is expected to sell the houses for a profit... The loophole allows property owners to use a “qualified contract” to exit their investments at the 15-year mark..."

Smartphones to be banned in schools in England Government bows to pressure from teachers, parents and Conservative Party

So courageous, given that “Research by the children’s commissioner for England last year showed that 99.8 per cent of primary schools and 90 per cent of secondary schools already restricted the use of phones in schools.”
www.ft.com/content/64f8... Smartphones to be banned in schools in England

Our new piece, collectively authored by the Editorial Board of @econsocjournal.bsky.social, reflecting on the state today.

@campolis.bsky.social

Link to the full piece below:

Causal inference courses: here's how you estimate causal effects and these are the assumptions you rely on and by the way the assumptions are always violated kthxbye

It's going to be even worse the next time they appoint Peter Mandelson

Two headlines but its same story:
-Food prices alarm sounds
-Wall St bank earnings shatter records, traders thrive on Iran war volatility

"The worst crises should not be the best times for companies in vital survival sectors" read @isabellamweber.bsky.social
www.newstatesman.com/internationa...

Super interesting reading the definitions for the candidate epistemic virtues for science inquiry

(have narrowed my picks but still ranking them...& not sure when this survey closes...)

I tried to raise this repeatedly in a local debate around the U16 social media ban - that older are people are as (or more) vulnerable to misinformation and radicalisation as the young.

People simply didn't want to know. Restrictions for thee, not for me.

This is a fascinating read. I’ve noticed an uptick in informed interest and debate on issues of the role of the state, distributive justice, structural inequalities, climate change when teaching. But I need more young women in my classes - still heavily in a minority in economics…

Revealed: Mandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decision Guardian investigation uncovers decision by UK security officials to deny clearance before Mandelson took up role as US ambassador

Revealed: Peter Mandelson failed vetting but Foreign Office overruled decision

+++ The Guardian can also reveal +++

Officials debate withholding Mandelson vetting documents from parliament

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

w/ Paul Lewis, @pippacrerar.bsky.social

Three panel comic. Panel 1: scene from the movie Aliens; Ripley is in a mech suit and delivers her iconic line: “get away from her, you bitch!” Panel 2: the xenomorph queen lunges at Ripley in the robotic suit and they engage in a fight. Panel 3: later, the xenomorph queen is standing in the shower, mid wash. She says, “‘it takes one to know one, honey.’ That’s what I should have said.”

I’ll be talking about THE ASSET CLASS at @bookhaus.bsky.social in Bristol this coming Monday: tickets are available online www.headfirstbristol.co.uk/whats-on/boo...

It’s official: the UK is rejoining Erasmus! 👏🇪🇺

A little known cul de sac of intellectual history. Roger Scruton asked G.A. Cohen to co-edit his Dictionary of Philosophy. Cohen agreed but pulled out after Scruton published The Meaning of Conservatism, as he couldn’t be publicly associated with the author of such a book.

There is something in my eye.

Sound on.

More than a fifth of UK’s ‘austerity children’ scarred by poverty, study says Researchers say hardship is a direct legacy of welfare benefit cuts imposed by Tory governments in recent years More than a fifth of all “austerity generation” British children have been scarred by poverty for at least half their childhood, a direct legacy of the welfare benefit cuts imposed by Conservative governments in recent years, research reveals. The proportion of children born after 2013 who spent at least six of their first 11 years of life in hardship surged after ministers froze working age benefits levels and imposed policies such as the two-child limit, it found. Continue reading...

More than a fifth of UK’s ‘austerity children’ scarred by poverty, study says

Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds Exclusive: MPs say profit-making levels in England are ‘scandalous’ and call for cap on amount private companies can make from NHS Private firms providing services to the NHS including healthcare and consultancy have made £1.6bn in profits over the last two years, research reveals. The findings – on the basis of contracts worth £12bn – have prompted claims of “scandalous” profiteering, concern that the health service is being “taken for a ride” and calls for ministers to impose a cap on maximum profit levels. £2bn of the £12bn of contracts went to firms with owners based outside the UK. £533m of that £2bn went to companies owned by people living in tax havens such as Jersey and the Cayman Islands. Firms, especially those owned by private equity outfits, used £353m of their £12bn NHS income to pay interest on debts. Continue reading...

Private firms providing services to NHS made £1.6bn profit in two years, research finds

Hormuz has that MAIN CHARACTER ENERGY

"Heavy rainfall on Hormuz Island washes iron oxide rich soil into the sea, turning the coastline blood red."
x.com/Rainmaker197...

Oxfam estimates that $3.55 trillion in untaxed wealth was stashed offshore in tax havens and unreported accounts in 2024. This sum exceeds the GDP of France and is more than twice the combined GDP of the world’s 44 least developed countries.

Read more: t.co/dRgEkmESbq

A degree of regulation: Building a more financially sustainable and resilient higher education sector - HEPI Excessive risk-taking by higher education providers must be curtailed. With concerns mounting over the financial health of the English higher education sector, a new report from the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) – written by Tom Richmond, a former adviser to ministers at the Department for Education – argues many universities have taken too many […]

“Higher-tariff providers have hoovered up thousands of additional students since the pandemic, yet this does not appear to have been accompanied by a commensurate increase in staffing.”
www.hepi.ac.uk/reports/a-de...

THE ASSET CLASS publishes today! The book is a roving investigation of private equity, a surreptitious realm of finance that has infiltrated almost every corner of our lives…

you: did he just threaten to nuke Iran?

Markets: "If an ICBM is heading your way, the size and composition of your portfolio becomes irrelevant. Thus, from a purely financial perspective, you should largely ignore existential risk,even if you do care about it greatly from a personal perspective"

The UK must immediately and unequivocally suspend support for the US military.

The Government have tried to appease him, then they tried to say they're standing up to him.

Words aren't enough - it's time for action.

The fact that NONE of the reporting on Artemis II has mentioned and analyzed the Trump 1 space directives that are governing why and how Artemis is happening and to what purpose is an extraordinary #scicomm failure and a sign of how bad journalism about policy and science has gotten

Management consultants are ruining UK universities Relentless off-the-peg commercial rewiring has undermined British higher education

Excellent article from @gsoh31.bsky.social on how management consultancy (a parasitic industry at the best of times) is aiding and hastening the destructions of UKHE

www.ft.com/content/5032...

Blue Owl struck by $5.4bn of redemption requests Private credit firm caps withdrawals after investors attempted to pull more than 40% from one fund

Blue Owl struck by $5.4bn of redemption requests ft.trib.al/vPF3fVJ

Which is what’s really going on here.

“Yields on the investments are expected to range from 5 to 7 per cent, a person close to the talks said.”

That’s significantly higher than the government’s cost of borrowing.

BlackRock said it was “incredibly excited” to “partner with GMPF to accelerate the availability of private capital for these essential assets”.

Okay but I’m *not* excited to accelerate the availability of essential public assets to private capital.

www.ft.com/content/1cdc...

Strikes me as an absurd threat, either we need the 4000 new training places or we don’t

event graphic for Resolution Foundation event The Great British Baby Bust: Should we worry about the UK’s falling birth rate, and can we do anything about it? Wednesday 1st April 9.30 - 10.45am Follow the link for more details and sign up.

👶 Are we experiencing a Great British Baby Bust?👶

While the UK’s birth rate has often fluctuated, it has fallen sharply since 2012, and a rebound anytime soon looks unlikely.

Join us to discuss on Wednesday morning ➡️ buff.ly/QRQOACV