Posts by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
(DIR) Post #Ade7zJiAijiLiVXVmy by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2024-01-08T15:21:01Z
0 likes, 2 repeats
No way! A European Citizens' Initiative to (1) tax millionaires to (2) finance a Green New Deal via EU Commission own funds, and (3) whose proponents are (check notes) the president of the Belgian Socialist Party, a Polish former Employment and Social Inclusion Commissioner and Thomas Piketty (@pikettylemonde), possibly the world's most prominent scholar of inequality. Did the timeline just reset? https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2023/000006_en#TaxJustice #inequality #europeanunion #goodnews #economics1/2
(DIR) Post #Ade7zLpKr4dIHIuGES by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2024-01-08T15:39:31Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
It's technically well done, with indication of its legal grounding in the Treaty and of the regulations to be amended. Working definition of "millionaires" to vary from country to country. For Belgium: someone that has, on top of their home and business, > 1.25 million EUR in assets. I predict this one will clear the one million target, and then the Parliament will have to look into it. Good stub for another GND near-future science fiction novella by @pluralistic. Watch this space.
(DIR) Post #AhkHqPqTUzDRqXWmUi by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2024-05-10T10:39:16Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@aral I think I have learned.
(DIR) Post #AkM2L4xmDlzNbv9YVE by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2024-07-27T08:42:08Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
This, @EUCommission , would be a fantastic opportunity to ditch Microsoft altogether and embrace some European-maintained open source solution instead for your 40K employees. The EU government depending on non-EU infrastructure is not good for strategic autonomy – and that's on top on digital surveillance by American tech corps being against our data protection laws.https://www.edps.europa.eu/press-publications/press-news/press-releases/2024/european-commissions-use-microsoft-365-infringes-data-protection-law-eu-institutions-and-bodies_en
(DIR) Post #AmBfGe9VoROcNIzWVc by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2024-09-17T10:06:58Z
1 likes, 4 repeats
Dear fellow Europeans, I am respectfully asking you to consider signing this European Citizen Initiative to institute a billionaire tax. It was invented by leading French economist Thomas Piketty; I read the whole thing, and it is technically excellent. Hit me if you have questions, but please sign it, it is important. https://www.tax-the-rich.eu/It needs 1 million signatures (currently 300K) and seven countries over their threshold (currently three: Denmark, France, Germany).#economics #tax
(DIR) Post #AsWSDHDD4MlVf8XZSK by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-03-28T18:55:17Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
My friend Karen was the contact point for the ICE detention of Rebecca Burke. The experience turned her into a volunteer to alleviate the misery of detainees in her local ICE detention centre. Here is a post where she muses on her plans.https://westcoastpoetrytour.weebly.com/blog/archives/03-2025#migration
(DIR) Post #At4fDGiT5p7bKwCMwS by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-04-14T07:05:47Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
When the wise point to the monopoly, the fools look at the bots.#ai #monopoly #bigtech
(DIR) Post #Au5s8SaIBLUnoNWvdw by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-05-14T15:54:30Z
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Book club coming up! To prepare, I am re-reading @pluralistic 's "The Lost Cause" looking for characteristics of the economy of the world in which the novel is set. So far I spotted:* Modern Monetary Theory * Job Guarantee * Anti-monopoly policy (several large companies have been broken up: "Baby Ikeas" etc.)* Crypto-friendly theories of money (refuted, but with some empathy).What am I missing?Everyone welcome! Info and link: https://lu.ma/8ldrqsgk#economics #sciencefiction
(DIR) Post #AuRi0lI99vRKCJJRWy by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-05-25T07:38:11Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Una per @quinta. Per una variazione di posizione TARI, entro nel sito del Comune di Milano con SPID. Per accettare il cambio, il sito mi chiede dati personali, tra cui il numero di telefono, poi rifiuta di andare avanti perché il mio telefono, belga, è "fuori formato" (comincia con + o con 00). A parte il provincialismo: perché, se autorizzo il sito a leggere i miei dati dal mio account SPID, me li chiede di nuovo? Allora acos serve lo SPID? È una cosa impugnabile?
(DIR) Post #Auf9ikXjzXtMQHTGzI by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-05-02T16:26:37Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
"In this paper, I explain why the EU’s support for OSS and open standards dissipated between 2004 and 2010 despite the EU’s unchanged, unequivocally positive rhetoric about OSS and open standards, and despite the continuing dominance of Microsoft in the EU’s software market. My research [..] offers valuable insights into the current and future landscape of AI governance in the EU."https://cms.mgt.tum.de/fileadmin/mgt.tum.de/faculty_and_research/mppe/39_Nora_von_Ingersleben-Seip_How_the_European_Union_Fell_Out_Of_Love_With_Open-Source_Software.pdf#economics #OSS #EuropeanUnion #microsoft #bigTech#AI
(DIR) Post #Auwx5Y1mt7uBi0LQbA by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-06-09T09:17:42Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Riding on the Danube Bike path from Vienna eastwards. Today we are in western Hungary. Recommended - also well integrated with #CrossBorderRail solutions. Europe is more and more amenable to slow-travel, #solarpunk tourism. Low climate footprint, physical activity, art and culture... Why would I do anything else? :europe:
(DIR) Post #AuxfjxSO9uGK8rrmIy by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-06-09T17:50:36Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Good news/bad news from the upcoming 2030 reform of the UN's Standard for National Accounting.Good news: extraction of non-renewable resources such as oil, gas and minerals are to be counted as a negative component of GDP. GDP of petrostates goes down. Bad news: crypto assets, crypto mining and BS financial fees are to be counted as a positive component of GDP. GDP of speculation-heavy countries goes up.GDP is so mangled as to be unsalvageable. #economics https://klementoninvesting.substack.com/p/this-is-going-to-be-the-most-boring
(DIR) Post #Av7CYfcIaYUeM75fzE by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-06-14T08:07:19Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
"[Commercial social media platforms] promise connection, but deliver addiction, surveillance and manipulation."This video by filmmaker Elena Rossini is a great plea for the Fediverse as an honest attempt at social media by the people, for the people.https://videos.elenarossini.com/w/64VuNCccZNrP4u9MfgbhkN#thefutureisfederated
(DIR) Post #AvJP14dKhX3DOmP5Oa by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-06-20T05:25:09Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
Beautiful. Disturbing.And it could happen anywhere, if authoritarian drifts are not kept in check.https://insurrectionactfuture.org/
(DIR) Post #B0oghRSRtY8b4zmrL6 by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-12-01T20:42:12Z
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I can't believe I had missed this paper! Earlier in 2025, the leading researchers on #postgrowth #economics (including Hickel, Jackson, Kallis, Raworth and Steinberger) ganged up to write a thoughtful review of post-growth research. The field has grown robust, branching out on important side quests, such as "do we have enough resources to secure decent living standards for 10 billion people?"and "how can we sustain a welfare state without growth?" THREAD 1/nhttps://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00310-3
(DIR) Post #B0oghSvYQp0tdYPcLQ by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-12-01T20:51:53Z
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Researchers have created a comprehensive research agenda, and are well into implementation. For example, we now have "ecological macro" models that combine environmental with economic and financial variables, and can be used for simulations: LowGrow, with data from Canada, and Eurogreen, with data from France. We also have solid research on indicators of performance alternative to GDP, that can distinguish between beneficial and pernicious economic activities. 2/n
(DIR) Post #B0oghUMX60Bi5W2g2C by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-12-01T20:58:47Z
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Started out as a "what if" exercise, post-growth economics is evolving into a credible challenger to the neoclassical (mainstream) economics paradigm. Exciting times!In the time-honored tradition, the review article identifies directions where further research is most needed. The one that stands out is... #politics! "The question of politics emerges as an important research frontier."That we know what to do does not mean we know how to do it without using cohercion. 3/n
(DIR) Post #B0oghVF7p1rAopaH7w by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-12-01T21:02:06Z
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This means that politicians and political scientists have a large role to play in the transition to... whatever comes after this. While neoclassical economics told them to write into law to the prescriptions of the technocrats, post/growth research interrogates them, and asks them to help model the transition. This is extremely inspiring. I am working on a small contribution, that I hope to co-write with several elected politicians, on "modeling economic reform". 4/n
(DIR) Post #B0oghciS2OTRzoMIJE by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-12-01T21:04:51Z
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What does reform look like to a politician in office? How did I experience trying to reform? If they did not try, on the basis of what considerations did they let it go? What would they need in order to push ambitious reform projects? This sort of stuff. Really looking forward to these conversations. Watch this space, or reach out if you want to help. 5/fin
(DIR) Post #B1LagwU6rgc7VdcVI8 by alberto_cottica@mastodon.green
2025-12-17T08:39:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
It's great we are in the middle of a browsers war, reminds me of 1993. So, what do y'all recommend I use, and why? Mac, Ubuntu, Android. Happy to read, within reason. Thanks!