Legal and ethical issues aside, the reality is that folks who submit their paper anywhere should be prepared for their work to be uploaded and analyzed by some kind of AI algorithm. Introducing box checking doesn't do anything about that in equilibrium.

My pro-immigration misinformation piece that will probably annoy almost everyone is finally out. If you care about democratic trust or are just curious what liberal elites don't want to say out loud, this is for you. Feel free to tell me why I'm wrong. alexanderkustov.substack.com/p/the-uncomf...

Gallup says it will stop doing presidential approval polls (after 88 years of doing it) because of "an evolution in how Gallup focuses it's public research". This is eliminating a time series that goes back to FDR. thehill.com/homenews/med...

My reflections on going viral for challenging pro-immigration orthodoxy: what I learned, what I should have done differently, and why I'm still convinced telling the truth matters even when colleagues fear it gives ammunition to the other side.

“We noticed some anger from doctors last week. That’s why we invited RFK Jr. to talk about vaccines”

My reflections on going viral for challenging pro-immigration orthodoxy: what I learned, what I should have done differently, and why I'm still convinced telling the truth matters even when colleagues fear it gives ammunition to the other side.

My tentative book talk schedule for 2026 is up. Reach out if you want to join any of these events or organize one at your org.

My sense is that not much has changed since we wrote this for @washingtonpost.com in 2020. Puerto Ricans keep voting for statehood. But as long as many Americans don't even know Puerto Ricans are US citizens, it's hard for statehood to become a political priority on the mainland.

"Academic publishing as it currently exists is dead." This is probably overstated, but if you're an early-career academic, it's worth taking seriously that tenured Stanford professors who've been working with AI more than most are saying things like this out loud now.

"Academic publishing as it currently exists is dead." This is probably overstated, but if you're an early-career academic, it's worth taking seriously that tenured Stanford professors who've been working with AI more than most are saying things like this out loud now.

My sense is that not much has changed since we wrote this for @washingtonpost.com in 2020. Puerto Ricans keep voting for statehood. But as long as many Americans don't even know Puerto Ricans are US citizens, it's hard for statehood to become a political priority on the mainland.

"Public intellectual" might be too generous a description of John Stewart, but I'm sharing this link because it documents similar behavior--reckless disregard for the truth in criticizing the field of economics to a large audience: www.theargumentmag.com/p/jon-stewar...

Great to see "In Our Interest" reviewed in the Law Society Gazette, UK's largest legal publication: "A timely and worthwhile read." The reviewer, a migration solicitor, puts it well: the paradox isn't that people oppose immigration, it's that we keep designing systems that undermine their trust.

Here we go again... With Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl, it looks like many folks still don't realize that Puerto Ricans are US citizens. I'm usually skeptical of info campaigns to change minds, but in this case, we show that learning this forbidden knowledge is politically important.

Great to see "In Our Interest" reviewed in the Law Society Gazette, UK's largest legal publication: "A timely and worthwhile read." The reviewer, a migration solicitor, puts it well: the paradox isn't that people oppose immigration, it's that we keep designing systems that undermine their trust.

Here we go again... With Bad Bunny headlining the Super Bowl, it looks like many folks still don't realize that Puerto Ricans are US citizens. I'm usually skeptical of info campaigns to change minds, but in this case, we show that learning this forbidden knowledge is politically important.

At Ohio State U, faculty hiring committees sometimes explicitly considered candidates’ race and sex, in pursuit of diversity. I spent some time exploring how OSU, and all of higher ed, seemingly ignored both the legal and reputational risk staring it in the face. www.chronicle.com/article/dive...

I often disagree with @gelliottmorris.com on how to interpret public opinion on immigration, but this work of asking people concrete questions about what they want to keep or change in enforcement is very valuable.

Have you wondered why exactly it is that single-family zoning leads to racial segregation? I wrote this little article to figure it out. I use an agent based model to show it is a combination of race-based wealth inequality, homophily, & clustering of housing types in zoning maps.

You know immigration politics isn't going away anytime soon when you get two separate NYT calls in one day to explain what's happening on two different continents without even any allusion to Trump or ICE. I guess, if there's a plus side, it never gets boring.

This is right—what we're seeing is textbook thermostatic reaction to overreach, not a fundamental shift in immigration attitudes. The risk is Democrats reading it as a mandate for "abolish ICE" rather than a demand for competent enforcement. The thermostat swings both ways.

Hot take: AI-driven productivity gains could reverse the trend toward increased co-authorship in the social sciences. Coordination costs don't disappear just because the work gets faster—if anything, they become the bottleneck. P.S. To all my current co-authors: you're the best :)

As someone who has long argued that politicians should try to meet voters where they are more, I actually agree that professors don’t have to do that. College is not a democracy. If we want, we can just start enforcing standards and failing students again.

As someone who has long argued that politicians should try to meet voters where they are more, I actually agree that professors don’t have to do that. College is not a democracy. If we want, we can just start enforcing standards and failing students again.

Hot take: AI-driven productivity gains could reverse the trend toward increased co-authorship in the social sciences. Coordination costs don't disappear just because the work gets faster—if anything, they become the bottleneck. P.S. To all my current co-authors: you're the best :)

The report has some great immigration questions I haven't seen before, showing more room for agreement than usually assumed. 90% of Trump voters agree that "controlled immigration can be good for America" and 70% that it should be easier for people to immigrate legally (but harder to come illegally)

Fascinating! These folks are essentially arguing that LLMs, which millions of people evidently find useful, are useless. I'll be assigning this to my students as a perfect example of how insufferable and wrong smart people with PhDs can be. This smug attitude is exactly why populists are winning.

Fascinating! These folks are essentially arguing that LLMs, which millions of people evidently find useful, are useless. I'll be assigning this to my students as a perfect example of how insufferable and wrong smart people with PhDs can be. This smug attitude is exactly why populists are winning.

The report has some great immigration questions I haven't seen before, showing more room for agreement than usually assumed. 90% of Trump voters agree that "controlled immigration can be good for America" and 70% that it should be easier for people to immigrate legally (but harder to come illegally)

🚨 If populist rhetoric isn't persuasive, why do populists keep winning? 🚨 Our new paper (and first published registered report) shows populism's real electoral power may be mobilization, not persuasion—though policy positions still matter far more for voting. alexanderkustov.org/files/Kustov...

🚨 New policy brief at @mpc-eui.bsky.social's Co-Lab 🚨 Why do pro-immigration information campaigns keep failing? Because attitudes are remarkably stable—and voters reasonably prioritize their fellow citizens first. The solution isn't better messaging. It's better policy design.

Excellent piece by Alexander and Gonzalez Juenke. I’m obviously glad public opinion is shifting against Trump’s immigration policies. But this piece documents how Trump very explicitly campaigned for mass deportations. The American people voted for this. open.substack.com/pub/goodauth...

The Trump administration faces a choice. Will the administration double down on enforcement and deportation despite declining support? Or will we see a pivot toward the more pragmatic immigration policy shifts most Americans say they want? Read the latest: goodauthority.org/news/how-tru...

The January links are out! alexanderkustov.substack.com/p/migration-...

How did we get here in just one year? A year of change, a decade in the making. @akoustov.bsky.social and I try to make sense of last year’s immigration transformation. goodauthority.org/news/how-tru...

By: Clarissa Nogueira on Thursday, January 29, 2026

How did we get from widespread concerns about immigration among moderates in 2024 to federal agents shooting American citizens in Minneapolis? @egojunk.bsky.social l and I trace Trump and Stephen Miller's year-one transformation of immigration policy—largely bypassing Congress and any guardrails.

🚨 New policy brief at @mpc-eui.bsky.social's Co-Lab 🚨 Why do pro-immigration information campaigns keep failing? Because attitudes are remarkably stable—and voters reasonably prioritize their fellow citizens first. The solution isn't better messaging. It's better policy design.

Minneapolis is a place that means a lot to me, so I wrote a short Substack about the city, its people, and what we all owe them. benansell.substack.com/p/my-minneap...

🚨 If populist rhetoric isn't persuasive, why do populists keep winning? 🚨 Our new paper (and first published registered report) shows populism's real electoral power may be mobilization, not persuasion—though policy positions still matter far more for voting. alexanderkustov.org/files/Kustov...

For those still confused by Opinion 101: People souring on ICE and GOP handling isn't progressive messaging finally landing. It's a thermostatic response to overreach—the most predictable dynamic in democratic politics. Opposition unity is an effect of the public already shifting, not its cause.

As always, a thoughtful piece by @akoustov.bsky.social that echoes what @isabel-ruiz.bsky.social @mfreino.bsky.social and I conclude in our @oxrepjournal.bsky.social review on immigration: impacts vary by contexts/groups, involve trade-offs & ultimately demand better policies doi.org/10.1093/oxre...

Great summary of what awaits peer review in the near future—I hope journal editors are waking up! I agree that discouraging AI use is a losing, if not destructive, gamble, while submission fees and mandatory computational reproducibility are a must. kevinmunger.substack.com/p/peer-revie...

As a concrete testable prediction I'll guess that by late 2026 top academic journals will be getting about 50% more (viable) submissions than they were in 2025.

Fertility decline is a huge social problem and will profoundly shape the world, but people outside the far right are neglecting it because of the unsavory views of those who are most vocal. Has to change. www.noahpinion.blog/p/lets-save-... www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Very very good and carefully written piece that I encourage people to read closely rather than immediately seizing on things they don’t like to score points.

So, this went about as expected. Plenty of support in private. Some thoughtful pushback on Substack and LinkedIn. On Twitter, someone accused me of hiding the 'real truth' about race and IQ. On Bsky, an anonymous account said I shouldn't opine about migration because I'm a white man.

This is a very thought-provoking piece and I'm looking forward to reading Alexander's book. I'd also like to see a debate between @polphilpod.bsky.social and Alexander.

This is a very good, measured piece on why and immigration "liberals" often (but shouldn't) exaggerate/overegg the evidence on the positive impacts of immigration. (ignore the title) alexanderkustov.substack.com/p/the-uncomf...

I respect Alexander a lot for writing this piece (even as I disagree with some parts of it).