Branko Milanovic
@brankomilan.bsky.social
1) Income inequality; 2) Politics; 3) History; 4) Soccer. Author of "Global inequality" and "Capitalism, Alone" (2019). Stone Center, CUNY; LSE, London
Don’t ask me about my profits, but let’s talk about your wages
Branko Milanovic@brankomilan.bsky.social · 3w agoMy today's (somewhat incendiary) Substack: Don’t ask me about my profits, but let’s talk about your wages How Western capitalists use China-bashing to deflect attention from their soaring profits branko2f7.substack.com/p/dont-ask-m...
My latest Substack in Spanish translation El nuevo mundo distópico-utópico de la Inteligencia Artificial letraslibres.com/economia/el-...
El nuevo mundo distópico-utópico de la Inteligencia Artificial | Letras Libres
Este ensayo imagina un futuro de cuatro clases –del lumpenproletariado a los tecnoseñores– en el que la inteligencia artificial acaba con la clase media y desestabiliza, más que libera, a las sociedad...
letraslibres.com
Interesting piece from @nandosigona.bsky.social
Ceuta: a migration crisis or a diplomatic message?
Nando Sigona, University of Birmingham The speed and scale of the arrivals in Ceuta are difficult to explain as an ordinary migration event. According to provisional Spanish estimates, around 50,00…
nandosigona.info
"If China continues to grow 2 or 3 percentage points faster than the U.S., then within one generation, and at most two, there will be as many people in China above the U.S. median income as there are Americans." -- @brankomilan.bsky.social
Many years ago I read a stupid comment by a US economist called Mankiw, saying that he was not a great fan of spectator sports & hence disliked football. What a nonsense, I thought; he did not understand that football is not a spectator sport.
That's what football was: Garrincha was known as the Alegria de Povo (Joy of the People). When similarly gifted and crazy Yugoslav player Dragoslav Sekularac, the big star of the 1962 World Cup, was offered a huge fee to move to Juventus,
Why does wealth poverty matter? How is it measured? How prevalent is it? What factors raise households' risk of being wealth poor? What policies can mitigate it? A new WP by @schechtlm.eurosky.social & @janetgornick.bsky.social, prepared for the Annual Review of Sociology, addresses those questions.
Despite excellent organization, beautiful stadiums, impeccable lawns, thousands of supporters, there was something ineffably wrong, even sick, in the last World Cup: so-called hydration stops that are really commercial breaks;
Economist Branko Milanović on inequality & capitalism - Jung & Naiv: Episode 708 www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H6U...
Economist Branko Milanović on inequality & capitalism - Jung & Naiv: Episode 708
YouTube video by Jung & Naiv
youtube.com
My conversation for Bloomberg's Odd Lots with Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal. Very fun conversation. Enjoyable. Great questions. www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/...
Watch Branko Milanovic on What Comes After Globalization | Odd Lots - Bloomberg
It's pretty obvious by now that globalization has fallen out of favor. And while many pundits have deemed economic globalism dead, we are still figuring out what to call this new era. Branko Milanović...
bloomberg.com
Eighty years of US income inequality All based on official annual population income surveys (with different definitions of income). Gross income is before taxes. Disposable income is after taxes & social transfers.
My conversation for Bloomberg's Odd Lots with Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal. Very fun conversation. Enjoyable. Great questions. www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/...
Watch Branko Milanovic on What Comes After Globalization | Odd Lots - Bloomberg
It's pretty obvious by now that globalization has fallen out of favor. And while many pundits have deemed economic globalism dead, we are still figuring out what to call this new era. Branko Milanović...
bloomberg.com
From @evonomics.bsky.social (fb edition). In "Neoliberalism and the New Fascism" I wrote how "trickle down" policies of cutting taxes for the rich did not increase productivity nor benefit workers - in fact it inaugurated a massive *upward* transfer of wealth as the rich engaged in speculation.
A nice exchange btw @alexcallinicos.bsky.social and myself on Trotsky and view of Trotsky by Leszek Kolakowski. I started with this piece I wrote several years ago. Trotsky after Kolakowski branko2f7.substack.com/p/trotsky-af...
Trotsky after Kolakowski
Why is Kolakowski so dismissive of Trotsky?
branko2f7.substack.com
The contribution of the book, while it looks at China specifically, is not only that it enables us to study the philosophy behind the statistical work in China but to see the ideological or philosophical underpinnings to much of statistical work in general.
Branko Milanovic@brankomilan.bsky.social · 2w agoStatistics as a philosophy and art The use and misuse of statistics in the early years of the People’s Republic A review of Arunabh Ghosh's "Making it Count" branko2f7.substack.com/p/statistics...
Statistics as a philosophy and art The use and misuse of statistics in the early years of the People’s Republic A review of Arunabh Ghosh's "Making it Count" branko2f7.substack.com/p/statistics...
Statistics as a philosophy and art
The use and misuse of statistics in the early years of the People’s Republic
branko2f7.substack.com
After this absolutely meaningless war, longer than was WW2 for the Soviet Union, launched light-heartedly by Putin, but with unnecessary tensions and unfriendly moves leading to the war made by both sides, Russia and Ukraine will
After this absolutely meaningless war, longer than was WW2 for the Soviet Union, launched light-heartedly by Putin, but with unnecessary tensions and unfriendly moves leading to the war made by both sides, Russia and Ukraine will
A bleak but credible perspective on the longer term impact of AI, by @brankomilan.bsky.social substack.com/@branko2f7/n... (for me it was redolent of EM Forster's "The machine stops" en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mac...) Q: is thinking about these issues in the AI Minister Kanishka Narayan's brief?
Sketching the new dysto-utopian world with massive presence of artificial intelligence
A four-class society (a long read)
substack.com
Half Way through this illuminating book by @brankomilan.bsky.social. I really like how the author combines intellectual history with contemporary economic analysis. Probably the most important work in 2026 to understand the present state of Capitalism globally?
Two new papers on wealth and income inequality
Janet Gornick@janetgornick.bsky.social · 2w agoThe @stone-lis.bsky.social WP series added linked papers; together, a comprehensive portrait of inequality trends: #128: Wealth Inequality Trends Around the World. #131: Is Income Inequality on the Rise Everywhere? Both also posted at @lisdata.bsky.social stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/research-dat...
A slight tweak to @brankomilan.bsky.social's definition of the "homopluotic class" is households that are in the top 10% in terms of BOTH income AND wealth. In the U.S., that means having an income of $250K+ AND a net worth of $2m+. Only about 1 in 20 U.S. households qualify.
The attraction of football (soccer) for many is often its seeming manifest injustice, namely that a worse team wins. One of the reasons, among others, is a small number of points (goals) scored. In basketball, for example, a better team would normally win.
I like the set up here. And I find the argument compelling especially about the risk of the formation of “surplus populations”.
Branko Milanovic@brankomilan.bsky.social · 2w agoMy today's Substack: Sketching the new dysto-utopian world with massive presence of artificial intelligence A four-class society branko2f7.substack.com/p/sketching-...
My today's Substack: Sketching the new dysto-utopian world with massive presence of artificial intelligence A four-class society branko2f7.substack.com/p/sketching-...
Sketching the new dysto-utopian world with massive presence of artificial intelligence
A four-class society (a long read)
branko2f7.substack.com
The @stone-lis.bsky.social WP series added linked papers; together, a comprehensive portrait of inequality trends: #128: Wealth Inequality Trends Around the World. #131: Is Income Inequality on the Rise Everywhere? Both also posted at @lisdata.bsky.social stonecenter.gc.cuny.edu/research-dat...
"Decentralized Western capitalists have been able to squeeze domestic labor for forty years and run outsized profits. But now they are faced by a centralized capitalist (which is in effect the Chinese state) branko2f7.substack.com/p/dont-ask-m...
Don’t ask me about my profits, but let’s talk about your wages
How Western capitalists use China-bashing to deflect attention from their soaring profits
branko2f7.substack.com