Two talks next week
One lasting effect of the pandemic-era zoomification of everything is that there are now, in addition to the endless piles of books and articles you could read, also an endless list of virtual seminars and lecture you could attend. (Not to mention the podcasts!) Still, it’s possible that your own list isn’t long enough, and you’d like to know about more events happening online.
That is one reason I set up this newsletter — I had the idea that people might like to know when I was giving talks, appearing on panels, and so on. So, on the assumption that’s true, here are two things I am doing next week.
Industrial policy as de-risking? On Monday, June 6 10AM eastern time, I am moderating a Jain Family Institute panel on industrial policy and de-risking. The starting point is a shared support for a much greater role for the public sector in directing investment and production generally, and in the shift away from fossil fuels in particular. The question is to what extent the IRA and similar measures are meaningful step in that direction. Do they represent a substantial increase in the state’s role as economic coordinator, or is a model based on subsidies and incentives inadequate to overcome the real constraints on decarbonization? Is the answer different if we look at Europe versus the US?
The panelists are Daniela Gabor, Chirag Lala, Skanda Amarnath and Melanie Brusseler, all of whom are very smart and very interesting. I know I am going to learn a lot from listening to them; you might too. You can register for it here.
On the same topic, JFI had a panel a few days ago featuring Benjamin Braun and Madison Condon on asset managers and the climate transition. I highly recommend that one as well.
Reimagining the Fed. Then on Friday June 9th, at 1:40pm, I’ll be on a panel at Groundwork Collaborative’s EconCon, on reimagining the Federal Reserve. EconCon a two-day event (June 8 and 9) with a long list of great speakers. I am not sure if it’s still possible to register to attend in-person, but all of it will be streaming.
The march of progress. Talking to my dad the other day, he mentioned he’d been reading Malcom Harris’s Palo Alto, which I would also like to get to one of these days. He said it reminded him of Mike Davis — high praise. (My parents live in California, so there’s a local interest.) As it happens, I know Malcolm slightly. I met him for the first time 10 or 12 years ago, not long after Occupy Wall Street. He was one of relatively few people around Occupy who had faced criminal charges, which made him a bit of a cause celebre at the time. I remember being at a bar in North Brooklyn with him, Mike Konczal, Seth Ackerman and some other folks from Jacobin. Seth and I were having a debate about something which required us to look up some BEA data. I don’t remember what it was, but I do vividly remember getting online with a hotspot from his phone, which I was very impressed by. I had no idea then that that was a thing phones could do!