Sonia Balagopalan

Researcher at @Autonomy_Inst. Climate and class struggle. Also some maths and dataviz.

[The Autonomy Institute @Autonomy_Inst]

Our new report – The Property Premium – is out today, with @jrf_uk 📄

Key finding: being a private landlord has been the best investment option available to individuals in England over the past decade.

Read the full report here:

https://t.co/rMgce6L4dV

[Sonia Balagopalan @SoBalagopalan]

@SidGadgil Very sorry for your loss.

[Sonia Balagopalan @SoBalagopalan]

Typically we see reporting on individual companies and their activities, but for this report we decided to look at the wide picture. How much do companies make from a political system that they donate into?
The Guardian has a nice summary of our findings. https://t.co/OkaksyntIy

[Sonia Balagopalan @SoBalagopalan]

The latest in our democracy and transparency work looking at money in politics, we looked at the vast amounts of public sectors contracts awarded to corporate donors to the political system, and uncovered some eye-watering figures.
https://t.co/F9ycuIoNBI

[The Autonomy Institute @Autonomy_Inst]

📰NEW RESEARCH: Givers and takers - to what extent do private companies benefit when they donate to political parties?

Over recent years, 373 companies made a total of over £60 billion following their donations in public sector contracts.

+ 8 companies donated over £580,000 to the Labour Party and were awarded contracts totalling just under £138 million within the first year of the current Labour government (July 2024-June 2025).

+ 29 companies donated over £11 million to the Conservative Party, and were then, within two years, awarded contracts worth £2.3 billion while the party was in government (May 2015 to July 2024).

[Tim Althoff @timalthoff]

I’m excited to share our new @Nature paper 📝, which provides strong evidence that the walkability of our built environment matters a great deal to our physical activity and health.

Details in thread.🧵

https://t.co/omO3YcHrvG

[Dominic Pino @DominicJPino]

Mad about jobs report inaccuracy? One reason it has gotten harder in recent years is declining survey response rates.

There was an unpaid advisory group of statistical experts that was working on solving that problem at its last meeting...

before Howard Lutnick disbanded it.🧵

[Will Stronge @w_stronge]

Food prices are going to sky rocket: that's baked in.

Solely due to predicted effects of droughts, flooding, and crop failures.

This leaves aside geopolitical upheaval, and many other factors of course, so is likely a conservative estimate. Explainer:

[Clive Wismayer 🇪🇺🥪 @CliveWismayer]

Interesting graphic in today’s Observer.

[The Autonomy Institute @Autonomy_Inst]

"If they did not already exist, public libraries would be an alien, outlandish proposal."

In the latest for our #UBS Hub series, @Liam_Mullally turns to public libraries as means of epistemic freedom and spaces for everyday luxury 📚

https://t.co/Tumu1poBDs

[Leonardo Rizzo @LnrdRizzo]

How we "guessed" the Pope using network science: inside the cardinal network. A study by me, Beppe Soda and Alessandro Iorio. Article: https://t.co/xQ0fTmpVxb @Unibocconi

[Jess Thorne @jlthorne_]

Excited to finally see this out in the world.

[The Autonomy Institute @Autonomy_Inst]

Only a few days left to apply🚨

We're looking for a new Consultant to join our growing team, delivering shorter working weeks for organisations of all kinds 🕙

Deadline: Monday 20th January

More info below 👇

https://t.co/jzDemcUiZG

[The Autonomy Institute @Autonomy_Inst]

🚨NEW: Largest UK public sector trial of four-day week sees huge benefits 📈

South Cambridgeshire Council's #4dayweek pilot led to fewer refuse collectors quitting and faster planning decisions more rapid benefits processing & quicker call answering👇

https://t.co/mEftychjYJ

[CADA @theCADAnetwork]

This weekend! Make sure to get your tickets now 😎

https://t.co/lRyLF8zEY6

[The Autonomy Institute @Autonomy_Inst]

We've updated our Care Visa Sponsor Database to include:

- Individual care home names, with links to websites and postcodes ✅
- A parent 'care provider' column ✅
- Links to Care Quality Commission pages ✅

There's now much more data to explore👇

https://t.co/BdxKvXifXU

[Tom Mills @ta_mills]

I've always been interested in whether & how different 'fractions of capital' might be represented by different politicians, parties & policies. This new report I worked on, published by @Autonomy_Inst today, investigates this empirically using UK donations data.🧵

[Will Stronge @w_stronge]

It's been an awesome (but intense) week at Autonomy.

Our economist Luiz has been over from Brazil, @CosimoCampani from Italy, @tatianapignon from France and @SoBalagopalan from Ireland.

We've had the pleasure of working with @planet_b and also hosting @JoanSanchis.

😎😵

[The Autonomy Institute @Autonomy_Inst]

Under one month to go until Tech Transformed hits Bethnal Green (25th-26th May) 🚨

Featuring friends like @The_TUC, @campaignlab_, @ConnectedByData and @CommonKnowledge, tickets are still available.

We can’t wait to see you there, sign-up below 👇

https://t.co/pR6a8hexGJ

[The Autonomy Institute @Autonomy_Inst]

🚨In-person launch of @theCADAnetwork!🚨

👉Weds, 21st February
👉7pm
👉Central London location

Come and meet the CADA community and hear what we have planned! Speakers:

@natalieben
@Hannah_O_Rourke
@nehaalnus
@w_stronge

Sign up: https://t.co/Hno6xMvbBo