Democracy Challenged
@democracychall.bsky.social
An international, interdisciplinary team based at University College Dublin, we conduct research at the intersection of corporate tax avoidance, wealth distribution, and democratic institutions.
Learn more at: https://democracychallenged.com/
Learn more at: https://democracychallenged.com/
Pinned
Our ERC Research Featured in The Business Post
We’re thrilled to share that The Business Post has published a detailed investigative report drawing on findings from our European Research Council-funded project at University College Dublin. The …
democracychallenged.com
We’re thrilled that the @businesspost.bsky.social has published a major investigation based on findings from our @erc.europa.eu-funded project at @ucddublin.bsky.social. It shines a spotlight on how multinationals shift profits through Ireland. A thread👇
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/06/o...
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/06/o...
The Politics of the AI Profit Mirage democracychallenged.com/2025/11/12/t...
The Politics of the AI Profit Mirage
America’s technology giants have found a new way to make artificial intelligence look profitable: change the maths. Between 2022 and 2024, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta and Oracle each extended t…
democracychallenged.com
November 12, 2025 at 9:27 AM
The Politics of the AI Profit Mirage democracychallenged.com/2025/11/12/t...
The Economics of War: How the Global Arms Trade Turns Conflict Into Profit
democracychallenged.com/2025/11/07/t...
democracychallenged.com/2025/11/07/t...
The Economics of War: How the Global Arms Trade Turns Conflict Into Profit
In early 2022, as Russian tanks rolled across the Ukrainian border and Western allies scrambled to respond, stock prices in the global defense sector quietly surged. Investors anticipated what poli…
democracychallenged.com
November 7, 2025 at 2:15 PM
The Economics of War: How the Global Arms Trade Turns Conflict Into Profit
democracychallenged.com/2025/11/07/t...
democracychallenged.com/2025/11/07/t...
Liberalism Collapsed Under the Weight of Its Own Contradictions
democracychallenged.com/2025/10/17/l...
democracychallenged.com/2025/10/17/l...
Liberalism Collapsed Under the Weight of Its Own Contradictions
The post-war promise that markets would sustain democracy has collapsed into a system of concentrated wealth, eroded trust, and geopolitical fragmentation. The world is living through a rupture, no…
democracychallenged.com
October 20, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Liberalism Collapsed Under the Weight of Its Own Contradictions
democracychallenged.com/2025/10/17/l...
democracychallenged.com/2025/10/17/l...
Reposted by Democracy Challenged
Is the National Economy Too Small to Study?
Regan and Blyth argue that Growth Model research in Comparative Political Economy is ontologically biased towards the national level.Their solution? Zoom in on the city-regional level.
Full article: doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwaf003
#SER @OxfordJournals
Regan and Blyth argue that Growth Model research in Comparative Political Economy is ontologically biased towards the national level.Their solution? Zoom in on the city-regional level.
Full article: doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwaf003
#SER @OxfordJournals
There is more to national economies than the national economy: extending the Growth Model research programme in comparative political economy
Abstract. This article argues that the Growth Model (GM) research programme in comparative political economy has an ontological and methodological bias tow
doi.org
October 17, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Is the National Economy Too Small to Study?
Regan and Blyth argue that Growth Model research in Comparative Political Economy is ontologically biased towards the national level.Their solution? Zoom in on the city-regional level.
Full article: doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwaf003
#SER @OxfordJournals
Regan and Blyth argue that Growth Model research in Comparative Political Economy is ontologically biased towards the national level.Their solution? Zoom in on the city-regional level.
Full article: doi.org/10.1093/ser/mwaf003
#SER @OxfordJournals
The '25 #Nobel in #Economics: Innovation drives growth through creative destruction.
Today, #innovation seems less about destroying the old - and more about accumulating power within the same firms.
tinyurl.com/4v8hftjr
Today, #innovation seems less about destroying the old - and more about accumulating power within the same firms.
tinyurl.com/4v8hftjr
From Creative Destruction to Winner Takes All – A Commentary on the Nobel Prize and the Role of the State in Innovation
Earlier this week, Philippe Aghion, together with Joel Mokyr and Peter Howitt, won the Nobel prize in economics. In their research, the laureates show that growth results almost entirely from techn…
tinyurl.com
October 17, 2025 at 3:17 PM
The '25 #Nobel in #Economics: Innovation drives growth through creative destruction.
Today, #innovation seems less about destroying the old - and more about accumulating power within the same firms.
tinyurl.com/4v8hftjr
Today, #innovation seems less about destroying the old - and more about accumulating power within the same firms.
tinyurl.com/4v8hftjr
Profits, Taxes and the Accumulation of Billionaire Wealth democracychallenged.com/2025/10/09/p...
Profits, Taxes and the Accumulation of Billionaire Wealth
In 2025, Forbes counted 3,068 billionaires controlling a combined fortune of $17 trillion — more than the total output of the five largest economies in Western Europe and roughly equivale…
democracychallenged.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Profits, Taxes and the Accumulation of Billionaire Wealth democracychallenged.com/2025/10/09/p...
Why taxing corporate profits isn’t just about revenue — it’s about counter-power. Think of it as antitrust by other means: clipping the wings of monopolies before their rents harden into dynastic wealth and political dominance.
democracychallenged.com/2025/09/22/t...
democracychallenged.com/2025/09/22/t...
Tax as Antitrust: Why Corporate Profit Taxation Is the Real Wealth Tax
Debates about inequality often revolve around wealth taxes. The argument runs that if the top 1% hoard an ever-larger share of global wealth, then the way to fund a social state is to skim a portio…
democracychallenged.com
September 22, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Why taxing corporate profits isn’t just about revenue — it’s about counter-power. Think of it as antitrust by other means: clipping the wings of monopolies before their rents harden into dynastic wealth and political dominance.
democracychallenged.com/2025/09/22/t...
democracychallenged.com/2025/09/22/t...
#Intangible #Capitalism: How Accounting Turns Licences Into Assets
democracychallenged.com/2025/09/12/i...
democracychallenged.com/2025/09/12/i...
Intangible Capitalism: How Accounting Turns Licences Into Assets
Capitalism in the twenty-first century runs on intangibles: patents, software code, algorithms, brands. Yet what really matters is not the ideas themselves, but how they are recorded in the books. …
democracychallenged.com
September 12, 2025 at 8:04 PM
#Intangible #Capitalism: How Accounting Turns Licences Into Assets
democracychallenged.com/2025/09/12/i...
democracychallenged.com/2025/09/12/i...
The era of #tax arbitrage has narrowed. #Tariffs and rules of origin are now doing the work of industrial policy. For #Ireland, the challenge is ensuring its #pharma sector remains more than a paper hub in the eyes of both #Washington and the #OECD.
democracychallenged.com/2025/08/29/w...
democracychallenged.com/2025/08/29/w...
Why the EU–US Trade Truce Puts Ireland’s Pharma Model at Risk
The EU–US trade truce leaves generics untouched but puts branded drugs—the core of Ireland’s export engine—at risk, with multinationals ready to shift production and tweak transfer pricing to prote…
democracychallenged.com
August 29, 2025 at 10:01 AM
The era of #tax arbitrage has narrowed. #Tariffs and rules of origin are now doing the work of industrial policy. For #Ireland, the challenge is ensuring its #pharma sector remains more than a paper hub in the eyes of both #Washington and the #OECD.
democracychallenged.com/2025/08/29/w...
democracychallenged.com/2025/08/29/w...
The age of neoliberal hands-off economics is giving way to state-led tech geopolitics.
Silicon Sovereignty: Industrial Policy and the Post-Neoliberal Turn
democracychallenged.com/2025/08/28/s...
Silicon Sovereignty: Industrial Policy and the Post-Neoliberal Turn
democracychallenged.com/2025/08/28/s...
Silicon Sovereignty: Industrial Policy and the Post-Neoliberal Turn
The age of neoliberal hands-off economics is giving way to state-led tech geopolitics. For decades, neoliberal orthodoxy insisted that governments should stay out of the business of building indust…
democracychallenged.com
August 28, 2025 at 10:58 AM
The age of neoliberal hands-off economics is giving way to state-led tech geopolitics.
Silicon Sovereignty: Industrial Policy and the Post-Neoliberal Turn
democracychallenged.com/2025/08/28/s...
Silicon Sovereignty: Industrial Policy and the Post-Neoliberal Turn
democracychallenged.com/2025/08/28/s...
Corporate profits in the US are more concentrated than ever.
These figures (see in the blog post) show a structural shift: competition is giving way to #oligopoly #capitalism. What does this mean for policy, #taxation, and #democracy?
democracychallenged.com/2025/07/24/w...
These figures (see in the blog post) show a structural shift: competition is giving way to #oligopoly #capitalism. What does this mean for policy, #taxation, and #democracy?
democracychallenged.com/2025/07/24/w...
Winner Takes All: How the Top 1% of Firms Capture the Profits
The US corporate landscape has morphed into a winner-takes-all economy, where a handful of multinational firms control the lion’s share of profits and market power. The data is stark. Across all US…
democracychallenged.com
July 24, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Corporate profits in the US are more concentrated than ever.
These figures (see in the blog post) show a structural shift: competition is giving way to #oligopoly #capitalism. What does this mean for policy, #taxation, and #democracy?
democracychallenged.com/2025/07/24/w...
These figures (see in the blog post) show a structural shift: competition is giving way to #oligopoly #capitalism. What does this mean for policy, #taxation, and #democracy?
democracychallenged.com/2025/07/24/w...
Reposted by Democracy Challenged
We are delighted to share that @ucdlibrary.bsky.social have ingested a new collection into the Repository - Democracy Challenged, an @erc.europa.eu funded project led by @aidanregan.bsky.social.
Find out more: dri.ie/news/new-col...
Find out more: dri.ie/news/new-col...
July 3, 2025 at 12:01 PM
We are delighted to share that @ucdlibrary.bsky.social have ingested a new collection into the Repository - Democracy Challenged, an @erc.europa.eu funded project led by @aidanregan.bsky.social.
Find out more: dri.ie/news/new-col...
Find out more: dri.ie/news/new-col...
We are very happy that our project got added to @dri.ie.
Browse our repository here: repository.dri.ie/catalog/0v83...
Read the DRI's post about us: tinyurl.com/3fhs6pwv
Browse our repository here: repository.dri.ie/catalog/0v83...
Read the DRI's post about us: tinyurl.com/3fhs6pwv
New collection in DRI - Democracy Challenged - Digital Repository of Ireland
The Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) is proud to announce the addition of the Democracy Challenged blog series to its ever-growing archive of socially significant collections. This collection, prod...
tinyurl.com
July 4, 2025 at 8:25 AM
We are very happy that our project got added to @dri.ie.
Browse our repository here: repository.dri.ie/catalog/0v83...
Read the DRI's post about us: tinyurl.com/3fhs6pwv
Browse our repository here: repository.dri.ie/catalog/0v83...
Read the DRI's post about us: tinyurl.com/3fhs6pwv
The G7’s Corporate Tax Escape Hatch: Fuelling Inequality and Killing Trust in Democracy
democracychallenged.com/2025/07/03/t...
democracychallenged.com/2025/07/03/t...
The G7’s Corporate Tax Escape Hatch: Fuelling Inequality and Killing Trust in Democracy
In June 2025 the G7 quietly unraveled one of the boldest tax reforms ever attempted. The OECD global minimum tax was designed to curb profit shifting. A single clause now exempts United States mult…
democracychallenged.com
July 3, 2025 at 11:11 AM
The G7’s Corporate Tax Escape Hatch: Fuelling Inequality and Killing Trust in Democracy
democracychallenged.com/2025/07/03/t...
democracychallenged.com/2025/07/03/t...
Reminder: Today at 4pm CET (3pm Irish time) @aidanregan.bsky.social will moderate this virtual session for the 2025 @sasemeeting.bsky.social conference.
@sasemeeting.bsky.social featured (virtual) panel with Michèle Lamont and Wolfgang Streeck - moderated by @aidanregan.bsky.social. Democracy after globalism: States, social movements, and recognition claims. 10:00-11:30 EDT/ 16-17:30 CET - Wed, 2 July virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/37937/...
July 2, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Reminder: Today at 4pm CET (3pm Irish time) @aidanregan.bsky.social will moderate this virtual session for the 2025 @sasemeeting.bsky.social conference.
Jeff #Bezos is throwing a $40M wedding—but the real story is how #Amazon made $3.6T (2014–2024) and paid just 9% U.S. #tax on $197B profit. IP tricks, transfer pricing, and tax laws made him rich - and let him stay that way.
tinyurl.com/yw7f6xef
tinyurl.com/yw7f6xef
Venetian Billionaire: How Amazon Built the Empire That Made Jeff Bezos one of World’s Richest Men
As the world’s richest guests descend on Venice for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s lavish wedding, the scene is already drawing protest. And rightly so. Behind the €40 million party, the security …
democracychallenged.com
June 27, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Jeff #Bezos is throwing a $40M wedding—but the real story is how #Amazon made $3.6T (2014–2024) and paid just 9% U.S. #tax on $197B profit. IP tricks, transfer pricing, and tax laws made him rich - and let him stay that way.
tinyurl.com/yw7f6xef
tinyurl.com/yw7f6xef
Tesla’s Tax Machine: How Musk’s Empire Grows While U.S. Revenues Shrink
democracychallenged.com/2025/06/17/t...
democracychallenged.com/2025/06/17/t...
Tesla’s Tax Machine: How Musk’s Empire Grows While U.S. Revenues Shrink
Between 2014 and 2024, Tesla generated more than $34 billion in global pre-tax profit. In most jurisdictions, that would translate into a meaningful tax contribution. In Tesla’s case, it produced a…
democracychallenged.com
June 17, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Tesla’s Tax Machine: How Musk’s Empire Grows While U.S. Revenues Shrink
democracychallenged.com/2025/06/17/t...
democracychallenged.com/2025/06/17/t...
Recent the @economist.com piece highlights insights from @aidanregan.bsky.social on Ireland's multinational profits vs. real economic activity.
Worth reading both:
Economist article 👉 tinyurl.com/yv9r2wk3
Aidan’s post 👉 tinyurl.com/347b4mhw
Worth reading both:
Economist article 👉 tinyurl.com/yv9r2wk3
Aidan’s post 👉 tinyurl.com/347b4mhw
How Ireland became the Saudi Arabia of siphoned-off global profits
The Emerald petro-state is riding high off tech and pharma—for now
www.economist.com
June 13, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Recent the @economist.com piece highlights insights from @aidanregan.bsky.social on Ireland's multinational profits vs. real economic activity.
Worth reading both:
Economist article 👉 tinyurl.com/yv9r2wk3
Aidan’s post 👉 tinyurl.com/347b4mhw
Worth reading both:
Economist article 👉 tinyurl.com/yv9r2wk3
Aidan’s post 👉 tinyurl.com/347b4mhw
The Billion-Dollar Battle Over IP and Tax Power democracychallenged.com/2025/06/13/t...
The Billion-Dollar Battle Over IP and Tax Power
When a U.S. tech giant charges its Irish subsidiary a fee to use pre-existing software, that charge which is called the “buy-in payment” can shape where billions in profits end up,…
democracychallenged.com
June 13, 2025 at 9:07 AM
The Billion-Dollar Battle Over IP and Tax Power democracychallenged.com/2025/06/13/t...
Save the date! @aidanregan.bsky.social will moderate a round table discussion at this year's @sasemeeting.bsky.social conference. Participation is possible online.
@sasemeeting.bsky.social featured (virtual) panel with Michèle Lamont and Wolfgang Streeck - moderated by @aidanregan.bsky.social. Democracy after globalism: States, social movements, and recognition claims. 10:00-11:30 EDT/ 16-17:30 CET - Wed, 2 July virtual.oxfordabstracts.com/event/37937/...
June 5, 2025 at 9:51 AM
Save the date! @aidanregan.bsky.social will moderate a round table discussion at this year's @sasemeeting.bsky.social conference. Participation is possible online.
Repost due to typo:
The pharma industry is a cornerstone of EU-US trade — and Ireland plays a key role at the heart of it. 🇪🇺🇺🇸💊🇮🇪
Vanishing Act: Strip Out Pharma and Ireland, and Over 40% of the EU’s U.S. Trade Surplus Disappears
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/29/v...
#Trade #Pharma #Ireland
The pharma industry is a cornerstone of EU-US trade — and Ireland plays a key role at the heart of it. 🇪🇺🇺🇸💊🇮🇪
Vanishing Act: Strip Out Pharma and Ireland, and Over 40% of the EU’s U.S. Trade Surplus Disappears
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/29/v...
#Trade #Pharma #Ireland
Vanishing Act: Strip Out Pharma and Ireland, and Over 40% of the EU’s U.S. Trade Surplus Disappears
The transatlantic trade relationship is often framed in terms of a stark imbalance: in 2024, the European Union ran a €198.2 billion goods trade surplus with the United States. On the surface, this…
democracychallenged.com
May 30, 2025 at 7:57 AM
Repost due to typo:
The pharma industry is a cornerstone of EU-US trade — and Ireland plays a key role at the heart of it. 🇪🇺🇺🇸💊🇮🇪
Vanishing Act: Strip Out Pharma and Ireland, and Over 40% of the EU’s U.S. Trade Surplus Disappears
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/29/v...
#Trade #Pharma #Ireland
The pharma industry is a cornerstone of EU-US trade — and Ireland plays a key role at the heart of it. 🇪🇺🇺🇸💊🇮🇪
Vanishing Act: Strip Out Pharma and Ireland, and Over 40% of the EU’s U.S. Trade Surplus Disappears
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/29/v...
#Trade #Pharma #Ireland
We’ve written a lot about intangible assets in our case studies. Time to step back and ask: what makes intangibles special - and how are they reshaping modern capitalism?
A Primer on Intangible Capital - What’s There to Know?
@linusze.bsky.social
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/26/a...
A Primer on Intangible Capital - What’s There to Know?
@linusze.bsky.social
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/26/a...
A Primer on Intangible Capital – What’s There to Know?
with Aidan Regan In recent weeks, we’ve repeatedly discussed intangible assets and their role in the complex tax strategies of multijurisdictional corporate groups (MJGs). Intangibles were central …
democracychallenged.com
May 26, 2025 at 10:49 AM
We’ve written a lot about intangible assets in our case studies. Time to step back and ask: what makes intangibles special - and how are they reshaping modern capitalism?
A Primer on Intangible Capital - What’s There to Know?
@linusze.bsky.social
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/26/a...
A Primer on Intangible Capital - What’s There to Know?
@linusze.bsky.social
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/26/a...
The Mirage of Substance: The Legal Scaffolding Behind Ireland’s Corporate Tax Boom democracychallenged.com/2025/05/19/t...
The Mirage of Substance: The Legal Scaffolding Behind Ireland’s Corporate Tax Boom
Since the closure of the Double Irish scheme in 2015, nearly $1 trillion in IP-related assets have been shifted into the Irish subsidiaries of US multinationals. This transfer has driven an extraor…
democracychallenged.com
May 19, 2025 at 4:09 PM
The Mirage of Substance: The Legal Scaffolding Behind Ireland’s Corporate Tax Boom democracychallenged.com/2025/05/19/t...
Ireland’s Phantom Prosperity: The GDP Mirage and the Real Economy democracychallenged.com/2025/05/14/i...
Ireland’s Phantom Prosperity: The GDP Mirage and the Real Economy
Ireland’s economic success story is, on the surface, dazzling. The country’s GDP — the broadest measure of economic activity — reached €510 billion in 2023, making it one of the richest countries i…
democracychallenged.com
May 15, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Ireland’s Phantom Prosperity: The GDP Mirage and the Real Economy democracychallenged.com/2025/05/14/i...
From Brave New World to #Apple vs. #Brussels: How Media Fragmentation Shapes Our Reality
New blog post by Oscar Barrera-Rodríguez, Lakshmi Menon and @aidanregan.bsky.social. They unpack the reactions sparked by last year’s landmark #tax ruling.
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/13/f...
New blog post by Oscar Barrera-Rodríguez, Lakshmi Menon and @aidanregan.bsky.social. They unpack the reactions sparked by last year’s landmark #tax ruling.
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/13/f...
From Brave New World to Apple vs. Brussels: How Media Fragmentation Shapes Our Reality
with Lakshmi Menon and Aidan Regan What happens when one tax ruling sparks six national narratives? From Orwell’s censorship to Huxley’s information overload, Apple’s €13B showdow…
democracychallenged.com
May 13, 2025 at 7:56 PM
From Brave New World to #Apple vs. #Brussels: How Media Fragmentation Shapes Our Reality
New blog post by Oscar Barrera-Rodríguez, Lakshmi Menon and @aidanregan.bsky.social. They unpack the reactions sparked by last year’s landmark #tax ruling.
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/13/f...
New blog post by Oscar Barrera-Rodríguez, Lakshmi Menon and @aidanregan.bsky.social. They unpack the reactions sparked by last year’s landmark #tax ruling.
democracychallenged.com/2025/05/13/f...