I remembered this poem I read a while back that I shouldβve included in the last issue, so Iβm putting it here:
Recently watched Jack Ryan on Prime Video, although I canβt say I recommend it. Season 2 was pretty bad and Season 3 was watchable. I just started reading The Magic Mountain for my book club.
Good reading,
-Teddy
π§πΈ Really great podcast I listened to twice last week. An interview with Jeremy Giffon, nominally about special situations in private markets (transcript) but also about career trajectories, organizational incentives, and personal (self) evaluation. Hard to really pull out any excerpts from this one but worth listening to in full. (Invest Like the Best | Patrick O'Shaughnessy | Jul 2023)
ππ¨βπ©βπ§βπ¦ With the Supreme Court ending affirmative action, universities have started to respond. Sarah Lawrence added a cheeky essay question directly addressing the courtβs decision. Thereβs also been a turn toward tackling legacy admissions. Almost right after SFFA v. Harvard, Harvard was sued in another lawsuit citing the new decision, this time for its legacy admissions. Wesleyan announced they would end the practice this month.
There was a big study released this week that looked at the effect of wealth and income on admissions, separate from the other factors that often go with it. Legacy admissions and athletics recruiting play a big role in higher admission rates for applicants from wealthier backgrounds but even among them, the top 1%, and especially the top 0.1%, benefit disproportionately (even excluding donorsβ list applicants). Thanks to fD reader KV for sending this one my way. (NYT | Aatish Bhatia, Claire Cain Miller, Josh Katz | Jul 2023)
Obviously, schools have financial constraints on the education theyβre able to provide and who they admit but that argument seems weaker for universities with massive endowments that are less reliant on regular alumni giving. But for now, I donβt feel strongly about legacy admissions one way or another.
π¦Ίπ Ezra Klein on two critiques of βsupply-side liberalismβ (NYT | Jul 2023)
Iβd like to see a stronger labor movement in America, which is one of many reasons I support sectoral bargaining and the mandated appointment of workers to corporate boards. Plenty of countries with stronger unions than America complete transit projects more rapidly and more affordably than we do. But one of the major challenges of pro-labor politics in the United States is the public perception that unions often slow construction rather than making it better, and that perception is rooted in real failures of real projects in places where liberals and unions hold real power. I donβt think thatβs impossible to fix, but it is impossible to fix if liberals refuse to admit that it is true and refuse to make the policy changes necessary to prove that itβs untrue.
πΈπ¦π¦πͺ On the growing rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, personified by the conflict between their two leaders, Mohammed bin Salman and Mohamed bin Zayed (WSJ | Summer Said, Dion Nissenbaum, Stephen Kalin, Saleh al-Batati | Jul 2023)
The two countries are also increasingly economic competitors. As part of MBSβs plans to end Saudi Arabiaβs economic reliance on oil, he is pushing companies to move their regional headquarters to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, from U.A.E.βs Dubai, a more cosmopolitan city favored by Westernersβ¦
In a pointed response to Saudi complaints, MBZ privately warned the Saudi ruler late last year that his actions were undermining ties between their two nations. He accused the Saudi crown prince of getting too close to Russia with its oil policies and pursuing risky moves, such as the diplomatic deal with Iran, without conferring with the U.A.E., Gulf officials said.
Excellent post, Teddy! And opening poem too!
βMary Henninger
I like all the pictures you put for the articles.