User:Femke/sandbox

• reconductoring or advanced conductors (great working paper: https://haas.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/WP343.pdf, {{cite report|last1=O'Boyle|first1=Mike|last2=Baker|first2=Casey|last3=Solomon|first3=Michelle|title=Supporting advanced conductor deployment: Barriers and policy solutions|url=https://energyinnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Supporting-Advanced-Conductor-Deployment-Barriers-and-Policy-Solutions.pdf|publisher=Energy Innovation, GridLab|date=April 2024}}
• Jamie Seltzer (TIME100 Health){{Cite web |date=2024-05-02 |title=Jaime Seltzer |url=https://time.com/6967257/jaime-seltzer/ |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=TIME |language=en}}
• levelised cost of storage (now a weird redirect)
• Rising block tariff{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Matthew |date=2024-08-02 |title=‘Ultra-cheap energy for every household’: could a different kind of tariff change everything? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/02/ultra-cheap-energy-for-every-household-could-a-different-kind-of-tariff-change-everything |access-date=2024-08-02 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
• Stop de kindermoord Slogan and campaign group that made NL into cycling country

• Global air pollution exposure trends (2025 source) {{Cite journal |last=Sager |first=Lutz |date=2025-03-01 |title=Global air quality inequality over 2000–2020 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0095069624001864 |journal=Journal of Environmental Economics and Management |volume=130 |pages=103112 |doi=10.1016/j.jeem.2024.103112 |issn=0095-0696}} --> Inequality in air pollution has increased over the period 2000-2020, globally.
• Air pollution and povery (2023 source){{Cite journal |last=Rentschler |first=Jun |last2=Leonova |first2=Nadezda |date=2023-07-22 |title=Global air pollution exposure and poverty |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39797-4 |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=14 |issue=1 |doi=10.1038/s41467-023-39797-4 |issn=2041-1723 |pmc=10363163 |pmid=37481598}}
• Inequalities and air pollution (2023 source){{Cite journal |last=Reddington |first=C. L. |last2=Turnock |first2=S. T. |last3=Conibear |first3=L. |last4=Forster |first4=P. M. |last5=Lowe |first5=J. A. |last6=Ford |first6=L. Berrang |last7=Weaver |first7=C. |last8=van Bavel |first8=B. |last9=Dong |first9=H. |last10=Alizadeh |first10=M. R. |last11=Arnold |first11=S. R. |date=2023-12 |title=Inequalities in Air Pollution Exposure and Attributable Mortality in a Low Carbon Future |url=https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023EF003697 |journal=Earth's Future |language=en |volume=11 |issue=12 |doi=10.1029/2023EF003697 |issn=2328-4277}}

A rising block tariff or a national energy guarantee systems is a pricing system where the cost per unit of electricity increases as more is used. The goal of the system is to reduce energy poverty and energy conservation. It is a common system: roughly half of the world population lives in places that make use of it.{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Matthew |date=2024-08-02 |title=‘Ultra-cheap energy for every household’: could a different kind of tariff change everything? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/aug/02/ultra-cheap-energy-for-every-household-could-a-different-kind-of-tariff-change-everything |access-date=2024-08-02 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Rising block tariffs are used in China, India, South Africa and California.{{Cite report|last=Chapman |first=Alex |last2=Kumar |first2=Chaitanya |date=March 2023 |title=The National Energy Guarantee: A Long-Term Policy to Protect

Essential Energy Needs, Reduce Bills and Cut Carbon |url=https://neweconomics.org/uploads/files/national-energy-guarantee.pdf|publisher=New Economics Foundation}}.

In countries that seek to reduce the fiscal costs of large-scale energy subsidies, the introducing on rising block tariffs can help shield lower-income people from sudden price rises. This strategy was employed by Brunei Darussalam, who, like many other countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council have been seeking to reduce energy subsidies.{{Cite journal |last=Pacudan |first=Romeo |last2=Hamdan |first2=Mahani |date=2019-09 |title=Electricity tariff reforms, welfare impacts, and energy poverty implications |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2019.05.033 |journal=Energy Policy |volume=132 |pages=332–343 |doi=10.1016/j.enpol.2019.05.033 |issn=0301-4215}}

Judith Rosmalen (born 25 November 1971, Bemmel, Netherlands){{Cite book |last=Rosmalen |first=Judith |url=https://pure.rug.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/15170065/thesis_Judith_Rosmalen.pdf |title=Fatal Attraction: Interactions between antigen-presenting cells and islets of Langerhans in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes |publisher=Erasmus University Rotterdam and University Hospital Rotterdam |year=2000 |isbn=90-73436-52-4 |location=Rotterdam |pages=237}} is a professor of psychosomatic medicine at the University of Groningen.{{Cite web |date=2023-04-25 |title=Biomedische aspecten van ME/CVS in 2 consortia onderzocht |url=https://www.zonmw.nl/nl/artikel/biomedische-aspecten-van-mecvs-2-consortia-onderzocht |access-date=2024-01-07 |website=ZonMw |language=nl}}

She leads a research consortium that seeks to investigate the biomedical aspects of ME/CFS in the Netherlands. Her view is that psychosomatic research does not get enough attention for most illnesses, but has historically been overemphasized in ME/CFS.

Her research makes use of large population studies, such as TRAILS and {{Ill|Lifelines (cohort study)|lt=Lifelines|nl|Lifelines}}.{{Cite web |website=Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen|title=Judith Rosmalen|url=https://knaw.nl/leden/rosmalen |access-date=2024-01-17 |language=nl}}

In 2023, she was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Rosmalen was born in Bemmel, a town between Nijmegen and Arnhem in the east of the Netherlands. In her last year of secondary school, she also attended a conservatory, studying flute. She started studying biomedical sciences at Utrecht University in 1990. Three years later, she started a psychology degree at Leiden University. She

{{Reflist}}

:Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences

:Category:People from Gelderland

:Category:1971 births

:Category:Living people

:Category:Academic staff of the University of Groningen

{{shortcut|WP:READINGLEVEL|WP:READABILITY}}

Each reader has a different reading ability. Teenagers and non-native speakers may require plainly written texts, whereas university-schooled readers can understand highly complex text. Research shows that text on Wikipedia tends to be overly difficult.E.g. {{Cite journal |last=Naveed |first=Muhammad Shumail |date=2024-11-25 |title=Readability of wikipedia pages on COVID-19 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-024-01180-5 |journal=Universal Access in the Information Society |doi=10.1007/s10209-024-01180-5 |issn=1615-5289}} To make sure most interested readers can understand the article, use plain but formal English.

• Use short sentences and short paragraphs. Readers start to struggle when the average sentence is longer than 12 words. However, using too many short sentences in a row becomes dull and awkward; use a mix of sentence lengths to keep the reader engaged. Similarly, split long paragraphs into smaller ones.
• Write concisely and avoid redundancy. For instance, replace "The majority of critics gave the film negative reviews." with "Most critics gave the film negative reviews". These exercises help you recognize redunancy.
• Avoid overly difficult words. For instance, write "use" rather than "utilise", or "help" rather than "facilitate".
• Use active voice. For instance, replace "The cat was chased by the dog" with "the dog chased the cat".
• Eliminate long strings of adjectives, particularly technical adjectives.
• Use bullet points when appropriate.

Various online tools give an indication of the reading level. For instance, the [https://hemingwayapp.com/ Hemingway App] estimates the US grade level of your text, while [https://www.thefirstword.co.uk/readabilitytest The first word] has a more generic readability score and average sentence length.

• Talk:cactus
• Talk:Abraham Lincoln - work semi-promised
• Talk:Bayern München

{{Short description|2023 book written by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}

{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}

{{Infobox book

| name = The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies

| title_orig =

| translator =

| image =

| caption =

| border = yes

| author = Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington

| illustrator =

| cover_artist =

| country = England

| language = English

| series =

| subject = Political economy

| publisher = Penguin Books

| published = 2023

| media_type = Print and audio

| pages = 368

| isbn = 9781802060270

| oclc = 1381295811

| website = https://marianamazzucato.com/books/the-big-con/

| audio_read_by = Amy Finegan

}}

The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens our Businesses, Infantilizes our Governments and Warps our Economies is a 2023 nonfiction book by economists Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington. It argues that the overreliance on consultancies erodes government capabilities, and that consultancies perform a 'confidence trick', overselling their value to potential clients in the absence of specific expertise.

The book proposes three solutions: requiring consultancies to declare conflicts of interest, rebuilding public sector capabilities to become less dependent on consultancies and improving how the outcomes of contracts are evaluated. The Big Con received generally positive reviews, but some reviewers were critical of the unclear definition of value and the scarcity of evidence from outside the English-speaking world.

The Big Con mostly focuses on the Big Three management consultancies (Bain & Company, McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group, as well as the Big Four accounting consultancies (EY, PwC, KPMG, and Deloitte). Since the 1980, governments in the UK and the US embraced Third Way ideas of a more limited role for governments. The public sector had to "should steer the boat, not row it", that is, outsource many public sector tasks to the private sector. The book argues that it is difficult to steer when you do not have the capacity anymore to deliver.{{Cite journal |last=Marmot |first=Michael |date=2023-02-25 |title=Reinventing public purpose |url=https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)00358-6/abstract |journal=The Lancet |language=English |volume=401 |issue=10377 |pages=636–637 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00358-6 |issn=0140-6736}}

The book argues against the idea that consultancies offer value for money for two reasons. The first is that consultancies might be rent-seeking, in the sense that they charge much more than equivalent public sector workers would be paid for the same work. Secondly, it is unclear how much value they add, as some reforms instated by consultancies had to be redone soon after. Consultacies, The Big Con argues, pull of a confidence trick to give off the impression that they create value. The book for instance details how interviews work for the big consultancies; It's more important to come across as confident than propose sound ideas.{{Cite web |last=McManus |first=Darragh |date=2023-02-18 |title=The Big Con by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington: How consultants spoofed their way into everyone’s pockets |url=https://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/book-reviews/the-big-con-by-mariana-mazzucato-and-rosie-collington-how-consultants-spoofed-their-way-into-everyones-pockets/42345959.html |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=Irish Independent |language=en}}

The big consultancies often work for both governments and business, even when the interests of their clients contradict each other. This is for instance true in the field of climate change, where consultancies advice governments on how to decarbonise, while also getting money from fossil fuel companies with the opposite agenda.{{Cite news |last=Rosalsky |first=Greg |date=2023-03-21 |title=Need a consultant? This book argues hiring one might actually damage your institution |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2023/03/21/1162242773/need-a-consultant-this-book-argues-hiring-one-might-actually-damage-your-institu |access-date=2025-06-20 |work=NPR |language=en}}

The Big Con also examines failures of consultancies in the Global South, where consultancies often implement neoliberal free-market economic policies, often seen as neocolonial by the Global South. In one case study, McKenzie was contracted by the Puerto Rican government to help rebuild after it was hit by Hurricane Maria in 2017. This project was led by recent business graduates who applied a 'one-size-fits-all' process.{{Cite journal |last=Rapp |first=Hilde |last2=Schröder |first2=Patrick |date=2023-11-06 |title=The big con: how the consulting industry weakens our businesses, infantilizes our governments and warps our economies |url=https://academic.oup.com/ia/article/99/6/2524/7337109 |journal=International Affairs |language=en |volume=99 |issue=6 |pages=2524–2525 |doi=10.1093/ia/iiad260 |issn=0020-5850}} This included privatisation and reducing labour rights.{{Cite news |last=O'Brien |first=Hettie |date=2023-02-16 |title=The Big Con by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington review – how consultancy firms cash in |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/16/the-big-con-by-mariana-mazzucato-and-rosie-collington-review-how-consultancy-firms-cash-in |access-date=2025-06-18 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Consultancies also played a key role in capital flight from developing countries undergoing structural adjustment, in what the books calls 'transnational plunder networks'.

One of the impacts of embedding consultancies deep into the public sector is the erosion of opportunities for building internal capabilities.The Big Con details one strategy of consultancies: initial contracts to governments are offered at little cost. In subsequent phases, the government becomes dependent, having failed to build in-house expertise and thus feeling compelled to rely on consultancies for further work.{{Cite web |last=Goldenberg |first=Or |last2=Karlijn |first2=Saris |date=2023-03-08 |title=Overheid en bedrijfsleven leunen zwaar op consultants (en blijven verzwakt achter) |url=https://www.groene.nl/artikel/de-nieuwe-organisatiefluisteraars |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=De Groene Amsterdammer |language=nl}}

The book proposes three solutions to the problem: requiring consultancies to declare any conflict of interest they might have, rebuilding public sector capabilities to become less dependent on consultancies and improving how the outcomes of contracts are evaluated.

The book generally received positive reviews. The Times named The Big Con one of the five best business and technology books of 2023.{{Cite web |last=Urwin |first=Rosamund |date=2023-11-24 |title=5 best business and technology books of 2023 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/best-business-technology-books-2023-jwqnjchhh |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}} The Financial Times and The Guardian both included the book in their 'to read' lists for 2023.{{Cite news |last=Jordan |first=Justine |last2=Shariatmadari |first2=David |date=2022-12-31 |title=2023 in books: highlights for the year ahead |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/dec/31/2023-in-books-highlights-for-the-year-ahead |access-date=2025-06-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite news |last=Battle |first=Laura |last2=Studemann |first2=Frederick |date=2023-01-09 |title=The books to read in 2023 |url=https://www.ft.com/content/e0931fc8-2650-4c79-a423-6240b1aa229b#new_tab |access-date=2025-06-21 |work=Financial Times}} Nathan Akehurst called the book "meticulously researched" in a review for Jacobin and praised the book's ability to explain complex issues in simple terms.{{Cite web |last=Akehurst |first=Nathan |date=20 March 2023 |title=Consultancies Have Been the Handmaidens of Neoliberalism |url=https://jacobin.com/2023/03/the-big-con-book-review-consultancies-history-privatization-neoliberal-capitalism/ |access-date=2025-06-21 |website=Jacobin |language=en-US}} Mehdi Boussebaa, writing for the Journal of International Business Studies said that the book serves as a "much-needed wake-up call for businesses and governments".

Some reviewers critized the scarcity of evidence from the Global South. Boussebaa argues that while the book aims to tell a global story about consultancies, its evidence draws mainly from English-speaking countries. He also highlighted the limited engagement with how consulting firms relate to foreign direct investment and internationalisation of client companies.{{Cite journal |last=Boussebaa |first=Mehdi |date=2024 |title=The Big Con: how the consulting industry weakens our businesses, infantilizes our governments and warps our economies: By Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington Allen Lane, UK, 2023, 344 pp., ISBN 978-0593492673 |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41267-023-00653-8 |journal=Journal of International Business Studies |language=en |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=121–123 |doi=10.1057/s41267-023-00653-8 |issn=0047-2506}}

Others critiqued the book’s description of public value. Timothy Slaper, writing in Economic Development Quarterly, supported the critique of consultancy practices—especially how consultancies do not share in the risk of potentially bad advice—but found the discussion of public value theory unconvincing. He argued that the concept was poorly defined and weakened the book’s central claims, suggesting the material might have been more effective in a separate book.{{Cite journal |last=Slaper |first=Timothy F. |date=2024-05-01 |title=Book Review: A Review of “The Big Con: How the Consulting Industry Weakens Our Businesses, Infantilizes Our Governments, and Warps Our Economies” by Mariana Mazzucato and Rosie Collington |url=https://doi.org/10.1177/08912424231206158 |journal=Economic Development Quarterly |language=EN |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=131–134 |doi=10.1177/08912424231206158 |issn=0891-2424}} Similarly, Akehurst felt the recommendations lacked clarity, noting that the book did not define what a “new theory of value” might entail as an alternative to the consultancy emphasis on efficiency.