Any agreement that does not allow Iranian firms to regain access to international finance and trade will struggle to generate the jobs needed to achieve a sustainable peace - By Djavad Salehi-Isfahani tomorrowsaffairs.com/post-war-ira... #IranWar‌ @projectsyndicate.bsky.social

Post-war Iran will only maintain peace if it benefits ordinary Iranians

Agreement that does not allow Iranian firms to regain access to international finance and trade will struggle to generate the jobs needed to achieve a sustainable peace

tomorrowsaffairs.com

Wealth inequality may very well be a problem worth addressing, but wealth taxes are not the solution, writes Cristina Enache of the @taxfoundation.bsky.social. bit.ly/4yUUqDK

The relationship between money and prices depends on reasonable stability of “velocity,” which is not an easy assumption to defend, notes James K. Galbraith. bit.ly/4c3Rdb9

Zombie Monetarism

James K. Galbraith explains why a new effort to revive an old economic-policy doctrine is doomed to fail.

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Standard explanations for global capital’s failure to reach developing-economy climate projects emphasize poor project quality, weak institutions, and political risk. But price formation also plays a major role, explains Jayant Sinha. bit.ly/4pTTEmv

Tearing Down the Currency Wall

Jayant Sinha argues that three measures would channel more financing to developing-economy climate projects.

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The proposed UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation could bring about the most consequential overhaul of the global tax system in a century, argues @jayatighosh.bsky.social. bit.ly/4yQO1cF

The Case for a Pay-Where-You-Play Tax System

Jayati Ghosh urges global policymakers to back a groundbreaking UN tax treaty that would end profit shifting.

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By systematically prioritizing loyalty over competence, Narendra Modi's government has inadvertently fostered risk aversion and mediocrity among senior bureaucrats in India, points out Devesh Kapur. bit.ly/4pVLoSU

The Painful Incompetence of the Indian State

Devesh Kapur argues that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s priorities have precluded progress on institutional capacity.

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Donald Trump has not been able to end Russia's war on Ukraine, as he promised. Fortunately, a bipartisan grouping in Congress has just done the hard work to make his task more straightforward, @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social and Oleg Ustenko explain. bit.ly/4pTJQZr

This Time Could Be Different for Russia Sanctions

Simon Johnson & Oleg Ustenko see much to like in a new bipartisan bill designed to hit the Kremlin where it would hurt the most.

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The international rules, norms, and institutions intended to guide state behavior and sustain collective action are no longer fit for purpose—if they ever were.

In a new PS Big Picture, Chenxu Fu, Xianguo Huang, Brian Judge, and Dambisa Moyo consider how AI might disrupt and transform financial markets. Read it at the link. bit.ly/4fODB4H

The AI boom is best understood not as a singular breakthrough but as the latest chapter in a decades-old cycle in which cheaper computing creates new applications and fuels further innovation, write @abergeaud.bsky.social and Robin Rivaton. bit.ly/4pN81c2

Europe has what it needs to confront the threat tech oligarchy poses to free media, noted Future of Tech Institute Executive Director @coricrider.com at the Media & Democracy Summit. What is missing is enforcement of laws and support for innovators. Watch the event at the link in our bio. #PSEvents

A side-by-side comparison of China and India's growth experiences shows that neither offers a plug-and-play solution. Each contains structural failures that other developing countries must anticipate, Hinh T. Dinh and Karim El Aynaoui write. bit.ly/4ftDNaF

The Limits of Asia’s Two Major Growth Models

Hinh T. Dinh & Karim El Aynaoui draw lessons from the fundamentally different development strategies pursued by China and India.

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A tax code that allows fortunes to compound indefinitely not only widens inequality, but concentrates political power. In a new essay for @projectsyndicate.bsky.social, @mikemadowitz.bsky.social argues that when private fortunes are vast enough to shape policy, taxes become a democratic issue.

Saving Democracy Requires Taxing Extreme Wealth

Michael Madowitz believes the design of policies to address concentrated wealth has vastly improved, and not a moment too soon.

project-syndicate.org

With Donald Trump citing forced labor as a justification for his latest tariffs, the EU should impose its own reciprocal tariffs on goods produced in US states that most extensively use prison labor, @josephestiglitz.bsky.social suggests. bit.ly/3RiWcOg

Trump’s New Tariffs Are an Opportunity to Fight Back

Joseph E. Stiglitz urges Europe and others to call out US hypocrisy and not capitulate to more punitive trade measures.

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In changing material conditions, resilience cannot just be about “weathering the storm.” It must be a property of how we grow, Giulio Boccaletti writes. bit.ly/4xanNQQ

Europe Is Fiddling While Rome Burns

Giulio Boccaletti thinks this year’s heatwave should clarify the scale of the continent’s economic and political challenge.

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Neither the political nor the economic arguments against taxing wealth are what they were a generation ago, notes Michael Madowitz of @rooseveltinstitute.org. #PSDeepDives bit.ly/45yfLVW

Most discussions of the downside risk from the ongoing AI boom have focused on the stock market, writes Brian Judge. But the bigger risk is to credit markets. bit.ly/4x5vxU7

The AI Threat to Financial Stability

Brian Judge homes in on the growing mismatch between speculative future revenues and current contractual debt obligations.

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Policymakers in South Korea and elsewhere devising industrial policies today must recognize the limits of a strategy focused on “picking winners” and directing capital toward them, advises Lee Jong-Wha. bit.ly/4xrM84X

South Korea Bets on Industrial Policy Again

Lee Jong-Wha cautions that state-led technological transformation will be harder to pull off today than it was in the 1970s.

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The resignation of India's education minister amounts to a powerful symbolic victory for the student protest movement, writes @rohansandhu.bsky.social. But the implications of the protests extend much further. bit.ly/4yKkaTf

India’s Exam Worriers Become Democracy Warriors

Rohan Sandhu says that the recent student protests reflect the collapse of a long-standing socioeconomic compact.

project-syndicate.org

The Gulf countries’ massive investments in domestic AI capacity show how quickly governments can reduce their dependence on consulting firms, writes Sami Mahroum. bit.ly/4bzspb1

The Gulf’s Push for AI-Led Governance

Sami Mahroum sees the region’s strategy as a way for governments to reclaim capabilities long outsourced to advisers.

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One of UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's biggest devolution challenges will be to ensure that lessons learned through successful local experimentation find their way to other cities and localities, @mazzucatom.bsky.social explains. bit.ly/3Tg9zPL

How Burnham Can Make UK Devolution Work

Mariana Mazzucato rejects the idea that Britain's new government must choose between centralized power and an empowered periphery.

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Chrystia Freeland thinks the important lesson for democracies to draw from the dynamism and sheer chutzpah that has characterized Ukraine’s war effort is not to lose confidence in themselves. bit.ly/4yEBPeX

The obvious differences between big powers like Russia and the United States and small powers like Ukraine and Iran suggest that the conventional wisdom on international politics is obsolete, writes Harold James. bit.ly/454eSEJ

The Strong Suffer What They Must

Harold James marvels at the major powers’ loss of credibility, military prowess, and international influence.

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Hong Kong is not “over” in the physical sense of its stunning outward appearance. But that hardly justifies the tales of resilience and competitive innovation that the pro-China camp spins, Stephen S. Roach (@ssruschina.bsky.social) argues. bit.ly/3Ti2ePF

Yes, the Hong Kong of Old Is Over

Stephen S. Roach argues that the resilience touted by the city’s boosters has come to depend entirely on Chinese intervention.

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Next week in Deep Dive: Oligarchy: Michael Madowitz argues that the design of wealth taxes has vastly improved, and not a moment too soon. With wealth—and the political power it confers—having reached extreme levels of concentration, effective taxation has become vital to democracy’s survival.

If today's AI business model follows the path of surveillance capitalism, targeted advertising could evolve into something even more invasive: the commercialization of our thoughts. New from CMDG Director @courtneyr.bsky.social @projectsyndicate.bsky.social www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...

AI Will Supercharge Surveillance Capitalism

Courtney C. Radsch warns that whereas social media inferred your inner life from behavior, AI receives it in your own words.

project-syndicate.org

John Healey steps into the role of chancellor of the exchequer at a difficult moment for the British economy, notes @elerianm.bsky.social. Can he deliver the structural shake-up the British economy so desperately needs? bit.ly/4gMOAOf

What the New UK Chancellor Means for the UK Economy

Mohamed A. El-Erian sees reason to hope that the new chancellor can deliver a much-needed structural shake-up.

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It should surprise no one that Jeffrey Epstein’s main professional competency was advising the super-rich on what are euphemistically known as “tax-minimization strategies,” notes Brooke Harrington. bit.ly/4bUBNps #PSDeepDives

Democracy depends on a mutual willingness to be governed by whoever wins elections; when the far right signals a refusal to honor this bargain, it puts itself beyond the pale, @jwmueller-pu.bsky.social explains. bit.ly/4pBcQoT

The Case for Banning Anti-Democratic Parties

Jan-Werner Mueller explains why excluding certain political forces from electoral participation is not itself anti-democratic.

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If the dollar were 30% weaker and everything else remained constant, the magnitude of US dominance—either globally or within the G7—would be far less impressive, notes Jim O'Neill. bit.ly/4bzJMIu

Don’t Overestimate America and China’s Importance

Jim O'Neill pushes back on the common sense that the world's two superpowers always call the shots.

project-syndicate.org