Gareth Bryant

Poster for event celebrating 50 years of Political Economy at the University of Sydney featuring a photo of a woman protesting outside Merewether Building on top of a map of Sydney. Poster credit: Cemal Burak Tansel

Celebrating 50 Years of Political Economy at the University of Sydney ppesydney.net/celebrating-...

Raewyn Connell is delivering this year’s Wheelright Lecture the global assault against universities Including the intentional demolition of higher education in Gaza.

Tonight’s Wheelwright Lecture. Raewyn Connell with a masterclass in dissecting three structural tensions producing university crises, and how to begin addressing each of them. The talk ended with Tagore’s university - as a meeting place of worlds, built collectively, under the trees.

Raewyn’s groundbreaking work changed how we think about men. Its origins were deeply personal Raewyn Connell has a global reputation and is speaking at an event marking one of the PM’s intellectual influences.

Wonderful profile of Raewyn Connell just published in the SMH www.smh.com.au/national/rae... - her Wheelwright Lecture, “Should we abolish universities?” is on tomorrow night! www.ppesydney.net/2025-wheelwr...

Pro-Israel groups have attacked me for years. The Bendigo Writers Festival is a turning point. Randa Abdel-Fattah writes of her experience as a target of the pro-Israel lobby

On Sunday, The Age commissioned an opinion piece from Palestinian author and academic Randa Abdel-Fattah - only to decline publishing it after it was submitted.

Thanks to Randa for letting us publish it here.

www.deepcutnews.com/p/pro-israel...

If AI takes most of our jobs, money as we know it will be over. What then? AI’s evangelists are promising a future of almost unimaginable prosperity. There’s good reason to be sceptical.

Just out in @aunz.theconversation.com: #AI #Abundance and money. My reflections on #BasicIncome #BasicServices and why we need more than technical solutions to the political challenges of #poverty and #inequality
theconversation.com/if-ai-takes-...

Yes! Will be recorded and posted on ppesydney.net

2025 Wheelwright Lecture | Raewyn Connell | Should we abolish universities? - Progress in Political Economy (PPE) In the last generation there has been heavy criticism of what universities have become, in an era of commercialism and managerial control. This lecture will discuss the main points of criticism, wheth...

Announcing the 2025 Wheelwright Lecture in Political Economy at the University of Sydney - Raewyn Connell: "Should we abolish universities?" www.ppesydney.net/2025-wheelwr...

The Macquarie PhD scholarship on our new Climate Economy project is now open - working with me, @garethbryant.bsky.social Sophie Weber, @clairerhiannon.bsky.social & Svenja Keele. We'll explore how climate change remakes our political economy. Topic negotiable.

www.mq.edu.au/research/phd...

Lamestream A podcast and newsletter covering the crisis in media.

We launched a new media platform a month ago, because... well, look at the state of Australian journalism.

The response has been incredible, thanks to everyone who has listened and signed-up.

Our launch sale ends in a couple of days. It's just $5 a month. Please subscribe: www.lamestream.com.au

Postdoctoral Research Associate - Australia's Climate Economy - Progress in Political Economy (PPE) Full time (Part Time negotiable), Fixed term for 3 years Work with a team of interdisciplinary researchers and doctoral students building a conceptual and empirical map of the emerging Climate Economy...

3 year post-doc in Political Economy and Economic Geography at the University of Sydney - working on a project about Australia's Climate Economy with me, Sophie Webber, @bspiesbutcher.bsky.social @clairerhiannon.bsky.social, and Svenja Keele www.ppesydney.net/postdoctoral...

The Political Economy of Turkey’s Integration with Europe: Uneven Development and Hegemony - Progress in Political Economy (PPE) In my recently published book, Political Economy of Turkey’s Integration with Europe: Uneven Development and Hegemony, rather than highlight the form of integration, I address the socio-economic conte...

Great overview from @elifuzgoren.bsky.social on her new book *Political Economy of Turkey’s Integration with Europe, Uneven Development and Hegemony* with @manchesterup.bsky.social - the latest in the @ppesydney.bsky.social Book Series!
@abieler.bsky.social

Had a great time launching Issue I of @the-breakdown.bsky.social last night with the exceptional @geoffmann.bsky.social and Quinn Slobodian.

Thanks to everyone who turned out, asked great questions and supported new climate writing.

Issue I here: www.break-down.org/issues/1

Just emailed it to you

David Harvey, On Sraffa’s Trail, NLR 152, March–April 2025 David Harvey recalls a lifetime of encounters, actual and intellectual, with the enigmatic Piero Sraffa. Interlocutor of Wittgenstein, Keynes and Robinson; devastating critic of neoclassical economics...

The anecdote at the beginning of this is so insane, I am losing my mind. This is some truly impeccable lore about David Harvey.

newleftreview.org/issues/ii152...

“Indeed, one of the many depressing realities of the Trump administration is its failure to understand that, in a free society, arguably the most important role of government is to reduce uncertainty, not do whatever it can to raise it.”

Trump’s trade shock hits the global economy The IMF is trying to make sense of the unknowable

The Rerisking State on.ft.com/4lHJ1R2

In 40 years of finance journalism I have never come across a corporate restructuring project as ambitious, as complex and as fraught with risks as the one being undertaken by University of Technology Sydney. I don’t believe any publicly listed company with revenues of more than $1 billion has attempted to simultaneously change its product offering, slash its frontline staff, introduce a new operating model and roll out a new enterprise resource planning software system.

Interesting to read this corporate sense-check on UTS restructuring plans www.afr.com/work-and-car...

Significantly for the budget, mortgage guarantees sit mostly off the budget balance, whereas mortgage interest tax deductions reduce government revenue and will increase the deficit.

Still there are some interesting differences: Labor focusing on the deposit gap as the major hurdle for first home buyers (driven by already high asset prices vs wages), Coalition focusing on repayment affordability (more acute with higher interest rates)

Economists warned that Dutton’s mortgage deductibility policy and Labor’s 5 per cent home deposit policy would make Australia’s housing affordability problems worse. Former Reserve Bank of Australia governor Ian Macfarlane said both policies would push up demand for housing and cause prices to rise.

Inflationary impacts on house prices are precisely *why* these policies are favoured over other options www.afr.com/politics/fed...

Well, yes. I just like that they made up the numbers to get an exact negative 1. Again, I am a financial columnist, and I have a patriotic appreciation for the US’s export industry of finance, and two of that industry’s most popular products are: 1.Sprinkling some Greek letters on your work to add visual interest, and 2.Making up parameters to solve for the result you want. Even in this tariff announcement, you see the US leaning into its comparative advantage.

From cloth and wine to made up trade formulas, comparative advantage lives on! Via @matt-levine.bsky.social

Enjoy! Saw him with Wednesday last year at the Factory (which tbh feels like a weird RSL venue) - so good!

Bar chart showing levels of dissatisfaction with access to housing by young people in OECD countries

Story is about dissatisfaction of young Americans with politics, but it is young Australians who are the most dissatisfied with their access to housing on.ft.com/3FAbgAE

Picture of an ECOP1001 Lecture Theatre at the University of Sydney

Legendary Prof Frank Stilwell back on the tools on ECOP1001

Join us for this more than “author-meets-critics” session, where we will support an engaged discussion, opportunities for questions, and knowledge exchange. The session will begin with an introduction to the book (available open access) by authors Gareth Bryant and Sophie Webber, followed by discussion of the book’s key arguments and contributions from five panelists representing diverse regions and areas of study within the economic geographies and political economies of climate change. We will conclude with a general Q&A and discussion with the audience, authors, and the panel. The session will be held in a hybrid format (joining details in program). BOOK TALK Discussion. Knowledge exchange. AUTHORS Sophie Webber, University of Sydney (In attendance) Gareth Bryant, University of Sydney (Joining virtually) PANEL Tanya Matthan, London School of Economics Beki McElvain, Loughborough University Leigh Johnson, University of Oregon Gabe Schwartzman, University of Tennessee Jon Silver, University of Sheffield MONDAY3.24.25 Sponsored by the Economic Geography Specialty Group and the Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group of the AAG 12:50 - 2:10 PM Huntington Place Level 4 413A

Sorting your schedule for #AAG2025? Why not come by this more than “author meets critics” panel discussion for @garethbryant.bsky.social and Sophie Webber's excellent new book 'Climate Finance: Taking a Position on Climate Futures'? Monday 3.24 at 12:50PM. All are welcome!

My PhD on geoengineering, Producing the Climate, is now available to read via USyd library! Huge thanks to my wonderful supervisors @garethbryant.bsky.social and @kurtiveson.bsky.social as well as my generous examiners @geoffmann.bsky.social and Chantel Carr. ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/...

Los Angeles Fires Become Existential Test for California’s Stopgap Insurer The most expensive wildfire in US history could put a $5 billion hole in the state-sponsored home insurer of last resort.

LA fires: private firefighters of first resort; state insurers of last resort www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Tweet by Keith Wasserman: “Does anyone have access to private firefighters to protect our home in Pacific Palisades? Need to act fast here. All neighbors houses burning. Will pay any amount. Thank you.”

I keep thinking about this (of course). The post poses a question - not the one asked explicitly, but: at what point might climate change make those with power care enough to do something about it?