Nancy Birdsall
@nbirdsall.bsky.social
development economist, president emerita Center for Global Development (@cgdev.org), hoping some of my Twitter followers move over to BlueSky
Thank you Philip Kennicott @washingtonpost.com -- As we in DC area mourn our loss www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...
Column | At a broken Kennedy Center, the National Symphony begins a new journey
The NSO is losing its home — after becoming a world-class orchestra.
washingtonpost.com
A federal judge just enjoined one of the US Administration’s sharpest attacks on international students. The ruling references research by me & my stellar co-authors six times. Facts matter. Facts are necessary for democracy, accountability, and the rule of law. Research delivers them.
Memorandum & Order – #50 in Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration v. United States Department of Homeland Security (D. Mass., 1:26-cv-13799) – CourtListener.com
District Judge F. Dennis Saylor, IV: MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION. Plaintiffs' motion for APA § 705 relief, a preliminary injunction, or, in the alternative, summary judgm...
storage.courtlistener.com
It's also grim: America "walks away" from democracy abroad, from Tom Carothers carnegieendowment.org/research/202...
America Walks Away from Global Democracy
By abandoning past U.S. pro-democracy policies and adopting several lines of pro-autocratic action, the Trump administration has fundamentally repositioned the United States vis-à-vis democracy in the...
carnegieendowment.org
It’s worth mentioning in every news story that this deal is substantially worse for the US, and far more lucrative for Iran, than the Obama nuclear deal Trump blew up almost a decade ago.
Shipwreck@shipwreck75.bsky.social · 4mo agoMehr releases what it says are details of the Iran-US MoU:
A warning from Gephardt and WIrth, seriously staid, smart people: robertreich.substack.com/p/warning-tr...
Warning: Trump's Rolling Coup Is Already Underway
And what must be done to stop it
robertreich.substack.com
In DC we suffer taxation without Congressional representation; federal troops on our streets and in our metro stations suffer boredom; US taxpayers suffer one more hit by Trump on their tax obligations.
Michael Clemens@mclem.org · 4mo agoHi from Washington, DC. Roaming squads of heavily armed military troops are STILL deployed throughout my city. Ugly authoritarian theater, troops far from their families, vast public expense. For no reason whatsoever.
Wow. A Plan for Equality and Prosperity Global Justice Report. Piketty et al. Smart/bold/...naive? IFI watchers required reading.
et.al
Big revenue potential of "health" taxes (sugary drinks/tobacco/alcohol) in emerging markets. Not a new idea: May these authors can get it on IMF agenda...! www.cgdev.org/publication/...
Health Taxes and the IMF
With fiscal pressures mounting and health burdens rising, the IMF is well positioned to elevate health taxes from underused instruments to a central pillar of domestic revenue mobilization, delivering...
cgdev.org
The new inequality (of wealth/capital) a ...danger to democracy: ...https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-new-inequality?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F5a1ab47c-44e3-4745-9889-5f52b2456c26_936x626.png&open=false
America's first research university (of which I am sort of an allumna ie of SAIS) is lucky to get @mclem.org.
Michael Clemens@mclem.org · 5mo agoA beautiful day for me. Delighted to officially join the faculty at America's first research university, @jhu.edu. I'm here in part to give this country more of 'what universities owe democracy'—> www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/... Check out what we're building, and expect greatness—> sgp.jhu.edu
🆕 The East Asian miracle revisited: Industrial policy, shared prosperity, and lessons for today 📢 Today on VoxDevTalks, @nbirdsall.bsky.social (@cgdev.org) revisits the World Bank's landmark 1993 East Asian Miracle report: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kgg...
The East Asian miracle revisited: Industrial policy, shared prosperity, and lessons for today
YouTube video by VoxDev
youtube.com
A giant in dev econ: poverty, inequality, AERC, more...
UNU-WIDER@unu-wider.bsky.social · 5mo agoUNU-WIDER mourns the passing of Professor Erik Thorbecke, a dear friend, colleague, and towering figure in development economics. His impact on poverty, inequality, and growth will be remembered. Our thoughts are with his family and all he inspired. Read our tribute: go.unu.edu/OIVWv
Yup. Worse than the robber barons and in this digital AI age far more dangerous: paulkrugman.substack.com/p/will-our-h...
Will our Hyper-Gilded Age Usher in Genuine Populism?
The tech bros are worse than the robber barons ever were — and voters are catching on
paulkrugman.substack.com
Women, as mothers, have a special role in the world: the fight for peace: mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?sh...
Gmail
Gmail is email that’s intuitive, efficient, and useful. 15 GB of storage, less spam, and mobile access.
mail.google.com
Very exciting. . .. and a nicely-done announcement: www.cgdev.org/blog/welcomi... @cgdev.org
Welcoming Mohamed A. El-Erian as Chair of CGD’s Board of Directors
CGD's Board of Directors has elected Dr. Mohamed A. El-Erian, a world-renowned economist and former chief executive of PIMCO, to be the Chair of the Board. He will take up the role on June 18 2026.
cgdev.org
HAPPENING NOW… marching on the Capitol…. #NewJimCrow @GovBillLee
Oh so sad. I want to cry. My beautiful city....and so insulting for the lost veterans and their families...
Michael Clemens@mclem.org · 6mo agoThis is a monstrosity that will deface my now-beautiful city until, like the Domus Aurea, it is pointedly and totally obliterated.
In early 1776, John Adams wrote that there was already “so much Rascality..." RIchter and Vogl in www.theglobalist.com/donald-trump...
Donald Trump’s “Rascality” and Its Global Consequences - The Globalist
What happens if one leader betrays America’s proudest traditions?
theglobalist.com
"A Pope in tune with his flock who promotes a values-based worldview can illuminate an autocrat’s smallness, meanness, and desperation." Well said @jenrubin.bsky.social
Damn -- Hillary is wise and clear-headed. What a shame she isn't our president.
Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com · 6mo agoWhew! Hillary Clinton this morning on the US-Iran talks that fell apart: “This is hard, disciplined effort that has to go into diplomacy to reach any results. And I don’t see this administration either wanting to do it or, frankly, being capable of doing it…”
George Mason foresaw and feared (1788) a President having the power of pardoning. Now we tremble.....
Michael Clemens@mclem.org · 6mo agoSome of the Framers understood. George Mason, namesake of my university, gave the warning below as Virginia debated ratifying the new US Constitution on June 18, 1788. Perversion of our Constitution will harm all Conservative and Liberal Americans
Good expression!!: "...the white whale of development finance" -- @cgdev.org VP Clemence Landers referring to @worldbank1.bsky.social AAA rating limiting its ability/readiness? to mobilize private capital for private sector projects. www.devex.com/news/special...
Special edition: What to expect from the World Bank-IMF annual meetings
Ajay Banga is shaking up the World Bank's org chart. Kristalina Georgieva wants Europe to take shorter vacations. The annual meetings kick off at an uncertain moment for multilateral cooperation.
devex.com
This new WBank report on industrial policy (IP) is impressive; it puts to bed forever the 20th century Washington Consensus including the 1993 WBank Miracle report "better not..." view of IP for developing countries (www.cgdev.org/publication/...). Big congrats to its authors.
The World Bank’s East Asian Miracle: Too Much a Product of Its Time?
he 1993 publication of a World Bank book on the East Asian Miracle explained the extraordinarily rapid growth of Japan and seven other economies of East Asia (at 5 percent a year) between 1965 and 199...
cgdev.org
Charles Kenny@charlesjkenny.bsky.social · 6mo agoBlog: The World Bank and Industrial Strategy. The Bank's "Industrial Policy for Development" is in part an update and re-evaluation of the 1993 "East Asian Miracle" report. Bank’s chief economist says Miracle report “has the practical value of a floppy disk today”... [thread]
World Bank still too cautious on potential of industrial policy to spur structural transformation: From @charlesjkenny.bsky.social: ":.. the 'industrial policy lite advocated by the body of the document ...is by this point not even that far into the mainstream." Disappointing.
Charles Kenny@charlesjkenny.bsky.social · 6mo agoBlog: The World Bank Group and Industrial Strategy www.cgdev.org/blog/world-b...
"We cannot do nothing and expect the republic to make it through." Recent @timothysnyder.bsky.social substack
Huh? This is NOT what America looks like.
Michael Clemens@mclem.org · 6mo agoThe US Administration has shattered our refugee program and disposed of it entirely. A program built over generations by Conservatives and Liberals. It then created an essentially *whites only* immigration channel, admitting 4,500 people whose race is the principal qualification.
Moral accountability of those with influence: "How could you do nothing?"
Jen Rubin@jenrubin.bsky.social · 6mo ago
