Daniel Driscoll

Daniel Driscoll

@danieldrisc.com

Assistant Professor at UVA Political Economist of Decarbonization Book: Why Carbon Taxes Failed (OUP) Nonresident Fellow @rooseveltinstitute.org‬ danieldrisc.com

779 followers285 following64 posts

I had a brilliant time at Harvard this week! Massive thanks to Jason Beckfield for bringing me out to present at The Climate Sociology Lab and The Salata Institute! Pure fun. It was exciting to learn about the interdisciplinary place-based work many are doing here.

Daniel Driscoll reposted

A new essay in Phenomenal World on the US-Europe competitiveness debate, in which I try to locate the obsession with relative economic performance in a broader discourse of American triumphalism and declinism, "the unwitting last refuge of great power delusions." phenomenalworld.org/analysis/eur...

phenomenalworld.orgDominik Leusder | Eurosclerosis or US Decline?The debate about US and European competitiveness illustrates how narratives of economic decline and triumphalism tend to outrun their evidence

Daniel Driscoll reposted

1/6 This article indirectly describes one of the more important consequences of our current, distorted form of globalization, even if it isn't commented upon enough. Automation helps Japanese and Korean shipbuilders compete with Chinese shipbuilders only if wages... www.ft.com/content/ea32...

ft.comJapanese and Korean shipbuilders deploy robots to take on ChinaUS allies invest in ‘smart shipyards’ as Beijing’s dominance of industry alarms Washington

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Why Carbon Taxes Failed is on the road! See book talk dates below (more to come). Next week is Central European University and Copenhagen Business School! Can't wait to see some dear friends at both places <3

Daniel Driscoll reposted

I have a forthcoming chapter on the South Africa / Morocco comparison in a volume edited by @mkblyth.bsky.social @danieldrisc.com and Lucio Baccaro on "greening growth models." These notable gains are happening at the same time as many risk everything to leave. giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/...

giftarticle.ft.comWhy Morocco’s ‘forgotten’ young are fleeing to EuropeFailure to translate growth into better living standards has driven migration attempts into Spain’s Ceuta enclave
JW Mason@jwmason.bsky.social

I had not realized how far Morocco has come as a late industrialization success story. phenomenalworld.org/analysis/afr...

@jonasnahm.com and I wrote an essay for the @rooseveltinstitute.org on decarbonizing the United States with its growth model in mind. A country's growth model can shape what is easy to decarbonize and what is hard to decarbonize. Hope people find it useful! rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

rooseveltinstitute.orgDecarbonize America’s Growth ModelHow the U.S. growth model shapes climate and industrial policy, and why balancing domestic manufacturing with consumer demand is key to decarbonization.

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Replying to @toddntucker.com

16. CEA alum @jonasnahm.com and @danieldrisc.com turn to the question of America's growth model - and how different clean production strategies can lean into it, or may need to tilt against it. They call for an honest reckoning with the trade-offs of either. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

rooseveltinstitute.orgDecarbonize America’s Growth ModelHow the U.S. growth model shapes climate and industrial policy, and why balancing domestic manufacturing with consumer demand is key to decarbonization.

Daniel Driscoll reposted

NEW @rooseveltinstitute.org: as wildfires & heatwaves rage, we are not powerless. As 19 authors argue in our 157-page "Building Up in 2029" report, we can adapt & expand Biden & Trump experiments to create lasting state capacity to tackle climate change. 🧵🧵 rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

rooseveltinstitute.orgBuilding Up in 2029: How to Make Green Statecraft DurableExplore 17 essays on durable US climate and industrial policy after Inflation Reduction Act rollbacks, covering governance, planning, finance, and production.

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Daniel Driscoll reposted

As renewables get cheaper and electricity demand rises, suppressing clean energy is becoming an economic liability, not just a climate one. Our fellow @danieldrisc.com explains why the US growth model depends on cheap energy, not any one fuel source, in @projectsyndicate.bsky.social:

project-syndicate.orgThe US Economy Cannot Grow Without RenewablesDaniel Driscoll warns that the Trump administration’s grim determination to ignore clean energy will undercut consumption.

My new piece for @rooseveltinstitute.org on the data center canary in the coal mine. I'm at UVA, an hour or so from "Data Center Alley" and this one's literally close to home.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute.org

Virginia’s data centers consume roughly 25% of the electricity used in the state And as energy demand rises, households face higher bills. Our Fellow @danieldrisc.com lays out the unequal costs of AI expansion with "Data Center Alley's" cautionary tale.

Daniel Driscoll reposted

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? ⛽️

New brief out with @rooseveltinstitute.org on green state capacity! I identify its four pillars as: (1) Bureaucratic-institutional, (2) Macrofinancial, (3) Productive-innovative, & (4) Social-protective. Check it out!

Suzanne Kahn@suzmkahn.bsky.social

"The green transition, in short, requires capable states." New brief from @danieldrisc.com on what tools states need to successfully manage the green transition we need. rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Start of the summer means parents (like me) are scrambling to figure out care arrangements in even more complex ways than during the school year. @jessicacalarco.com's new piece vividly shows how this isn't an individual problem but a collective and structrual one.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute.org

New 📰: Every society needs care. The question is who gets stuck doing it. @jessicacalarco.com's new paper argues that America's default answer has been: whoever has the least power to refuse. 🧵 rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Roosevelt's Good Life Agenda is out today. We argue that the only way to renew faith in democratic governance is to build a government that is committed to making people's lives better and equipped with the tools to do so by controlling costs, raising incomes, and creating more time in our days.

Roosevelt Institute@rooseveltinstitute.org

We’ve spent decades told that if the economy grows, people’s lives will get better. Millions are working harder, paying more, and losing faith that institutions can deliver. Imagine an economy and democracy that actually make life better. That’s why today, we’re launching The #GoodLife Agenda. 🧵

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Europe vs America: Supplemental Once more with feeling: here’s a small test that strengthens the case that the productivity wedge since 1995 in the constant PPP series is a deflator asymmetry mirage and that the chained PPP series adjusts for along with Balassa-Samuelson: 1/

Three core topics at this nexus: how global finance constrains green transitions in the Global South, how states are stepping up where markets failed, and what different types of capitalism can and can't achieve for decarbonization.

Daniel Driscoll reposted

excellent blog post by Polyak on the fallacy of composition around Chinese export surpluses. i would add: this problem is endogenous to the model. if you reward local elites based on a tournament where higher GDP / output is the metric, they will overproduce w/o regard to the systemic consequences

Palma Polyak@palmapolyak.bsky.social

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...

Daniel Driscoll 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.

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Replying to @70sbachchan.bsky.social

This is the first oil crisis in which alternatives to oil and gas — solar panels, EVs, batteries, induction stoves heatpumps — are cheap and easy to get. These flying off the shelves already... This has reporting from 10 countries www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

bloomberg.comIran War Is Pushing Consumers to Break Up With Fossil FuelsEVs, solar panels, induction stoves and heat pumps, now cheaper than ever, are becoming more attractive as the conflict upends oil and gas markets.

Daniel Driscoll reposted

1500km charge in 6 minutes!! “The boundaries of electrochemistry are still far from being reached, and the possibilities of materials science are still far from being exhausted" - Robin Zeng, CATL founder Still think its all subsidies & copycat & no science or innovation? www.ft.com/content/1773...

ft.comCATL claims 6-minute charge and 1,500km range for new electric vehicle batteriesChinese group also slashes charging time in race against BYD for electric vehicle battery supremacy

An instant classic.

Palma Polyak@palmapolyak.bsky.social

There's a global race to secure EV battery gigafactories & reduce reliance on China. But not all clean-tech projects are created equal. Some generate good jobs & domestic capacities, others produce ecological harm & low value-added enclaves. New paper & thread 👇 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Daniel Driscoll reposted

People will be closely studying how Hungary's opposition pulled off their win in such a pro-incumbent system. Important to note that the theme was corruption. Democrats need to get much better at calling out Trump's corruption.

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Orbán took power in April 2010. We organized our first protests against him that December. I was 22, in undergrad, lucky to be in a community of students ready to resist. Looking back, no wonder this moment feels so heavy. 🧵

Daniel Driscoll reposted

Some thoughts on the age of mass disruption and how and to what extent we can prepare for future energy and commodity shocks. In short: I’m not terribly optimistic about the prospects of all but a few countries or about the source of the disruptions ebbing. jacobin.com/2026/03/pric...

jacobin.comIn the New Geo-Economic Order, Price Shocks Are Here to StayThe US-Israel war with Iran has made energy prices soar across the globe. In a world increasingly dominated by imperial war and great-power conflicts, inflation will become an ordinary feature of poli...