Dan Cohen

@dancohen

Critical urban and economic geographer studying the marketization of education and other social institutions (he/him).

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Dan Cohen @dancohen· 21d

Unsurprisingly it seems like the Carney government is shopping around public infrastructure to international and domestic pension funds. All to seemingly generate funds for his planned "sovereign wealth fund" that has dubious public benefits (see here: www.policyalternatives.ca/news-researc...)

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Jul 22

The City of Toronto's interest in a municipal ban on surveillance pricing has driven local interest in how widespread it is. That's given me an opportunity to talk about algorithmic black boxes and how they can hide discriminatory practices that would otherwise draw public anger and regulation.

How often is surveillance pricing used?
Exactly how common surveillance pricing is remains unclear.

Dan Cohen, an associate professor of economic geography at Queen’s University, says it is hard to gauge just how widespread this pricing practice is.

“It’s really a black box right now. There’s not a lot of regulation, it’s a fast-emerging practice, so we don’t have a lot of information right now about how commonly it’s being used,” Cohen explained to CTV News.

It is also unclear what factors are driving the differences in pricing exactly. In the context of dynamic pricing, he says location has made a difference.

“We’ve seen through pricing models, which aren’t individualized, but do have some level of difference that places where there’s not a lot of competition, the prices for the products will be higher, and those neighbourhoods are traditionally racialized or low income,” Cohen said.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Jul 15

All done after two days of the 'New Methodologies in Financial Geography Workshop.' A fantastic set of speakers showcasing the innovative ways geographers are piercing the veil of finance. Blown away by how advanced the research techniques of the ECRs in financial geography are.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Jun 22

Been playing video games while recovering from knee surgery, and readers I was not ready for stumbling into a discussion of capitalism, inequality and inflation targeting.

Screenshot of Disco Elysium and a discussion of the 2 percent inflation targeting

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Jun 22

Not a phrase I ever thought would ever come out of Pollievre's mouth. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

'No free lunch here'

Poilievre said the prime minister "wants to privatize the profit and socialize the losses. In other words, make you pay the price.... There's no free lunch here. Someone has to pay for the loss."

Dan Cohen @dancohen· May 27

My university is hiring a 'Director, Global Rankings and Reputation' (CEO of stat juking). The job description includes to "embed rankings-informed decision-making" and "leading the implementation of rankings improvement strategies." The tail is wagging the dog here, this impoverishes education.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· May 26

Working on a paper on the Bank of Canada's Contingent Term Repo Facility. Using Access to Information requests to fill in some blanks (underused research method imo), I found my paper title. A 'juicy, interesting policy question' is one way to describe bringing asset managers under CB protection

Image of an ATIP request that states: "Should we give asset managers access to central bank accounts?. A juicy, interesting policy question.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· May 19

Really enjoyed reading Against Money while recovering from knee surgery. Good introduction to post-Keynesian thought on finance/money which is under utilitized in economic geography. Great insights into the contradictions which finance internalizes and magnifies. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Dan Cohen @dancohen· May 12

Accounting is truly a mystical realm of dark magic and wonder. With one assumption my university can present the Board of Trustees with an $84.5 million surplus while simultaneously telling faculty, staff, and students that we barely eeked out a $2.3 million surplus so the austerity must continue.

A figure showing a 84.5 million surplus based on investment income.

A snippet of a university communique describing a $2.3 million surplus while admitting it is based on assumptions

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Apr 28

Meanwhile, the focus on market returns provides no pathway to achieving the nation-building goals of Indigenous reconciliation and high-paying jobs mentioned at Carney's press conference. If you are investing on equal terms to receive maximum profits, you are following private sector priorities.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Apr 27

The section about the retail investor aspect sounds like they are going to guarantee no one loses money on this (would be a bad headline!). Have to wonder what this looks like... If projects go wrong will the government be liable for large payouts to guarantee investor returns?

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Apr 27

More concerning details about the Canada Strong Fund. The press release states that the Feds will access other sources of capital for the fund such "as unlocking the full value of Federal assets". This is ominous that they are considering selling off or securitizing public assets to fund derisking.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Apr 27

One of the weird parts of this is the promise to get retail investors involved in this. So I guess you have to throw in democratized, or maybe pyramid-scheme. If this goes terrible does the public eat the costs twice as de-risker and junior capital?

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Mar 8

Here's a link to the episode and a screenshot of my reaction while listening to it: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/f...

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Mar 8

I've never as clear an insider description of the infrastructural power of finance as this Odd Lots episode with Lloyd Blankfein. He channels @benbraun.bsky.social and @danielagabor.bsky.social in saying the state needs finance to transmit policy so are over the barrelhead to support it in crises.

So you do what you have to do. If we had a cry is like that, you would

13:02
have to sort out the banking system. Now you can want to bring them up and trial and kill them. You do whatever you want to do it. But at the end of the day, governments don't lend money to people, and central banks don't lend money to people. The transmission for economic policy and for monetary policy and getting money out into the public is the banking system. And if the banks are distressed, if you gave them money, they husband that money to increase their reserves so they could

13:35
be solvent. And in fact they have to do that, the regulation requires that they do that. And so it's very very hard to get money and resources and get people going and provide that stimulus to the general public with a distressed banking system

You bought something from him, he bought it from me, and that goes around in a credit where you don't know the sovereignty of your counterpart. You're not going to pay me until I pay you, so you're waiting. But I can't pay him unless I get my money from you. So I'm stuck and he's stuck, and he's stuck and he's stuck. So the system is frozen. You need somebody with a big back sheet, and it's usually a government to say we will for this short term cover it, so all of you will get paid. Now go in.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Jan 24

Experiencing both of these temperatures in under a month is a bit of a trip.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Jan 15

My university has postdoc funding for those without a current affiliation with a Canadian uni working in specific areas, some of which overlap with geography (see below). Limited spots unfortunately but teach out if you are interested in a nomination. Due on Feb 9. www.queensu.ca/grad-postdoc...

Advanced digital technologies (AI, quantum, cybersecurity)
Health, including biotechnology
Clean technology and resource value chains
Environment, climate resilience, and the Arctic
Food and water security
Democratic and community resilience
Manufacturing and advanced materials
Defence and dual-use technologies

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Dec 19

My university, Queen's in Kingston, Canada, has announced its portion of the Canadian government's 'poach American scholars' program if anyone is interested. www.queensu.ca/vpr/sites/vp...

The Impact+ Research Chairs program includes two maximum award values of $8 million over eight
years ($1 million per year), and $4 million over eight years ($500,000 per year), to lead ambitious
research programs in one of the following priority areas identified by the Government of Canada:
• advanced digital technologies (including artificial intelligence, quantum and cybersecurity);
• health, including biotechnology;
• clean technology and resource value chains;
• environment, climate resilience and the Arctic;
• food and water security;
• democratic and community resilience;
• manufacturing and advanced materials; and/or
• defence and dual-use technologies.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Nov 30

Arrived in New Zealand! Here's the details for my talk at the University of Auckland on December 5th on relational financial geography and the spatiality of monetary policy for any followers in NZ. And here's a picture of a steampunk dragon from the Auckland Santa Claus parade for everyone else.

Details of talk 'Out of the Shadows' at University of Auckland at 3 pm, December 5th in 302-551

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Nov 17

If there's such a thing as the Odd Lots confidence index, the latest few episodes are pointing in a worrying direction. The call is coming from inside the house at this point.

A list of the latest four Odd Lots episodes all about overpriced markets, market dysfunction and an AI bubble

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Nov 16

Excerpt from the Bank of Canada's rate decision. Monetary policy cannot target specific sectors. Unless of course you are talking about the financial sector... then we've got hundreds of billions, can lend to new actors, and can 'crank it up to 11' as a BoC deputy governor put it.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Nov 13

I spend too much time on presentation slides, but I'm happy with this one about the need for financial geographers to think more about liquidity and what Martine August, @emilyrosenman.bsky.social and I call relational financial geographies (see here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...)

A presentation slide showing delineated lines on one side and mixed chaotic liquids on the other

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Nov 11

Working on my first comprehensive talk on the work I've been doing on the spatiality of monetary policy. Unreasonably happy with this slide on central banks (lack of) spatial imaginaries. If I have any NZ followers, I'll be giving the talk at the University of Auckland on December 5th.

Shows a picture of an absolutely flat terrain along with a quote about how the Bank of Canada doesn't consider space

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Nov 6

Canadians are being asked to make sacrifices for a budget that meets the moment. Apparently that means cutbacks to services to fund $1 billion to "support new and emerging fund managers" and to incentivize pension funds into investing in venture capital. Austerity for thee, largesse for finance.

Budget 2025 proposes to provide $1 billion on a cash basis over three years, starting in 2026-27, for the Business Development Bank of Canada to launch the new Venture and Growth Capital Catalyst Initiative, a fund-of-funds that would leverage more private venture capital by incentivising pension funds and other institutional investor participation. The initiative will also support new and emerging fund managers and important sectors such as the life sciences sector.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Nov 5

Did not know that Zohran's dad was college roommates with former Canadian Liberal party leader Michael Ignatieff.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Oct 27

Back home in Toronto in the same bar I watched a lot of the Raptors championship run. May have arrived ridiculously early to grab a prime seat 🤣

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Oct 23

This, from the Financial Times, is why my research has pivoted to monetary policy. The dynamics financial and economic geographers study are interested in are enabled by the implicit promise of the giant public de-risking regime at the centre of the economy. www.ft.com/content/ce8b...

It is worth, therefore, climbing inside the mind of the eternal optimist. It’s a beautiful, happy place.

The foundation of this worldview is an unshakeable belief in the rescue squad — a sense that if markets do get seriously tricky, for any reason, the cavalry will soon arrive, in the form of large interest rate cuts or even asset-purchase schemes from central banks. Investors, both professional and retail, have become accustomed to this ever since the great financial crisis of 2008.

The moral hazard is extreme here, but investors know full well the ECB would step in to douse any emergency in French debt, just as US authorities would prevent regional banking wobbles from getting out of hand and tackle any seriously wealth-destroying plunge in stocks.

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Oct 21

As a fan of Toronto sports that aren't hockey, I am aware of the power of a team of destiny. We welcome the poor odds!

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Oct 8

Urban planning, Urban geography, Urban political science

Dan Cohen @dancohen· Oct 2

Recruiting for a study on how Quantitative Easing policies impacted home buyer decisions in Canada from March 2020 to October 2021. If you know of anyone that bought a home during this time please forward the posting and/or this website: www.queensu.ca/quantitative...