Talk:Robert Rubin

New book and website

Greetings, I have a small edit request for this page. Mr. Rubin recently published a new book and launched a website. I am hoping someone will consider adding the website, robertrubin.com, to the infobox and External links section.

For the book, I suggest adding the following sentence to the Other work section, immediately after the mention of his first book, in the same paragraph:

Rubin's second book, The Yellow Pad: Making Better Decisions in an Uncertain World, was published in May 2023. In it, he writes about his approach to "probabilistic thinking", or understanding that every decision carries risk. References

Please let me know if there any questions. As always, I won't make any changes myself due to my conflict of interest. WWB Too (Talk · COI) 20:52, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

These are both reasonable edits and should be part of the article. For style and clarity, I created a new “Books” subheading and added the language about the new book to it. I’ve closed the edit request as both requests have now been addressed. Go4thProsper (talk) 14:21, 26 May 2023 (UTC)

Thank you, Go4thProsper, I appreciate it! Best, WWB Too (Talk · COI) 10:59, 30 May 2023 (UTC)

@Go4thProsper: Re-opening this, sort of, because I realized later using the Wikidata property for the URL might be preferred, and also it uses the HTTPS protocol, which definitely is. What do you think of replacing the existing URL with {{URL | {{Wikidata|property|Q370316|P856}} }}? If that's too fussy, would you be willing to modify the HTTP to HTTPS? No rush, but curious what you think! WWB Too (Talk · COI) 13:37, 27 July 2023 (UTC)

Request to add Climate change subsection

Hello again, I've got a request to slightly expand on the Policy views section and change the order a bit to keep similar topics together.

To start, I'd like to suggest a new subheading within Policy views called Climate change, covering Rubin's views on the topic. There is already a fair bit of content in the section about this, more than any other policy area. Along with this change, I suggest moving the sentence about Brexit up prior to this subheading. I think that makes the separation between the topics clear.

I also have some suggestions for this new Climate change section: I recommend trimming some content related to the risk committee and scaling back the name-dropping, while refocusing it on Mr. Rubin's views, in keeping with the purpose of the overall section. Lastly, I'd suggest adding a few sentences about the Risky Business Project, another of Mr. Rubin's efforts related to climate change. As Spencer has suggested in the past, I've put these more complex changes into a table below to help make these changes more easily understood.

Existing text	Revised text with references	Reason for suggested change
In January 2014, Secretary Rubin joined former Senator Olympia Snowe, former Education Secretary Donna Shalala, former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary Henry Cisneros, Gregory Page the Chair of Cargill, and Al Sommer, the Dean Emeritus of the Bloomberg School of Public Health as members of the U.S. Climate Risk Committee. They oversaw the development of an analysis of the economic risks of climate change in the United States that was published on June 24, 2014.	Among Rubin's policy interests is climate change. In 2014, Rubin served as a member of the U.S. Climate Risk Committee, which oversaw the development of an analysis of the economic risks of climate change in the United States.	I think this adds a nice lead-in to the section and makes it far more concise without losing the key information related to Mr. Rubin.
In an address at the Climate Leadership Conference on March 4, 2015, Mr. Rubin spoke about the economic effects of climate change and the costs of inaction. Calling climate change "the existential threat of our age," he called for the adoption of three proposals – revising estimates of the Gross Domestic Product to reflect climate change externalities, disclosure to investors by companies of the costs of carbon they emit that they might be required to absorb, and including in the U.S. government's fiscal projections the future costs of dealing with climate change – to help catalyze a more active response to climate change risks. He first outlined the proposals in a Washington Post op-ed column titled "How Ignoring Climate Change Could Sink the U.S. Economy."	In an address at the Climate Leadership Conference on March 4, 2015, Rubin spoke about the economic effects of climate change and the costs of inaction. Calling climate change "the existential threat of our age," he called for the adoption of three proposals—revising estimates of the gross domestic product to reflect climate change externalities, disclosure to investors by companies of the costs of carbon they emit that they might be required to absorb, and including in the U.S. government's fiscal projections the future costs of dealing with climate change—to help catalyze a more active response to climate change risks. He first outlined these proposals in a Washington Post op-ed column titled "How Ignoring Climate Change Could Sink the U.S. Economy."	This is virtually identical to the current live content, only cleaning up some spelling and formatting issues, and adding two wikilinks. Though difficult to show in this format, I would also suggest that the content in this row and the prior row all be part of the same paragraph.
(no existing text)	In 2016, former Treasury secretaries Rubin, Henry Paulson, and George Shultz, members of the climate research group the Risky Business Project, penned a letter to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, urging regulators to manage financial disclosures regarding climate change.	I think this helps further expand upon Mr. Rubin's efforts related to climate change, and is especially noteworthy for the collaboration among Treasury secretaries of different political parties.

References

(Note: the empty ref is the Demos WSJ story, already rendered in the live article.)

For convenience, I've put the markup below for the proposed Climate change section (not including the subhead) in this box:

Extended content

Among Rubin's policy interests is [[climate change]].<ref name="WSJ-Demos-180608"/> In 2014, Rubin served as a member of the U.S. Climate Risk Committee, which oversaw the development of an analysis of the economic risks of [[climate change in the United States]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Larsen |first1=Kate |last2=Delgado |first2=Michael |last3=Mohan |first3=Shashank |last4=Houser |first4=Trevor |title=American Climate Prospectus: Economic Risks in the United States |url=https://rhg.com/research/american-climate-prospectus-economic-risks-in-the-united-states/ |website=Rhodium Group |date=June 24, 2014 |access-date=February 6, 2023}}</ref> In an address at the Climate Leadership Conference on March 4, 2015, Rubin spoke about the [[economic impacts of climate change|economic effects of climate change]] and the costs of inaction.<ref>{{cite web |title=Robert Rubin: Speech at the Climate Leadership Conference |url=http://riskybusiness.org/blog/robert-rubin-climate-leadership-conference-speech |website=Risky Business |access-date=February 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907091834/http://riskybusiness.org/blog/robert-rubin-climate-leadership-conference-speech |archive-date=September 7, 2015 |date=March 4, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Calling climate change "the existential threat of our age," he called for the adoption of three proposals—revising estimates of the [[gross domestic product]] to reflect climate change externalities, disclosure to investors by companies of the costs of carbon they emit that they might be required to absorb, and including in the U.S. government's fiscal projections the future costs of dealing with climate change—to help catalyze a more active response to climate change risks. He first outlined these proposals in a ''Washington Post'' op-ed column titled "How Ignoring Climate Change Could Sink the U.S. Economy."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Rubin |first1=Robert |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/robert-rubin-how-ignoring-climate-change-could-sink-the-us-economy/2014/07/24/b7b4c00c-0df6-11e4-8341-b8072b1e7348_story.html |work=[[The Washington Post]] |date=July 24, 2014 |access-date=October 10, 2015 |title=How Ignoring Climate Change Could Sink the U.S. Economy}}</ref> In 2016, former Treasury secretaries Rubin, [[Henry Paulson]], and [[George Shultz]], members of the climate research group the Risky Business Project, penned a letter to the [[United States Securities and Exchange Commission]], urging regulators to manage financial disclosures regarding climate change.<ref name="ClimateWire-Hulac-160722">{{cite news |title=Former Treasury Chiefs Tell SEC to Crack Down on Climate |last1=Hulac |first1=Benjamin |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/former-treasury-chiefs-tell-sec-to-crack-down-on-climate/ |work=ClimateWire |date=July 22, 2016 |access-date=August 24, 2020}}</ref>

Please let me know what you think. As always, I'm open to further discussion on these suggested changes and won't make them myself due to my conflict of interest. Any feedback is appreciated. WWB Too (Talk · COI) 16:06, 6 June 2023 (UTC)

 Done Edits seem reasonable, and the middle section keeps the current content largely intact. Spencer^T•C 04:38, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

Thanks! And your addition of the Economic policies subhead makes sense to me; I wish I'd thought of it. Best, WWB Too (Talk · COI) 11:05, 9 June 2023 (UTC)

Official portrait

Hello again, I have a small request not pertaining to the article text, but it use of images. For an article of this length, there are not many. One that would be appropriate is File:Portrait of Robert Rubin.jpg. I think it would be a good addition to the Secretary of the Treasury section since it is from his time in that role. Only thing is, this will place it rather close to the existing 1999 photo, so I'd recommend moving that one down to the Balanced budget agreement section. Given my financial COI, I think it best that I not make any edits to the page. My hope is that another editor will review the request and, if they agree, implement these changes. Thanks, WWB Too (Talk · COI) 12:24, 23 June 2023 (UTC)

Reply 1-JUL-2023

  Edit request implemented    Spintendo  20:33, 1 July 2023 (UTC)

@Spintendo: Thanks for doing that. I realized that the image doesn't have a caption, what do you think of something simple like this: "Robert Rubin official Treasury portrait, 1999"? WWB Too (Talk · COI) 22:12, 11 July 2023 (UTC)

Hi @Spencer: wondering if you have a moment to consider this request? I was hoping the prior editor would take it up, but it doesn't seem like they're coming back. WWB Too (Talk · COI) 16:49, 19 July 2023 (UTC)

 Done As always, you can re-add {{request edit}} to reopen the request for review, which will help other editors see it quicker. Spencer^T•C 20:52, 24 July 2023 (UTC)

Much appreciated! WWB Too (Talk · COI) 12:45, 25 July 2023 (UTC)

Rubin website

The current URL for robertrubin.com in the infobox is given as HTTP, not HTTPS, which I now realize is the preferred protocol. One way to do this (which I think would also be good Wikimedia hygiene) is replacing the existing URL with {{URL | {{Wikidata|property|Q370316|P856}} }}. Alternatively, it might just be easier to change HTTP to HTTPS. Also, his website is not currently listed under External links, so I'd appreciate it if it could be added there as well. Given my financial COI, I'll refrain from making any direct edits, and I'm hopeful another editor will take up these suggestions. WWB Too (Talk · COI) 18:06, 9 August 2023 (UTC)

 Done. What does the alternately proposed property|Q thing do anyways if it was to be done that ways? Graywalls (talk) 19:17, 9 August 2023 (UTC)

Thanks, Graywalls! Had you used the code, it would have tied that field to Wikidata. So if it was ever changed in Wikidata, the field would update automatically. Best, WWB Too (Talk · COI) 19:52, 9 August 2023 (UTC)

A few small updates

Hello again to all who watch this page; I have some requests for some minor updates to the article.

First, Mr. Rubin's book The Yellow Pad was included on Bloomberg's "Best Books of 2023" list. I think that is noteworthy enough for inclusion in the Books section, such as a new final sentence like:

• The book was named one of the "Best Books of 2023" by Bloomberg News.

Second, I was hoping to update some "as of" dates to reflect Mr. Rubin's continuing activities, both in the introduction and in the Other work section. Specifically, updating the latest year Mr. Rubin has been active with the Hamilton Project, Council on Foreign Relations, and Centerview Partners to 2024. I must note, there is no third-party sourcing saying he is still doing these things in 2024, but my thinking is this: the "as of" date for the Hamilton Project is already supported in part by a citation to the organization's website, so I believe this could work for the other two and, by updating the access date for Hamilton Project, perhaps then we could update the "as of" year? Like so:

• As of 2024, Rubin is involved in the Hamilton Project, an economic policy think tank he co-founded in 2006. He is co-chairman emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.

• Additionally, Rubin serves as a senior counselor at Centerview Partners, an investment banking advisory firm based in New York City.

And then with those updates made, this would also allow an update to the last sentence of the introduction, changing "As of 2022" to "As of 2024".

References

N.B. The WSJ source is already in the article, I just included the full citation here for visibility.

@Spencer: @Graywalls: @Go4thProsper: you have all fairly evaluated my edit requests here previously. Would one of you be able to take a look at this? WWB Too (Talk · COI) 16:04, 26 January 2024 (UTC)

Update: The Bloomberg book information has now been added. However, for anyone else coming across this, the question about updating the "as of" dates in the introduction and in Other work from 2002 to 2004 has not yet been discussed. I'm looking forward to hearing what some others think. WWB Too (Talk · COI) 14:25, 29 January 2024 (UTC)

 Done Encoded  Talk 💬 07:20, 3 April 2024 (UTC)