Ben Spigel

Don’t get me started on entrepreneurship.

I wrote a somewhat easy to follow guide here: www.linkedin.com/pulse/guide-...

if you believe in any form of free enterprise at all, the idea that the Pentagon can not only cut off your contract but designate you a supply chain risk and prevent other companies from buying from you just because you won't build killbots for the government should be terrifying

This is why he needs the ultimate academic death penalty: removal of his office and e-mail access.

"The correspondence reveals a system, @dannagal.bsky.social said, that determines who “gets to be a ‘smart person’ — not because of their brain, but because of the money that they have been given.”"

Preach!

Text saying "In 1916, Vladimir I. Lenin argued that the tendency of capitalism to produce oligopolies would be its downfall. In 1942, Joseph A. Schumpeter agreed. Little has changed since then."

I'm starting to write my paper on the relationship between industrial concentration (monoply power) and high-growth entrepreneruship. Does this first line go too hard, or not too hard enough?

Costco’s attorneys rn

Economics grad students, you now have not one but TWO natural experiments. Is there a Difference-in-Difference-in-Difference methedology?

a screenshot of text that reads "Thank you for the attention to improving the readability of the paper. The Chicago Manual of Style specifically says that it is acceptable to start sentences with 'because' and 'this.' (https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Usage/faq0261.html). Indeed, longers article in the Columbia Journalism Review (https://www.cjr.org/language_corner/conjunction-itis.php) and the Language Log (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003723.html) discuss the pros and cons of starting sentences with conjunctions. They both conclude that the 'no initial connectors' rule is a 'zombie rule' that does not improve clarity or readability. However, you are right to ensure that every sentence is as readable as possible. I have given the paper a complete review and changed several of the sentences you highlighted."

Just wrote this response to a reviewer who accused me (ME!) of being unclear because I had too many sentences that started with 'because' or 'this.' If you wanna-be grammarians come for me, you'd better make sure you have your facts straight.

The real reason I'm leaving The Great British Baking Show Trump is threatening bombing the likes of which Tehran has never seen Prue Leith

the Spectator accidentally recycled a subhed from a previous day’s article about Tehran

Let Geography Die: Chasing Derwent’s Ghost at Harvard An investigative history of the closure of Harvard University's geography program in the mid-twentieth century due to homophobia and wider institutional po

Thanks to @mitpress.bsky.social for providing this entire book open source -- "Let #Geography Die" tells the sad story of how #Harvard dissolved its department because of errant leadership decisions and prejudice cc: @geographers.bsky.social direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

This Tool Searches the Epstein Files For Your LinkedIn Contacts EpsteIN—as in, Epstein and LinkedIn—searches your connections on the social network for names that match those in the released files.

www.404media.co/this-tool-se...

I think the most important thing about this paper is that we develop a really great method to systematically identify BMI through qual data.We've published the entire coding guide that shows you exactly how to code and identify what aspects of business models change.

A conceptual diagram showing BMI (Business Model Innovation) drivers on the left connected to three innovation archetypes in the center, which connect to BMI processes on the right. The Crisis Response archetype (in blue, labeled "Innovation required by crisis") has arrows from Disruption, Loss of Market, and New Needs from Existing Customers on the left, connecting to Retrenchment, Shifting Networks, Exploring, and Product or Service Adaptation on the right. The Crisis Enablement archetype (in green, labeled "Innovation enabled by crisis") has arrows from Direct Response, New Opportunities in New Markets, New Needs from Existing Customers, and Fallow Period, connecting to Exploring, Product or Service Adaptation, Redirected Internal Resources, and New Capabilities. The Planned Innovation archetype (in purple, labeled "Innovation despite crisis") has arrows from Fallow Period, Proceeding as Planned, and Strategic Innovation, connecting to Redirected Internal Resources, New Capabilities, Restructuring, and New Product or Service Development.

How do companies actually DO a business model innovation? Our data says: talk to peers for intel, adapt products incrementally, redirect slack resources, and build new capabilities.

First, there are three different types of BMI in a crisis:
1. "Oh crap we're dying" (Crisis Response)
2. "Wait, this is an opportunity" (Crisis Enablement)
"3. We're just gonna keep doing what we planned" (Planned Innovation)

Not all pivots are created equal:

It turns out that identifying Business model innovation is really hard. It's even harder during a global pandemic. But we figured out how to do it. And here's what we found.

Remember when every entrepreneur was like we totally pivoted our business model overnight?
We interviewed 85 of them repeatedly for 18 months to see if that was actually true. Only 30% actually did the thing. I blogged (yes, my blog is still a thing) about it here: www.benspigel.com/Blog/New+Pap...

Business model innovation in the context of crisis: a qualitative longitudinal analysis - The Journal of Technology Transfer The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the challenges firms face in engaging in business model innovation (BMI) during a crisis. To better understand how and why entrepreneurial firms undertake BMI during ...

New paper! I forced made 7 researchers (and myself) to independently code 229 interviews to figure out who actually pivoted their business model during COVID vs. who just said they did.
Spoiler: Most companies did NOT pivot. Paper is here: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

This is amazing Outsider Art. When is there going to be a gallery show for this?

Cover of "Oklahoma accident facts" 1970 edition, published by Oklahoma Safety Council, the citizen organization for Oklahoma accident-prevention. Illustration of a robed skeleton writing in a book with a fountain pen.

Can you show a before / after? That’s actually not a terrible use case.

International Fellowships 2026 The International Fellowships Programme enables researchers to work for two years at a UK institution with the aim of building a globally connected, mobile research and innovation workforce. Funding status Open for applications Career stage Early-career

Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research.

We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...

I think you have to judge it on merrit, but just be sure that there is a huge harm reduction plan. But this should really be going through a more medical-oriented IRB. Can you push it to a more specialized board?

Human Flourishing Geographic Index (HFGI): A County-level Dataset for Measuring Regional Flourishing in the United States - RSA Main Policymakers often rely on familiar indicators such as GDP, employment rates, and education levels to assess regional well-being. Yet these metrics tell only part of the story. Human flourishing, enco...

🌟 New RSA blog:
The Human Flourishing Geographic Index (HFGI) offers a new way to study regions—tracking happiness, belonging, purpose, and well-being at fine spatial and temporal scales across the U.S.
By Stefano Iacus & Devika Jain

🔗 www.regionalstudies.org/rsa-blog/202...

what book?

In writing up my annual review I've looked at 8 different bibliometric analyses of the entrepreneurial ecosystems liturature. Please stop writing these for the next decade. We have enough.

A old advert that has the words What the heck is Electronic Mail? With a man looking very scared by a sparkling trail flying around his desk

The first two hours this morning

The Impact+ Research Chairs program includes two maximum award values of $8 million over eight years ($1 million per year), and $4 million over eight years ($500,000 per year), to lead ambitious research programs in one of the following priority areas identified by the Government of Canada: • advanced digital technologies (including artificial intelligence, quantum and cybersecurity); • health, including biotechnology; • clean technology and resource value chains; • environment, climate resilience and the Arctic; • food and water security; • democratic and community resilience; • manufacturing and advanced materials; and/or • defence and dual-use technologies.

My university, Queen's in Kingston, Canada, has announced its portion of the Canadian government's 'poach American scholars' program if anyone is interested.

www.queensu.ca/vpr/sites/vp...

TMNT logo font: Sufjan Stevens Christmas Playlist

‘Tis the season.