‘Structural shifts demand a new central banking mindset’
Vivekanand Jayakumar at The Hill
While the “primary objective of most central banks” is “unchanged, the post-pandemic economic landscape has evolved in ways that require policymakers to rethink how monetary policy is designed,” says Vivekanand Jayakumar. The “pandemic shock and its aftermath substantially altered underlying economic trends and gave rise to a new geopolitical reality.” Forces are “reshaping inflation dynamics, impacting economy’s growth potential, and altering monetary policy transmission mechanisms.” So “central bankers will need to exhibit greater flexibility, adaptability, and forward-looking decision-making.”
‘Where did all the computer science professors go?’
Lila Shroff and Rose Horowitch at The Atlantic
AI companies are “turning into something like mini-universities,” say Lila Shroff and Rose Horowitch. As AI has “taken center stage, Silicon Valley has intensified its efforts to recruit star researchers — and looked beyond computer science departments.” While “plenty of research is still happening within universities,” the “result is a flywheel.” As “more academics get sucked up by industry, the center of AI research moves further from academia, thus increasing the incentive for remaining researchers to leave.”
‘We’re taking hobbies too far’
Meehika Barua at Time
Having “hobbies shows that you have the time, money, and energy to spend on them,” says Meehika Barua. But we have “turned hobbies from optional leisure activities into a marker of identity.” Hobbies are “increasingly sold as a route to becoming a more interesting or successful person, rather than simply a way to spend free time.” This “can leave people feeling guilty if they prefer quieter pursuits, or if they discover they don’t enjoy the hobby that everyone else seems to love.”
‘He may be Donald Trump’s only real friend. He’s quietly transforming the world.’
Andrea Bernstein at Slate
Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff “seems like Trump, a New York real estate developer turned world dealmaker,” says Andrea Bernstein. But in an “administration that privileges snarling visages, Witkoff is nearly universally described as ‘kind,’ or ‘nice,’ a quality he has used to good diplomatic effect.” As Witkoff “presided over a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas and Israel, he surrounded those talks with meetings with big-name Gulf leaders.” He is “unabashed about performing diplomacy through a business lens.”