#AcademicRunPlaylist - 7/28/25

I had a great time at the Hitotsubashi University symposium on corporate valuation and sustainability, and I particularly enjoyed the panel on operationalizing this approach with Masataka Kaji, Kaoru Kobu, Teppei Yamaga, and Takizawa Tokuya. Way too brief summary: using non-financial metrics to appropriately value firms is here to stay and gives investors who use them demonstrable advantage over those who don't.

Over the last few days I also read some books for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was "Great Kingdoms of Africa," edited by John Parker. Like all good historical essay collections, this one gives you good grounding in a number of different areas and provides a jumping off point for future reading. It does come with all of the normal weaknesses of the genre, however - brief surveys that are unconnected, and by its nature there's little room for depth here. That being said, academic volumes on African kingdoms that also come in audiobook form are rare, and this one checks all the boxes. Each chapter is written by a different researcher, including luminaries such as David Wengrow, and it has a dynamite forward. Highly recommend https://www.ucpress.edu/books/great-kingdoms-of-africa/

Last was "Down Girl" by Kate Manne. This is another banger from Manne, who here has penned a devastating, methodical dissection of misogyny in the West. While this book was written in 2016, the warnings and analyses here are unfortunately still essential and sting that much more (the frequent referrals to the Presidential election being a particular sore spot). I would've liked more macro, quantitative analysis paired with the case studies to validate some of the claims that are made here, although given the preponderance of evidence this is a minor quibble. Also be advised that this book spends time with extremely disturbing, violent episodes. Overall, this book is enlightening and an important work for understanding the deep, embedded nature of misogyny in our society and paths forward for finally engaging in the work of exorcising it. Highly recommend https://global.oup.com/academic/product/down-girl-9780190604981