Conferencing, Day 1

So I’m at the European Central Bank, listening to papers about geoeconomics. Above is a screenshot from the livestream, available here (I think).

Much of the research being presented is very technical — I expect eventually to be able to do some translations relevant to current events, but not yet. One remark that did catch my attention, however, was Steve Redding noting one implication of his model with Liu, Yang, and Smith-Worthington (not in the conference draft, but coming): US power — measured “by asking how changes in each country’s domestic interests affect its own actions and those of others” — has depended to an important degree on the strength of its alliances.

Phillips O’Brien, take note.

It’s a bit of a luxury to listen to paper about eigenvectors and trading equilibria with the world on fire, but hey, it’s kind of a break.