Nonrival

June 10, 2026

Human experts + AI summaries - on public policy, economics, and technology.

Pension funds boost productivity only when they invest in private companies, not public ones

voxeu

• Danish data shows pension fund equity investment increases firm productivity by 3-5%, but only among unlisted private companies, not public ones
• The productivity gains come through four channels: providing scarce capital, making long-term commitments, active engagement in governance, and signaling quality to other investors
• This suggests Europe's Capital Markets Union should create vehicles for pension funds to invest in private equity while maintaining diversification and transparency

How Florida's Insurance Crisis Is Splitting Communities Between Those Who Can Afford Climate Protection and Those Who Can't

the_conversation

• Florida's soaring home insurance costs are creating stark inequality within neighborhoods, where wealthy residents can afford to rebuild and protect their homes while others are forced to abandon storm-damaged properties
• The current market-driven approach to climate risk is essentially sorting communities by wealth rather than sharing risks, as insurers become more selective about coverage to protect their profits
• Solutions could include public agencies that combine insurance coverage with community-wide resilience investments, pooling risks while reducing them through coordinated adaptation measures

Most State Subsidies for Clean Energy Projects Pay Off, But Design Matters

upjohn

• A new study of 50 major clean energy projects found that 70% of state and local incentive deals generate positive economic returns for taxpayers
• The projects examined received nearly $30 billion in subsidies and promise over 95,000 jobs in sectors like electric vehicle batteries, hydrogen facilities, and solar manufacturing
• Success depends heavily on deal design: the best incentives create substantial jobs at reasonable cost, target communities where employment matters most, and include strong taxpayer safeguards

In the News

As Trump Distances America From NATO, Britain Should Consider Its Own Nuclear Deterrent

lse

• Tony Blair argues the UK should stay close to the US despite Trump's pressure on allies, but this misreads how fundamentally Trump has broken with NATO commitments
• Trump can no longer be counted on to defend NATO allies against Russia, making the US nuclear umbrella unreliable for European security
• Britain should develop its own nuclear gravity bombs and join France's "forward deterrence" scheme to reduce dependence on American nuclear protection

Analysis

AI Production Is Growing 2,000 Percent Per Year, but Traditional Economic Statistics Can't Capture It

peterson

• Researchers created a new framework to measure the AI economy separately from traditional industry classifications, finding that quality-adjusted AI output grew over 2,000 percent annually in 2024 and 2025.
• This explosive growth comes from three compounding forces: rapidly expanding data center capacity, continued improvements in chip efficiency, and breakthrough algorithmic progress.
• The traditional economic statistics we use to track GDP and industrial production can't properly capture or isolate this fast-moving AI sector, creating a massive blind spot in how we understand economic growth.

Also Worth a Look

• America's Immigration Policies Are Accidentally Building Up Foreign Competitors (hoover)
• AI Chatbots Are Less Safe When You Talk to Them in Languages Other Than English (cdt)
• Vietnam's Trade Surplus With the U.S. Looks Threatening, But the Data Shows It's Actually Helping America (csis)
• Why Instant Payments Are Making Banks Take Bigger Risks (wharton)
• What Olympic Champion Allyson Felix's Fight with Nike Reveals About Pregnancy Discrimination at Work (uva_darden)
• AI Standards Were Written for Big Tech, But Small Businesses Need Them Too (cset)
• The US Should Use Trade Retaliation to Force Europe to Negotiate Over Its Tech Crackdown (itif)