(1/2) The Iran war is a redistribution machine: Big oil profits have shot up to historic highs. Our research shows that 50% of fossil fuel profits go to the richest 1% in the U.S. The rich are the ultimate beneficiaries of the war windfalls.
Palma Polyak
@palmapolyak.bsky.social
Senior Researcher @ Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne | IPE & Geoeconomics | Trade imbalances 🚢 & EV battery value chains 🔋 https://palmapolyak.weebly.com/research.html
If this had happened 5 years ago it would have been a crisis for the electrical system. Solar once again making things much less bad. ourworldindata.org/data-insight...
Solar overtakes gas to become Hungary's second-largest electricity source
A decade ago, solar power was almost non-existent in Hungary. It generated just 0.2% of the country’s electricity. Nuclear, coal, and gas dominated the grid.
ourworldindata.org
Palma Polyak@palmapolyak.bsky.social · 4d agoHungary's new government is tested very early. Paks nuclear plant is about to go offline for the first time in 44 years because the Danube is drying up. That's nearly half the country's electricity. Collapsed supply & gas prices spiking throughout the region. Just brutal. apnews.com/article/hung...
Hungary's new government is tested very early. Paks nuclear plant is about to go offline for the first time in 44 years because the Danube is drying up. That's nearly half the country's electricity. Collapsed supply & gas prices spiking throughout the region. Just brutal. apnews.com/article/hung...
Hungary braces for a full shutdown of the Paks nuclear plant as the Danube River hits record lows
Hungary's only nuclear power plant is shutting down for the first time due to record-low water levels on the Danube River.
apnews.com
Chinese & German carmakers have stepped up cooperation on autonomous driving despite wider trade tensions BYD, Geely, SAIC, Xpeng, Xiaomi, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, VW, Porsche met in Beijing to discuss common standards for smart cars, automated parking, cross-border data
1/3 Yasheng Huang on China's K-shaped economy and the K-shaped focus of its policymakers: "China has a K-shaped economy — its upper micro-technology arm pointing up, toward technology, and its lower macro arm [almost everything else] pointing down." yashenghuang.substack.com/p/chinas-k-s...
China’s K-shaped economy and its K-shaped Policy Regime
A world-class technology sector sitting on top of a weak economy — and a policy machinery to keep it that way
yashenghuang.substack.com
Das war kein "Angriff auf uns alle". Das war ein Angriff auf queeres Leben. Ein Leben das täglich zahlreichen Angriffen ausgesetzt ist und gegen Nazis, Islamisten und auch gegen "die Mitte" verteidigt werden muss. #CSDBerlin
Being queer means being the target of violence. Every queer person knows this. It's deeply engraved in who we are. We live with it every day of our lives. Not because of terrorism but because it is structurally enshrined in our "free" societies. Violence against queer people is not an exception ...
1/9 Sébastien Jean and Jean-Pierre Landau: "In terms of welfare, European consumers should welcome cheap electric vehicles, batteries, and solar panels that are subsidized directly or indirectly by Chinese workers and taxpayers. But Europeans instead see... www.ifri.org/en/media-ext...
Rethinking Global Imbalances
Today’s global imbalances, starting with China's massive trade surplus, are not simply the result of poor macroeconomic coordination. Rather, they reflect long-term strategic thinking and a departure ...
ifri.org
Yes. This point is not sufficiently recognized in the global imbalances debate. If you think your CA deficit is excessive and caused by factors outside your borders, you should tax or otherwise discourage capital inflows. Tariffs are a very blunt tool at best. +
Michael Pettis@michaelpettis.bsky.social · 2w ago8/9 I agree, and this suggests that rather than encourage capital inflows, economies that want to strengthen their manufacturing and productive sectors and to benefit workers by raising productivity and wages should consider capital controls as a far more effective tool than tariffs.
Pornainen, Finland (pop 5,000) is now heated by a silo of crushed soapstone. I spoke to CNBC about it. 100 MWh, charged when power is cheap, emissions down ~70%. Days to weeks of storage, no critical minerals. www.cnbc.com/2026/07/25/f...
Finland’s radical answer to renewable energy’s biggest headache: The world’s largest sand battery
A small Finnish town has turned to the world's largest commercial sand battery to tackle a major hurdle in the energy transition: intermittency.
cnbc.com
Big week for EU digital laws: After big fines for Google and AliExpress, the commission has now found TikTok in breach of Digital Services Act for failing to ensure safe accounts for minors
Valencia newspaper Las Provincias reports that Pedro Sanchez will today be at a factory to announce a deal whereby Ford sells part of its Almussafes plant near the Spanish city to Geely to manufacture electric vehicles in Spain
🚨 New paper in Stato & Mercato (in English): **Climate Action and Energy Transitions: Between Opportunities and Trade-offs** Remember that, until the return of Trump, politics made a big bet that greening energy and cutting emissions are a natural win-win? Did bundling the two pay off? Short 🧵:
Climate action and energy transitions: Between opportunities and trade-offs
rivisteweb.it
SCMP: “What we are seeing is strong external demand alongside weak domestic consumption, with technology and future-oriented industries powering ahead while spending on housing and everyday goods remains tepid.” sc.mp/bz2oz?utm_so...
Shanghai beats GDP estimates with 5.6% growth – but two-speed recovery persists
Official data points to a resilient tech-led rebound even as prominent economists warn household spending remains stubbornly cautious.
sc.mp
1/ Happy to announce that my paper looking at the evolution of Romania’s growth model and macroeconomic policy regime over the past 15 years, using an import-adjusted GDP decomposition approach, has been published on the Commission’s website. Long 🧵.
EU Economy and Finance@eu-economy-finance.ec.europa.eu · 4w ago🔎 What has been driving Romania’s growth since 2010? In our newest publication, we explore the role of imports, exports & demand - as well as the challenges lying ahead. 🔗 Read more: link.europa.eu/y76NDC
🇭🇺⚖️ Sulyok does the paradox and signs the constitutional amendment that's removing him from office. He really had no choice; the Tisza majority would do him in one way or another. The coast is clear for Peter Magyar to exercise unrestrained power and demolish the house that Viktor Orbán built. 1/
Reuters@reuters.com · 3w agoHungary's president signs law change ending his term in office reut.rs/4fmrjjA
Whatever happens we could have gone to bed by now but for the stupid halftime show
Istanbul, 2005, Champions League final. Liverpool are 3–0 down to AC Milan at half time. The players trudge off in despair, Benítez wrecking his head for solutions, Gerrard prepping for the team talk of his life. On the pitch: Shakira and BTS getting psyched with muppets and confetti cannons.
Muppets are great, talented kids are even greater. But halftime is when we go to the toilet, listen to 3–4 of the same 20 sentences from two retired players in a studio, and then the football starts again. I’m ready to take to the streets to defend it.
Please no more football events organized by Americans, ever.
Characters who let the baby escape, only to face him years later as a fully grown threat
Trade war update: France & Germany to draw up roadmap on China shock before Oct European Council "Macron, who noted France and Germany had “never been so convergent on China,” blasted what he described as Beijing’s open trade war and increasingly aggressive trade practices."
Wow… What on Earth is BYD’s rationale in signing Orban’s former foreign minister—a literal Russian asset—as an executive? His credibility in Europe is sub-zero. He may still face charges at home. Is BYD planning to conquer the Russian market now that they’re fighting each other at the gas pumps? ⛽️
Maddening thing is that Tuchel *did* play the right tactics—and when it started working, he threw it out the window for this idiocy
Ian Smith@iankmsmith.ft.com · 3w agoDefending a 1-0 lead inside our box for half an hour. Will it ever work? No. Will we do it every time? You bet