#AcademicRunPlaylist - 10/2/25

I was under the weather for Yom Kippur, and after watching services on Zoom I listened to talks for my #AcademicRunPlaylist

First was an intriguing talk by Alessandro Bonatti on modeling the implications of consumer data in digital platforms for competition at CEPR - Centre for Economic Policy Research https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIpezOYYFVo

Next was an interesting talk by Africa Ariño on how the constraints and distinctiveness of the African business ecosystem can lead to greater innovation at Strathmore University https://www.youtube.com/live/p8MfO-ibO6k?si=_o6SEbJFwsQ3DaF8&t=3557

Next was an amazing talk by Alan Morrison on the meaning and value of organizational reputation and interactions with selfhood at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Highly recommend https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLptasvAyfw

Next was a thought-provoking discussion with Takeo Hoshi on the historical trajectory of the Japanese economy at the Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State. FWIW the leading question on populism in Japan represents a fundamental misunderstanding of the current political climate, but Hoshi graciously answered https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvPWXbDT-oU

Next was a wide-ranging conversation with Colin Camerer on behavioral economics, behavioral models, and more at CASBS at Stanford https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b71l-nGTLZg

Next was "She-Wolves" by Paulina Bren. This book follows the careers of some of Wall Street's first career women, detailing the massive structural barriers that impeded their rise and their compelling individual stories. Sprinkled throughout are helpful macro statistics to help contextualize these cases, although Bren doesn't spend much time digging into the effects of the financial industry. The cases often border on hagiographies, and I was struck by how little space was devoted to the massive generational wealth that propelled many of these pioneers and the larger implications of that. Still, this is an insightful examination of the work environment of a critical industry. Highly recommend https://wwnorton.com/books/shewolves

Last was "Black Ghost of Empire" by Kris Manjapra, who proposes and then backs up a startling thesis - everywhere slavery was abolished, emancipation was both slower and less complete than is commonly believed. Starting with the early emancipation laws of the North that didn't free people who were currently enslaved and made their children slaves until they were in their 20s, then moving to imposition of onerous reparations payments from Haiti to France and other geographies. Particularly egregious was that the UK only finished paying off the bonds it issued to slaveholders as reparations for freeing their slaves in 2015. Highly recommend https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Black-Ghost-of-Empire/Kris-Manjapra/9781982123499