#AcademicRunPlaylist - 11/8/25

A NEW PERSONAL RECORD! Today I hit 58 miles (~93 km), making an enjoyable loop from Setagaya-ku to Yokohama and then around the Imperial Palace and back. And you better believe that gave me lots of time to listen to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist!

First was an extremely informative talk by Gerald Cohen on the state of the US economy and how much data center capex is actually driving growth at the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuGJCg6vfAM

Next was an incredible talk by Deborah Raji on the importance of acknowledging the current harms of AI systems and assigning accountability at the University of Colorado Boulder. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH-HF7Z67lo

Next was a great talk by Huy Ha on scaling robotic training across different robots at the GRASP Lab https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oeQrQ5x6SM

Next was an excellent talk by Bhamati Viswanathan on how generative AI cases are changing copyright jurisprudence in the US at the Cambridge Faculty of Law. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIx4PdksZkU

Next was an interesting talk by Neville Hogan on sensory-motor control in humans and robots at the GRASP Lab https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv23jW0thhU

Next was the National Bureau of Economic Research economics of talent symposium. I highly recommend the talks by Franklin Qian (entrepreneur experience and success) and Niharika Singh (gender dynamics in entry into competitive careers) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfeOvBZIqwc

Next was an intriguing talk by Ge Li (Bruce) on using movement primitives for robot learning at Ai2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG2lA1OM1kc

Next was the NBER corporate finance meeting. I particularly liked the talk by Greg Weitzner (access to capital and the IPO decision) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJN503BQfQc

Last was "Who Pays for Diversity?" by Oneya Fennell Okuwobi. This is probably one of the best management books I've ever read. Okuwobi combines insightful analysis with probing, systematic interviews to demonstrate the limitations and costs of organizational diversity initiatives, beginning with the provocation that society might be better off if we scrapped those programs and started from a place that prioritized equity above all else. Starting with the history of corporate diversity programs and how they originally emerged as a legal compromise to more foundational transformation, Okuwobi examines the experiences of people in a wide variety of organizations to demonstrate how foregrounding people who aren't white simply because of their identity profoundly negatively impacts them as well as the organization itself. While I originally thought I wouldn't get much from her inclusion of people who worked in churches, I was surprised at how that unique work environment gave addition insight into this phenomenon.

A minor quibble is that I would dispute Okuwobi's arguments against quantitative metrics - she even suggests some herself that I agree would be more appropriate measures to gain a more macro perspective on what's occurring within organizations. However, the crucial message here still stands - quantitative metrics are never enough, and even if one metric looks good you have to continually increase the depth and complexity, acknowledging that you will be missing something and there are always going to be ways to improve. I would've also liked a bit more on the macro context here, with quantitative metrics to drive this deep qualitative research home.

Regardless, this book is a masterpiece, and should be added to the canon of essential books for those practicing and researching management. Highly recommend https://www.ucpress.edu/books/who-pays-for-diversity/paper