Money & Macro Talks

Vali Nasser, Professor of International Affairs at Johns Hopkins SAIS and author on Iran’s grand strategy. He traces Iran’s revolutionary sovereignty focus and compares its path to China and Russia. He discusses how protests and war affect legitimacy, Iran’s preference for a prolonged asymmetric war, core aims like security guarantees and sanctions relief, and its strategy toward Gulf states and regional influence.

Sheri Berman, Columbia political scientist and historian of democracy, outlines why populism is resurging. She traces its historical roots and contrasts left and right variants. She links economic shocks, cultural change, welfare dynamics, and social media to rising support. She warns democratic fragility and calls for broad, practical responses.

Zenobia Chan, researcher on Chinese politics and security; Jackie Wong, computational analyst of Chinese rhetoric; David Kang, scholar of East Asian international relations. They discuss China’s priorities: regime stability, economic growth, and territorial integrity. They debate Taiwan’s future as likely diplomatic, the South China Sea as a regional dispute, and how tech policy and rhetoric reveal intentions rather than global conquest.

Alexander Kustov, Notre Dame associate professor who studies public opinion and immigration. He discusses who people favor—high-skilled migrants and reluctant support for unauthorized arrivals. Framing shapes views on refugees versus economic migrants. Talks include regional recruitment, temporary pathways to reduce irregular crossings, and the political limits of large-scale reforms.

Jan Stuhler, a Madrid-based economics professor who studies immigration and labor markets, joins to explore how migrant inflows reshape wages and jobs. He breaks down short-run supply shocks versus long-run capital adjustment. Discussion covers which industries and skill groups gain or lose, monopsony effects on migrant pay, visa rules, and policy tools like minimum wages and collective bargaining.

Lane Kenworthy, a UC San Diego sociology professor and author, challenges common assumptions about inequality. He contrasts moral concerns with empirical evidence. He reviews causes of rising inequality, methods for testing effects across countries, links to opportunity, political influence, health and happiness puzzles, and practical policy responses focused on public goods and wage supports.

Paolo Pinotti, professor of economics at Bocconi studying immigration, labor markets and crime. He unpacks measurement challenges around immigrant overrepresentation in prisons. He explores demographics, legal status, deportation effects, enclave trade-offs, and how migration can coincide with falling European crime. He also discusses policy choices on dispersal, labor access, and integration.

Charles Goodhart, economist and LSE Emeritus Professor known for work on monetary policy and demographics. He defines the great demographic reversal: aging populations and falling fertility. He explores fiscal strain from fewer workers, risks to asset prices and inflation, AI as a partial offset, migration limits, and why political resistance makes reform hard.

Dr. Wess Mitchell, former Assistant Secretary of State and author on grand strategy, outlines strategic consolidation as a guiding principle. He discusses U.S. actions in Venezuela, the strategic value of Greenland, NATO and Arctic priorities, and renegotiating transatlantic burdens. He frames disruption and hard bargaining as tools to preserve U.S. power amid rising great power competition.

Abraham Newman, Georgetown scholar of international political economy, and Stacie Goddard, Wellesley political scientist, present neo-royalism as a lens on Trump’s foreign actions. They discuss personalist cliques replacing rules, how status and patronage drive moves like Greenland and tariffs, the anatomy of insider networks, and how these dynamics reshape institutions and global tensions.