link roundup
The Centre for British Progress launched today. I’m so excited about this - anyone who has talked to me, like, ever has heard me talk about how much the UK needs growth, and David and Julia have put together a great team for actionable ways to get Britain growing again. Truly the best kind of policy entrepreneurs.
(I am also a fellow at CBP, so watch this space for something from me as well!)
The Big if True Science (BiTS) Accelerator launched this week. This is a program for ambitious scientists and engineers who want to start coordinated research programs, lead by Joshua Elliot and Jean-Paul Chretien. I may be biased here, but they’re both incredible to work with and I highly recommend the program.
I’ll link here when applications go live, but more info is available here.
Works in Progress has a list of pieces they’d like to commission. Someday I’ll sit down and write a “why I am skeptical on (most) SEZs” piece…
Asterisk Magazine has an interview with Todd Moss and Katie Auth on the future of American aid.
Lee Crawfurd has a roundup of papers from CSAE.
Germany may revive up to six nuclear power plants!
On the CBP: the language, messaging, and even website style guide strongly resembles several parallel operations that are connected to EA donors and Silicon Valley software "philanthropists".
While these figures may not directly influence decisions made on a day-to-day level, there's a selection effect problem that seems to emerge since founding donors would likely be involved in personnel selection.
I'm not exactly reassured by the text on the site:
>We are funded by a mix of British and American charitable foundations and philanthropists. We have not received any research funding from corporations. Over 90% of our funding is from foundations and charitable funds, the rest is from individuals who are majority based in the UK. Our supporters have no influence over our research priorities or conclusions.
To avoid any fear of political interference by EAs (who are, by definition, agnostic at best to the interests of nations) or Silicon Valley (who are very keen to roll back IP protection for their models), will the CBP disclose who exactly its funders are?
My husband will be excited about the nuclear. ☢️🔋