Martijn Konings

Political economists always want credit for having predicted past financial crises. I, however, simply want some recognition for the fact that I realized Dr Phil was a fascist when he was still in Oprah's benevolent orbit.

Current ScholarshipMoney as a Practice of Value: Creating a Respiratory System for Capital Christine Desan

📢Current Scholarship! Commenting recent work on money in early America, Prof. Desan's latest article traces the historiography of money to an emerging strand of scholarship that recovers money's nature as a practice that organizes value, deeply shaping social structures in the process.📜💰

The Agonistic Condition The Agonistic Condition

Dimitris Vardoulakis, The Agonistic Condition: Materialism and Democracy - @edinburghup.bsky.social, June 2025
edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-ago...

Marching through Macquarie

Ben with Damien

Mehreen Faruqi speaks to rally

Proud to stand with my Sociology colleagues, joined by @mehreenfaruqi.bsky.social @damiencahill.bsky.social and the mighty @nteunion.bsky.social against the devastating cuts proposed at Macquarie University

Do Artifacts Have Political Economy? - Kean Birch, 2025 Harking back to Langdon Winner's now classic essay “Do artifacts have politics?,” my aim in this article is to ask a very similar question—namely, do artif...

I have a new article out: "Do artifacts have political economy?" It's a riff on an old argument by Langdon Winner about the embedding of politics in technology

#STS #sociology #technoscience #technology #innovation

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

YouTube video by JFI - Jain Family Institute Monetizing Primacy: A panel with Karthik Sankaran, Brad Setser, and Mona Ali

Here’s a link to a great conversation hosted by @phenomenalworld & @QuincyInst with @MonaAli_NY_US & @Brad_Setser, moderated by @StynesMichael about the $, imbalances, global public goods (or not) and other themes related to “Monetizing Primacy.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qc9...

now published:
The Socialization Debate
Revolutionary Confusion after the German Revolution of 1918
Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal
Volume 46, Issue 1, 2025, Pages 93-122
doi.org/10.5840/gfpj...

The Mystery of the Strong Economy Has Finally Been Solved Turns out it wasn’t actually that strong.

“The manufacturing sector, which tariffs are supposed to be boosting, has shed jobs for three straight months.” www.theatlantic.com/economy/arch...

Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI, Looking beyond the flurry of rapid changes in artificial intelligence, Silicon Empires uncovers the deep economic forces guiding the expansion of AI

Nick Srnicek, Silicon Empires: The Fight for the Future of AI - @politybooks.bsky.social, October 2025
www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

The Invention of the Future A kaleidoscopic and original new history of urbanization—from Lisbon to New York, Paris to Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires to Lagos

Bruno Carvalho, The Invention of the Future: A History of Cities in the Modern World - @princetonupress.bsky.social, January 2026
press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

Incredibly instructive reporting on what appears well on its way to becoming the biggest, most concentrated, most energy- and resource-intensive, and most speculative wave of capital investment ever.
ig.ft.com/ai-data-cent...

How temporary cash assistance helps mothers reclaim their lives — and families — after prison Guaranteed income programs, even for just a few months, can provide the stability for formerly incarcerated parents to rebuild relationships with their children.

We need guaranteed income but these pilots also show us how valuable something as simple as a job seekers allowance would be. Any future UI reform should include it.

19thnews.org/2025/07/cash...

MR FUN | 7/31/25 YouTube video by The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder

Ta da! @70sbachchan.bsky.social was on @majorityreport.bsky.social talking about neoliberalism, and why the US is giving up on the industries of the future @thepolycrisis.bsky.social www.youtube.com/live/MuBPpNn...

I actually wonder to what extent it is an active belief in data or technology - it mostly feels like the "support for support for support for support" infrastructure constantly activates faculties that make the interest in professional virtue seem quaint or contemptible.

Lowest inflation since Covid, but will the RBA act? Inflation is at its lowest level since March 2021, and below the RBA’s target in five capital cities. If there isn’t a rate cut coming soon, Greg will be absolutely flummoxed.

The latest Dollars & Sense is up - inflation, discouraged workers, a bit of tariffs, it's all there!
australiainstitute.org.au/post/lowest-...

"because virtue is actually important to professional work [moral deskilling] also means that no one can really do their jobs. This is now causing massive system failures"

As @andrewleyshon.bsky.social and I show in our forthcoming book, JPMorgan Chase has been competing against, partnering with, investing in, and buying up FinTech startups since at least 2014. They have long been leveraging their monopoly position in US banking to shape FinTech economies

With the rise of AI, I've begun to wonder if future graders of expository essays will even be able to grasp the sheer brilliance of Mandy Berry's famous Student Essay Unplugged? We many never see this kind of essay again, folks.

This is some wizard logic here, folks.

In brief, the argument is: "To protect the Fed's independence, Powell should cave to political pressure."

Never mind that doing so would *literally mean* the Fed is not politically independent, but what do I know?🤷‍♂️

At some point you realize that much of the punditocracy is half reality TV show, half high school - who are the big new personalities? where is the buzz? don't get too bogged down in the details!

Hellworld: The Human Species and the Planetary Factory "Hellworld: The Human Species and the Planetary Factory" published on 14 Jul 2025 by Brill.

I was just looking into a review copy of Phil Neel's new book, Hellworld: The Human Species and the Planetary Factory. I thought the release date was Sept. I knew that, like all Hist Mat series, the initial hardcover would be $$$. With institutional access you can currently download the book free.

The Care of the Self and the Care of the Other | Columbia University Press What is the relationship between the ethical transformation of the self and the political transformation of the world? This book explores the ways several tw... | CUP

@danielwyche.bsky.social, The Care of the Self and the Care of the Other. From Spiritual Exercises to Political Transformation - @columbiaup.bsky.social, May 2025
cup.columbia.edu/book/the-car...

My article on "The Eco-Marxist Problematic" just became open access through the Taverne-Amendment. Free for anyone to read!
research.uvh.nl/ws/portalfil...

Fake work and Y2K w/ Leigh Claire La Berge Podcast Episode · Politics Theory Other · 10/07/2025 · 47m

ICYMI - @lclaberge.bsky.social on her new book 'Fake Work: How I Began to Suspect Capitalism is a Joke'. We talked about Y2K, the socio-cultural atmosphere of the late 1990s, and how Leigh Claire's book fits within the tradition of Workers' Inquiry:

podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/f...

The Enshittification of American Power First Google and Facebook, then the world. Under Trump 2.0, US statecraft is starting to mimic the worst tendencies of Big Tech.

1. @abenewman.bsky.social and I have a new piece in @wired.com on the enshittification of American power. It repurposes arguments from our book, Underground Empire amzn.to/3PbIyqX , and Cory Doctorow's idea of enshittification to explain how the Trump administration is trying to remake the world.

The Uneasy Oligarchy | Jamie Merchant This is not the takeover of government by oligarchs—it is an aspiring oligarchy overthrowing an old one by seizing government power.

The MAGA 2.0 business coalition is a fragile one, and the ruling class might just be at war with itself. @jamiemerchant.bsky.social considers the battle lines.

Monetizing Primacy | Karthik Sankaran Trumponomics, dollar diplomacy, and multipolarity

“The months since April 2 have clarified the multiple contradictory desires of the Trump administration vis-a-vis its position in the global economic hierarchy.”

@rajakorman.bsky.social on Trumponomics, dollar diplomacy, and multipolarity

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/mon...

The Politics of Feeling Populism, Progressivism, Liberalism

Out now!

The Politics of Feeling by @benandersongeog.bsky.social and @ajsecor.bsky.social

A critique of the living edge of politics, where feelings emerge, gather intensity, or dissolve in the continual making and remaking of the politics of the present

www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-p...

"a massive public jobs program for fascists"

With this vote, Congress makes ICE the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in history, with more money per year at its disposal over the next four years than the budgets of the FBI, DEA, ATF, US Marshals, and Bureau of Prisons combined.