As we approach the Fall semester, some ancient wisdom on learning... The student obtains: one quarter from the teacher, one quarter by one's own intellect, one quarter from fellow students, and one quarter through the passage of time.

1/ Week 30: The theory paper(s) in focus this week are KMR 93 & Young 93, which provided a remarkably elegant evolutionary perspective to equilibrium selection in games. If games have multiple equilibria, which is more "reasonable", if at all? A deep problem in game theory.

The consequences for human welfare involved in questions like these are simply staggering: Once one starts to think about them, it is hard to think about anything else. --- Bob Lucas (1988).

1/ Week 28: Theory paper in focus this week is the seminal article by Anthony Atkinson and @josephestiglitz.bsky.social that is now famously referred to as the "zero commodity/ capital taxation" benchmark in public economics. It has led to much technical & policy debates. Let's find out.

Been listening to the audiobook of this masterpiece of a biography. What a life Deng Xiaoping, and what a researcher and writer Ezra Vogel.

1/ Week 27: This week two related theory papers in focus: simultaneous & seminal in helping us elegantly formalize herd behavior / information cascades & triggering a fascinating literature across subfields in economics. Banerjee 1992 and Bikhchandani, Hirshleifer & Welch 1992.

1/ Week 26: After a hiatus, the theory paper of the week is back with a beautiful classic that spawned a huge literature across fields: Temporal Resolution of Uncertainty and Dynamic Choice (1978) by Kreps and Porteus in @ecmaeditors.bsky.social. Let's start with a thought experiment: 🧵

Celebrating APS this weekend in New York. What legends. Game theory at its sublime pinnacle :) APS= Dilip Abreu, David Pearce, Ennio Stacchetti.

Easter weekend acquisitions from my frequent book store. The gentle owner of the lovely store remarked today: Next time I’ll try to find a book for you at the intersection of your three seeming interests: mathematics, Buddha and poetry!🙃🤓

1/ Week 15: With apologies for the hiatus, this week's theory paper in focus in one of my favorites: Bubbles and Crashes by Dilip Abreu & Markus Brunnermeier. Why do financial bubbles sustain even when everyone may know they are riding a bubble? jstor.org/stable/3082044

Check out this episode with @rory-stewart.bsky.social & Alistair Campbell where they delve into Indian politics and suggest some further reading including Breaking the Mold by Raghuram G. Rajan & @rohitlamba.bsky.social [22:10 in]: therestispolitics.supportingcast.fm/listen

Raghuram Rajan & I write in Monday print of the Times of India: An encouraging hiring spree in Global Capability Centers, yet worries about impact of AI on Services. Evolution of this dilemma, how we might go up the value chain, role of higher ed & research. static1.squarespace.com/static/65584...

The river talks to me :) #WorldPoetryDay

Week 9: The theory paper in focus this week is the seminal paper on the theory of the firm by Grossman and Hart published in the JPE in 1986. The voyage starts with a remarkable observation by Coase: Why does a firm exist or differently why is the entire economy not a firm?

It is a good day for us to read this masterpiece by Keynes. Good read for your weekend if you haven’t. @arvind2011.bsky.social had this as a mandatory text for us when we were all working at the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser.

And till far far away, it is emptiness upon emptiness.

Postdoc opportunity on industrial policies and related topics at the Reimagining the Economy program at Harvard www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/cid/...

Week 7: The theory paper in focus this week is "Kidney Exchange" by @alroth.bsky.social, @tayfunsonmez.bsky.social, @muunver.bsky.social. Undoubtedly, one of the most influential (in terms of research in econ) and impactful (in terms of goodness in society) papers of 21st century (micro)economics.

Week 6: The theory paper in focus this week is the iconic "Electronic mail game" by @arielrubinstein.bsky.social. It is characteristic Rubinstein---communicating a big idea with elegant simplicity. It brought into focus failures of common knowledge, by extension failures in coordination.

Week 5: With apologies for the hiatus, this week's theory paper in focus is a super creative take on how to design RCTs when unobserved effort of treatment group limits external validity. It is a beautiful exercise in putting principal-agent theory to the design of experiments.

30 million people? 12 years ago, I went to the Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj (then Allahabad) with my buddy Arijeet Pal. We went there during the important date of Mauni Amavasya. It is one of the most memorable experiences of our lives. A snapshot here of the vast expanse set up for pilgrims.(1/7)

Week 3: This week's theory paper in focus is Political Correctness (2001) by Stephen Morris. It is a masterpiece in what economists called applied theory--crafty story telling about interesting facts around us that uses elegant mathematical modeling. www.jstor.org/stable/10.10...

PLEASE RT :) Submit to the annual Network Science and Economics Conference, the largest US event for network theory and empirical research in and adjacent to economics Deadline Jan 30 (soon!) Conference Apr 11-13 at Stanford

Cool new paper in the @qjeharvard.bsky.social by @jacobsgoldin.bsky.social and team on measuring racial disparities in tax audits using rich IRS data and proposals on how to make the audit selection algorithm work better.

What an excellent thread. Learned a lot.

A beautiful thread - worth reading even if you initially find it difficult and counterintuitive. It’s like a drama that is first painful to watch but then ends well.

Week 2: This week's theory paper in focus is a brilliant conceptual puzzle piece by Thomas & Worrall (1990). What are the implications of risk sharing/insurance provision over time when income is private? They have a surprising answer: it necessarily leads to long-term impoverishment.

Camus wrote delightful dark realism (some called it absurdism, even existentialism). This beautiful letter to his childhood teacher after winning the Nobel in Literature is perhaps a great affirmation to the promise and purpose of life that also co-existed in him :)

"A populist is, basically, a gifted storyteller; someone who can tell a false story well. And the way to fight them is by telling a true story better." —-Suketu Mehta

Very nice and detailed survey on contract theory from a CS theory perspective. Grad students in both Econ and CS will benefit working through it slowly and carefully. arxiv.org/pdf/2412.16384

Talk about impact :)

Excellent resource for understanding the role of models in empirical work. Helps you in developing a framework or clarity of thought in how to turn good questions into good research papers. Now, we have to convince @philhaile.bsky.social to write a "handbook chapter" on this :)

I've gotten a flurry of requests to access my slides on "Models, Measurement, and Language in Economics" (presumably thanks to the great new year's reading list from @rohitlamba.bsky.social). The file is publicly available via my web page, but here is the link: www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ntgkb...

Week 1: This year, I'll (try my best to) summarize & bring to attention one cool economic theory paper a week (so hopefully 52 in total). First up is one of my all time favorites: Bargaining and Reputation by Dilip Abreu and Faruk Gul. It is theoretical elegance, personified.

For last year's words belong to last year's language And next year's words await another voice And to make an end is to make a beginning — T.S. Eliot

Drawing the year to a close, hiked up Taktsang, the Tiger’s Nest. Padmasambhava, considered to be the pioneer of Tibetan Buddhism, and a revered figure in Bhutan, meditated and practiced from here in the 8th century. Happy New Year everyone. Be kind to yourself and others :)

0/ A holiday economic theory reading list. Some of my favorite pieces on theory that can be read with minimal sweat, but with the maximal intellectual reward. In no particular order:

Orwell's words on Gandhi seem apt: "But regarded simply as a politician, and compared with the other leading political figures of our time, how clean a smell he has managed to leave behind!" Travel well, Dr. Manmohan Singh... you made being an economist cool for so many of us.

And the Himalaya and I meet again. Merry Christmas from 3000m in Bhutan. At the newly built and quite spectacular Druk Gyalpo's Institute.

Mozart on whence and how his best ideas come. Be intentional about carving out a silent space for meandering thoughts. Beyond the scare of loneliness is the bounty of meaningful solitude.

I don’t know who made this but great job

With the rapid progress in AI, learning “how to learn” is going to be significantly more important than “what to learn”, for what to learn would be a moving target, moving at a pace much faster then recent human history.

When friends decide to get married overlooking the Taj 🙃

In which the vagabond Tyler Cowen comes home :) A simple but elegant theory of why India’s food is best in the world. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

Hearing and seeing Zakir Hussain perform live for the first time was magical... I was elevated to a higher place, I was hooked. Beyond his remarkable control over the tabla and his audience's emotions...

Relinquishing your desire to constantly be in control gives you the required pause for originality.

Very excited to share our new essay "The rise of a new economic power"with my friend Suyash Rai in the quarterly magazine, Vanguardia Dossier, published by leading Spanish newspaper @lavanguardia.com. Link to the essay (first Spanish, then English): static1.squarespace.com/static/65584...

Finals day. 400 students packed in an auditorium to take the exam you’ve written. Observing the anxiety from the other side still seems surreal. The calmness before putting ink to the storm of preparation inside. tinge of guilt perhaps that I could’ve prepared better.

I use the word “writer” deliberately. “Poet” must be used cautiously; it names as aspiration, not an occupation--- Louise Glück.