Zsofi Barta

Zsofi Barta

@bartazsofi.bsky.social

Political Economist; Sciences Po; previously UAlbany; Author of "In the Red: The Politics of Public Debt" (Michigan 2018) and "Rating Politics" (OUP 2023)

2.6K followers380 following37 posts

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Zsofi Barta reposted

New Paper out in Socio-Economic Review! Part of a coming special issue on the socio-economics of loss and decline. About the 4D chess of using blended finance for the coal exit in the Global South. Read it here: doi.org/10.1093/ser/... (or ask me for a copy if you don't have access)!)

Zsofi Barta reposted

1/ The purpose of green industrial policy has inverted. It used to pay for a public good: clean energy that cost more, benefiting everyone. Now it captures advantages a country keeps for itself. That shift, from a shared cost to a prize seized, is the story of the transition.

Zsofi Barta reposted

Just saw that the first piece from our special issue is already out: Factions of asset-based capitalism: a historical typology, by @melindacooper.bsky.social See here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... Will write a thread on the SI and each of the papers once they're all out!

Philipp Golka@pgolka.bsky.social

Incredibly happy and relieved that our special issue Asset Struggles co-edited with @theobourgeron.bsky.social is now accepted for publication at NPE! More on the issue soon. For now: a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been involved in this over the past few years – you are the best!

Zsofi Barta reposted

Europe is obsessed with Chinese industrial domination. But the more seriously I take the "China is winning" argument, the less sense China's endgame seems to make If European industry collapses, demand for Chinese exports collapses with it. My latest: brettoninthewoods.substack.com/p/chinas-gro...

brettoninthewoods.substack.comChina's Growth Model Has No EndgameThe European debate about China is obsessed with production. It spends remarkably little time thinking about demand.

The article argues that this strategy reflects rating agencies’ urge to offer insurance against short-term climate-related financial risks while avoiding committing to any one model of climate risks that might put them at odds with the markets. 6/n

This is because rating agencies explicitly choose to - discount longer-term threats; - account only for the immediate costs (but not the benefits) of mitigation, adaptation, and resiliency-building measures; - reward income-generation over proactiveness. 3/n

The upshot of this strategy is that ratings are lower (and thus funding is more expensive) for issuers that opt for mitigation, adaptation, and resiliency-building and forgo “dirty” sources of income and… 4/n

While the claim that financial markets could become the motor of the green transition has long been debunked, the article shows that ratings actively delay the repricing of unsustainable assets & make funding costlier to issuers with more sustainable behavior. 2/n

Zsofi Barta reposted

Zsofi Barta reposted

@palmapolyak.bsky.social ’s work on EU battery policy is electrifying! No, seriously it is the best stuff you can read on this sector.

Palma Polyak@palmapolyak.bsky.social

📣 Publication day! The first paper from my project on Europe’s EV battery roll-out is finally out I unpack how the EU’s EV battery boom is entangled with sacrifice zones—investment in Serbia & Hungary de-risked through autocracy. www.cogitatiopress.com/politicsandg...

Zsofi Barta reposted

Zsofi Barta reposted

The independence of the Bank of England was supposed to facilitate the application of economic reasoning to public policy. But if independence=taboo on discussing the interactions btw fiscal & monetary policy, then not even technocrats deliberate on one of the biggest economic policy issues!

David Woodruff@dmwoodruff.bsky.social

IMHO, Murphy's very sloppy. But UK fiscal policy since QE/QT amounts to MMT that dare not speak its name. Viz:Osborne et al spent ~£120 bln of the money created to purchase gilts in QE. Too much monetisation-financed fiscal spending, or too little? MMT could at least pose the question! As for QT 1/n

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In it, I argue that the recurrent failures and the resilient authority of the ‘Big Three’ rating agencies should not be understood in terms of credit assessment failure and regulatory permissiveness.

Instead, it should be understood as a reflection of the systemic role that ratings play as a coordination mechanism providing an anchor for market participants’ expectations about ‘safe assets’.

Zsofi Barta reposted

My book is out today! Read my stuff! academic.oup.com/book/60584?l... … The book looks at the long-run evolution of policy around monopoly and competition in the US and France over the 20th century, using extensive archival research to track the main policy actors who changed it at key moments.

academic.oup.comMonopoly Politics: Competition and Learning in the Evolution of Policy RegimesAbstract. Motivated by the contemporary extremes of monopoly power in the United States and globally, this book uses an in-depth comparison of the United S

Zsofi Barta reposted

Replying to @jvtk.bsky.social

We highlight three own goals of failed internationalization: 1. Non-existent euro value chains locked the EU into disastrous dollar denominated fossil fuel imports 2. Wavering and weak ECB swap line policies (limited, conditional, unattractive) 3. That rare beast “a euro denominated safe asset”

Fantastic piece on one of (the many) ways in which the EU has been punching well below its weight.

Why does the largest trading bloc on the planet have a miniature-sized currency? With Trump, the EU will again much regret this. 🎈In a new working paper, @steffenmurau.bsky.social and I set out to theorise failure and develop a new IPE perspective that foregrounds offshore money. A thread 🧵

Zsofi Barta reposted

📣 Roundtable Book Presentation of @jrovny.bsky.social - Ethnic Minorities, Political Competition, and Democracy: Circumstantial Liberals w/@sciencespo.bsky.social School of Public Affairs 📅 5 Feb. 5-7 pm 📍Sciences Po Registration & Information⤵️ www.sciencespo.fr/centre-etude...

eventbrite.frRoundtable - Book Presentation of Jan Rovny (Sciences Po, CEE)Presentation of Jan Rovny's new book - Ethnic Minorities, Political Competition, and Democracy: Circumstantial Liberals in France

Zsofi Barta reposted

Stamattina è uscito sul Fatto Quotidiano questo mio pezzo in cui commento l'approvazione della Commissione Europea del budget francese. La Commissione sembra sempre soprassedere sulle violazioni francesi dei target, anche grazie alla capacità dei tecnici francesi nel dialogo con la Commissione

ilfattoquotidiano.it“Perché la Francia è la Francia”: l’Ue e i conti pubblici di Parigi - Il Fatto QuotidianoNegli ultimi giorni, il governo francese ha sorprendentemente ottenuto l’approvazione dei propri piani di spesa da parte di Bruxelles. L’esecutivo, recentemente insediato e guidato dal primo ministro ...

Zsofi Barta reposted

Zsofi Barta reposted

Zsofi Barta reposted

(R)IPE rocks! 🎉 No time for complacency, but thrilled to share these promising updates as we kick off the New Year! Huge thanks to all past and present editorial boards, reviewers, and the incredible IPE community for making this possible @ripejournal.bsky.social

As we enter the New Year, RIPE editors have some good news to report!!! Our editors are: @juanitamarieelias.bsky.social @hozic.bsky.social Alison Johnston @skostem.bsky.social @manuelamoschella.bsky.social @stefanoponte.bsky.social @kevinyoung.bsky.social and Hongying Wang doi.org/10.1080/0969...

Very cool project!!

cornelban.bsky.social@cornelban.bsky.social

When states are not good at industrial policy it is municipalities that can develop that muscle. And not just city states, but cities of 500k as well if they have what it takes. New article in Competition and Change with @Medve-Balint and @Clara Volintiru journals.sagepub.com/eprint/T56CA...

Zsofi Barta reposted

🚨Job Alert🚨 We are seeking to recruit not only 1, but 2⃣ tenure-track Assistant Professors in political science (Politics and policy in/of Europe and the European Union) Description and application guidelines: sciencespo.fr/centre-etude... #AcademicJobs #PolSci

sciencespo.frRecruitment 'Assistant Professor (tenure track)'Recruitment 2024 /2025 - Sciences Po is recruiting two Assistant Professors (tenure track) in political science / Politics and policy in/of Europe and the European Union

Short and sweet case study of how ill equipped financial markets are to account for climate related risks.

Susan Crawford@scrawford.bsky.social

It's been a while since you've seen a picture of a Lehman employee carrying a box of office supplies out into the street - wait no more! susanpcrawford.substack.com/p/why-rising...

Zsofi Barta reposted

Indicative planning can mitigate the climate crisis. But under capitalism it only happens when the stakes are sky-high: wars, energy crises, post-war rubble. Jacob Hasselbalch and I took a dive in the topic. #GreenState #PoliticalEconomy #ClimateAction www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.comGreen economic planning for rapid decarbonisationSustainable futures require deep social and economic transformations to address climate change adequately. The current landscape of intergovernmental and market-based coordination is not delivering...

Zsofi Barta reposted

Zsofi Barta reposted

The French Parliament has just brought down Michel Barnier’s government via a vote of no confidence – a first since 1962. A 🧵 on what is happening, what to expect next - and how the far right is capitalizing on the crisis.

Zsofi Barta reposted

In most places in the world, power from new renewables is now cheaper than power from new fossil fuels. Why did renewables become so cheap so fast? The answer: learning curves.