Latest news with #Nobel
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Economics Nobel Laureate calls for a 'working-class liberalism'
Economics Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu has called for working-class liberalism. In his talk at the London School of Economics on Wednesday, as part of LSE Festival: Visions for the Future, professor Acemoglu said that despite liberalism's enormous success, he's become convinced that the old version of liberalism is dead and needs remaking. "I have become convinced over the last decade that liberalism's enormous successes are being overshadowed by some problems. So it does require remaking of some sorts," he said. In the Great Hall of LSE's Marshal Building, packed to the brim, Acemoglu, the joint winner of of 2024 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences and an MIT professor, said the ideas space was being won by those on the right. "This may come as a shock to some of you, but my view is that right now, new ideas are coming not from the liberal side, but they're coming from the anti-liberal, the right. Read more: Nobel economics prize awarded to Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson & James A Robinson "If you look at ideas that are spreading and articulating new ways of organising society, which many ... find very unattractive, they are the ones that are getting traction." He said the old version of liberalism was not enough. "Liberalism failed to adjust to being the establishment," Acemoglu said. The Nobel laureate sketched out his case for "Remaking Liberalism", which is also the working title of his forthcoming book, scheduled to be published in 2026. Delving into the history and the development of the moral and political philosophy that underpins liberalism, he said it played a crucial role as a force of good, mostly delivered via a democratic state. "Liberalism, broadly speaking, is respect for individual liberties and freedoms, efforts to create a rule of law, a level playing field, commitment to helping the disadvantaged via redistribution and other public investments. "So sort of not classical liberalism, but a little bit more left leaning liberalism, which has been the dominant force in generating new ideas for much of the 20th century, is responsible for many of the achievements that we have witnessed over the last 150 years, perhaps longer." Read more: UK borrowing rises in May, making tax hikes 'increasingly likely' He said liberalism's success was rooted in three implicit promises. First: shared prosperity, meaning that economic growth would take place and pretty much every group in society would get some share out of it. Getting voting rights was part of this agenda of creating shared prosperity, he said. Second: public services or drains. "I think the mood is captured by the once poet laureate of Britain, John Beecham, who said our nation stands for democracy and proper drains; getting services to people which did not exist for the most part in the 19th century." Shared prosperity and public services are the secret sauce of liberalism, Acemoglu said. The third promise of liberalism was economic growth. "Shared prosperity already bakes in economic growth. I think one of the most inspiring things about liberalism was that its belief in progress, not [the] inevitability [of it], but possibility of progress. He said liberalism allowed for the building of democracy from the bottom up, it allowed people to exercise their freedoms, including economic freedoms within a market system with economic growth as the glue that kept the system intact. But how did the political economy of this work out? Acemoglu explained how the two elements of political economy, the economics and the politics, manifest to produce what he called "an industrial compact" in the decades following the second world war, leading to a rise in demand for labour and wages – creating a pathway for prosperity. The industrial compact peaked with rapid economic growth, the spread of technology and the beginning of mass production. However, cracks started to appear as the industrial compact gave way to post-industrial economics, especially with the introduction of digital technologies alongside globalisation and deregulation. "Digital technologies did a couple of things at the same time. The first one is that by their nature, early digital technologies were very complementary to more skilled, educated workers. "They started creating a wedge between what the economic opportunities were for the less educated and the more educated." More importantly, however, digital technologies ushered in automation where firms could produce more with less labour which severed links of industrial compact, Acemoglu said. This, in turn, saw inequality exploding and the less-educated, manual workforce not keeping up. The labour that was shed from manufacturing was less educated and the labour that was needed for new industries was highly educated. This divergence accentuated the fortunes of the educated and the uneducated, creating crisis for liberalism or liberal democracy, he said. "But I think the big crisis came because post-industrial economics – in a classic political economy fashion – then was coupled with post-industrial politics ... where the highly educated group starts viewing itself as a distinct from the rest of society, and also cutting, severing its links with the rest of society." Read more: Why bitcoin and gold are rallying as bond yields hit 30-year highs Acemoglu said that the highly educated [elite] are a big part of the story of failure of liberalism. Money and status followed, as did a different set of values, especially in countries like the US and the UK, with the elite marrying among their status group. This has led to less mixing of communities and more segregation, eventually leading to to the rise of a "cognitive elite" with disproportionate influence on policy making. "Silicon Valley in the United States is one microcosm of the cognitive elite, they are much more pro-market. [They think] they're more entitled to redistribution. They think success is very much merit. And they have a number of other more right leaning ideas. Whereas if you ask people in the education sector or public administration, etc, they have very different values." The cognitive elite upended the bottom-up approach of liberalism. "That doesn't work with the nature of liberalism, because once you try from the top down to change the values of communities at the bottom, you are damaging the communities and you are destroying the basis of self-government, which is so important for liberalism and even more consequentially, perhaps you're going to create backlash. "So I think that's the basis of the crisis of liberalism." The Nobel laureate's proffered solution to the crisis was to create a working-class liberalism. "We need to create what I would like to call a working class liberalism, a liberalism that actually gets buy-in from the working classes. Read more: Why the UK's AIM is struggling 30 years on "So not a liberalism that is so centred on the educated, but much more about communities and much more about self-government at the community level." Acemoglu said that there are two elements that will make that feasible: "All of these communities want self-government. I think a lot of the discontent, a lot of the backlash is about the feeling of lacking self-government that should be part and parcel of any liberal project. "Second, they want jobs. Shared prosperity cannot be achieved without anything other than jobs. So this has to be a liberalism that is much more tolerant to the diversity of communities, especially working class communities, different religions, different traditions, different prejudices, takes their cultural concerns seriously, but also prioritises economic growth, especially job creation." Acemoglu said his next book will delve deeper into his case for "Remaking Liberalism". Acemoglu won the economics Nobel in October last year alongside Simon Johnson and James A Robinson "for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity." He's also the best-selling joint-author of Why Nations Fail, published in 2012, and Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity.
Indian Express
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Israel killed several Iranian nuclear scientists. Then, Iran hit back
In an escalation of hostilities between Iran and Israel, Tehran appears to have struck back after the targeted assassinations of several Iranian nuclear scientists by Israel. A missile launched by Iran hit the prestigious Weizmann Institute of Science early Sunday, heavily damaging multiple research facilities and signalling a chilling new front in the widening conflict, one that directly targets scientific institutions and personnel. The missile strike, which did not result in any casualties, caused widespread destruction on the Rehovot campus, decimating labs, wrecking years of research, and sending shockwaves through Israel's scientific community. Two buildings were directly hit, including one dedicated to life sciences. Another structure, under construction and designated for chemistry research, was also badly damaged. Dozens of other buildings sustained collateral damage. Professor Oren Schuldiner, a neuroscientist whose lab of 16 years was obliterated, said: 'It's a moral victory for Iran. They managed to harm the crown jewel of science in Israel.' The attack follows a string of Israeli operations targeting Iran's nuclear program. Just days earlier, Israel had launched overnight airstrikes on several Iranian sites, including the headquarters of SPND, Iran's primary research organisation for nuclear weapons development. Those strikes reportedly killed multiple Iranian nuclear scientists and top military officials. By targeting the Weizmann Institute, a global leader in scientific research with strong ties to Israel's defence establishment, Iran appears to be delivering a message: Israeli scientists, long shielded from the frontlines of this shadow war, are no longer off-limits. Dr Yoel Guzansky, senior analyst at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv said: 'The Weizmann Institute symbolises Israeli scientific achievement…Iran is saying: you killed our scientists, now we're coming for yours,' Associated Press reported. The damage is both physical and psychological. According to scientists at the institute, years of research into cancer, tissue regeneration, and neurological disorders were lost. Labs containing genetically modified organisms, advanced microscopes, and irreplaceable data were destroyed. While Iran has previously attempted to target Israeli scientists, including an aborted assassination plot uncovered last year, Sunday's missile strike marks the first successful and direct attack on Israeli scientific infrastructure, AP reported. Founded in 1934, the Weizmann Institute has long been a symbol of Israeli innovation. Its alumni include Nobel laureates and Turing Award winners, and its collaborations with defence companies like Elbit Systems have further underscored its strategic value. Though the campus has since been closed, journalists allowed inside described scenes of devastation, collapsed ceilings, shattered glass, scorched walls, and debris-strewn hallways. 'All of our studies have stopped…Rebuilding will take years,' Professor Schuldiner said. 'This isn't just an attack on a building, it's an attack on knowledge, on our future, and on our ability to contribute to the world.'
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Russia signs investment deal with Myanmar, sees offshore oil and gas prospects
Russia signed an investment agreement with Myanmar on Friday that it said could open up new opportunities for Russian energy companies in the south Asian country. "We especially note the readiness of the Myanmar side to attract Russian companies to the development of offshore oil and gas fields," Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said after signing the agreement in St Petersburg with Kan Zaw, Myanmar's minister of investment and foreign economic relations. Russia said the deal would help accelerate projects including in Myanmar's Dawei special economic zone , where a 660 MW coal-fired thermal power plant is being developed. Russia has been building closer ties with Myanmar's military junta, which seized power in 2021 by toppling the elected government of Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The country is struggling with internal conflict, an economy in tatters, widespread hunger and a third of the nation's 55 million people in need of aid, according to the United Nations. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing met Russian President Vladimir Putin in March and signed an agreement on construction of a small-scale nuclear plant in Myanmar. A month earlier, the two countries signed a memorandum on construction of a port and oil refinery in the Dawei economic zone. Friday's agreement will also facilitate cooperation in areas including transport infrastructure, metallurgy, agriculture and telecommunications, the Russian government said.
Business Recorder
4 hours ago
- Business
- Business Recorder
Russia signs investment deal with Myanmar, sees offshore oil and gas prospects
ST PETERSBURG: Russia signed an investment agreement with Myanmar on Friday that it said could open up new opportunities for Russian energy companies in the south Asian country. 'We especially note the readiness of the Myanmar side to attract Russian companies to the development of offshore oil and gas fields,' Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said after signing the agreement in St Petersburg with Kan Zaw, Myanmar's minister of investment and foreign economic relations. Russia said the deal would help accelerate projects including in Myanmar's Dawei special economic zone, where a 660 MW coal-fired thermal power plant is being developed. Russia has been building closer ties with Myanmar's military junta, which seized power in 2021 by toppling the elected government of Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The country is struggling with internal conflict, an economy in tatters, widespread hunger and a third of the nation's 55 million people in need of aid, according to the United Nations. Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing met Russian President Vladimir Putin in March and signed an agreement on construction of a small-scale nuclear plant in Myanmar. A month earlier, the two countries signed a memorandum on construction of a port and oil refinery in the Dawei economic zone. Friday's agreement will also facilitate cooperation in areas including transport infrastructure, metallurgy, agriculture and telecommunications, the Russian government said.
Economic Times
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Economic Times
Munir's two-card trick: How Pakistan's crypto pitch and Nobel flattery won Trump's favour
General Asim Munir strategically engaged with Donald Trump, securing a White House lunch and praise for Pakistan's restraint with India. Munir's charm offensive included a crypto initiative involving Trump's sons, aiming to position Pakistan as a crypto hub. This move subtly sidelined Pakistan's civilian leadership and publicly snubbed India's rejection of US mediation. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads In a deft diplomatic manoeuvre that cost Pakistan little but delivered big returns, Army Chief General Asim Munir has successfully reinserted Islamabad into Washington's strategic radar, by flattering US President Donald Trump and feeding his long-standing craving for the Nobel Peace result: a private lunch at the White House between Munir and Trump, public praise for Pakistan's restraint following a recent military flare-up with India, and a notable snub to both Pakistan's civilian leadership and New Delhi.'The reason I had him here was I wanted to thank him for not going into the war (with India) and ending it,' Trump said after hosting Munir. 'I was honored to meet him today.' Trump also gave credit to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying, 'Two very smart people decided not to keep going with the war. Those are two big nuclear powers.'But with India having publicly rejected a US role in de-escalating tensions, it was Munir who ended up with the spotlight. The White House itself disclosed that the real reason for the lunch invitation was Munir's push for Trump to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for helping dial down tensions between India and flattery struck a chord with Trump, who has repeatedly complained that he has been unfairly denied the honour. 'They gave one to Obama immediately upon his ascent to the presidency, and he had no idea why he got it. You know what? I got us out of wars. I made deals that nobody thought were possible,' Trump has often Munir's charm offensive didn't stop with the Nobel. In April, he laid the groundwork with a crypto initiative that tapped into Trump-world business interests. A US-based cryptocurrency firm, World Liberty Financial (WLF), signed a Letter of Intent with the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC), giving WLF the right to spearhead blockchain integration across Pakistani financial institutions. The partnership also aimed to explore asset tokenization, stablecoins, and DeFi pilot projects, part of a broader plan to position Pakistan as 'the crypto capital of South Asia.'What made the deal particularly intriguing in Washington circles was WLF's ownership: Trump's sons Eric and Donald Jr., along with son-in-law Jared Kushner, collectively hold a 60% stake in the company. The delegation to Islamabad was led by Zachary Witkoff, whose father Steve Witkoff, a long-time Trump associate, currently serves as the US Special Envoy to the Middle Munir personally welcomed the group and later held a closed-door meeting with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which helped seal the high-level access in Washington. The White House lunch, though private, was kept secret for weeks to avoid backlash from Pakistani expats loyal to former PM Imran Khan, who remains in custody under the military's watch.
