Well I for one welcome immigration to the UK and am grateful for everything immigrants have contributed to our culture, society and economy. Not a novel thought, but feels like it needs reiterating this morning. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_35...

Legal migration 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬 the UK, ensures we can 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐲, 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 properly and strengthen our power overseas. Feel it is important to reshare my speech on immigration today. Watch in full here: youtube.com/watch?v=TnEV...

The most useful UK intervention is to Make X Lawful Again on all fronts. Both Ofcom (illegal content) and the EHRC (the platform's proactive defence of unlawful abuse & harassment - racism & rape threats - in breach of Equality Act duties) need to intervene on their core responsibilities

"This impressive and stimulating book features a powerhouse line-up of authors.” — Jeffrey Frankel, Professor, @harvardeducation.bsky.social The London Consensus is out #OpenAccess 16th October. 🖇️ http://doi.org/10.31389/lsepress.tlc @lsepublicpolicy.bsky.social @lse-sticerd-case.bsky.social#OpenAccess

Shame on Downing Street for going along with this. So much for being committed to a free press

Excited to see the new Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics (Volume 6), edited jointly with Dave Donaldson come out: www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/han.... Fantastic set of chapters on recent advances and pointing the way to exciting further research @treballen.bsky.social @siepr.bsky.social

Works in Progress is now available as a print magazine. I think it's the most beautiful and readable magazine I've ever seen. Subscribe today for $100/£75 to receive six beautiful, 120-page issues a year. worksinprogress.co/print

*** NEW RESEARCH ALERT *** How do firms respond in the face of increased restrictions to hiring skilled immigrant workers? [THREAD]

Personal note: went to (some) of the countermarch yesterday, and then watched TV coverage of both. @sundersays.bsky.social is right that the far-right/racists on the main march are a (small) minority whose numbers are not growing. It's the apparent paralysis of the majority that scares me. [1/n]

The problem is that ‘this is not who we are’ is coming to feel a little empirically unconvincing. It might help if the PM actually stood up and made the case for a liberal, tolerant and inclusive country.

That the UK government continues to post on X is not only a moral failure, but strategically incompetent. As is not blocking foreign funding of UK politics

There has been far too much 'understanding' and far too little condemnation on the part of politicians and media of the flag movement. It is a far right campaign of vandalism and criminal damage. It is not a patriotic movement.

Early evidence that US tariffs are hitting UK exports And welcome back Sophie

Texas A&M should be ashamed of itself. It is encouraging cultural revolution-type snitching that is completely inconsistent with free inquiry and, frankly, being a grown-up that can be exposed to stuff that makes you uncomfortable. It's not only violating academic freedom, it's making kids dumb.

It's a bad look for China that this is the kind of censorship that would happen in America.

Using distance to the Irish border of UK firms that have not changed their location since 2016 Referendum to isolate the effects of Brexit at the firm level, authors find that Brexit caused exposed firms to cut workforce by up to 15.7% on average relative to non-exposed firms.

The Government is doing its best at the moment to imply it has no problem with the ethnonationalism now rearing its ugly head. And I don't understand why. 1/5

If one day we remember this time as a brush with American Fascism instead of a full-blown descent into it, it will be thanks to people like Lisa Cook. One could take the “pragmatic” self-preserving approach that we have seen from so many who have bent the knee. Saying “absolutely not” is heroic.

Too many folk overthinking this. "Mass deportations are an abhorrence that a civilised country should not countenance". That's all. No need for logistical advice, the spirit of Churchill, or picking your favourite previous action down the slippery slope.

A day of shame for the UK. A political party proposes mass deportations and the response from other political parties is not to condemn this as going further than even Mosley or the National Front.

This action by Lisa Cook is courageous, principled, and deserves broad support.

it will take years to undo the damage from this lawless, criminal conduct. business as usual once Democrats reclaim executive power will unacceptable. no turning the page without repairing the damage

No one would be confused about what's happening if you saw it in another country. No one.

Hey, Nick Clegg said something sensible. Clocks etc

It is and was extremely low cost for established institutions to stop using social media platforms that willingly abandoned content screening to block extremism, racism, misinformation etc. That they are mostly all ignoring this - including governments - is an abdication of public duty and ethics.

We are now 8 years into a bipartisan US belief that tariffs will bring back manufacturing. They haven't so far, and there's little evidence they can or will in the future. So for how long does this continue?

Well if part of fairness is the UK taking its fair share of refugees and other forcibly displaced people then we are falling well short compared to many other much poorer countries. But I suspect this Labour MP knows this and basically just doesn't care.

I want to congratulate leading Democrats’ for their insistence on saying the takeover of DC is a “stunt” or a “distraction.” It’s a rare trifecta of intellectual failure, political stupidity, and moral obtuseness.

I have a lot of respect for ordinary Americans that are sticking their necks out and resisting the slide into authoritarianism. Particularly as most of the supposed elites have rolled over to have their tummies tickled

At the start of all of this, I said that deploying the military against civilians was my bright red line. The moment when there could no longer be any serious debate about whether we were in a constitutional crisis. We've arrived at that line. www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

What happens if you have to do ‘deals’ rather than FTAs - with the need to decide on the spot, under coercion by your partner, without consulting your industry /1 www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Goldman's latest (still very early) analysis of tariff effects through June 2025: -Foreign exporters absorbed 14% of Trump's tariffs -US companies, especially small businesses, paid 64% -US consumers paid 22% -Protected US companies also raised prices -Consumers will see huge price increases by Oct

US deindustrialization was not result of trade deficits. It can no longer be reversed. Tariffs/investment promises will not do much for manufacturing. Bretton Woods was a global agreement not an extortion racket. Other than that, nothing wrong with this piece. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/07/o...

Just gonna state for the record that this is appalling, and the tell it's rooted in bigotry rather than women's safety is that it risks preventing trans men - a group assigned female at birth - from accessing using toilets. It's an unworkable bloody mess, and those pushing it should be ashamed.

Worth reading ⬇️ Dani Rodrik lays out why Europe, China and other wannabe global heavyweights need to stand up to America and lay out their own vision for the future of global trade www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/t...

Better to call this an export tax than an international student levy. Someone should ask the government if they plan to put export taxes on other industries?

Call for papers! 3rd New Thinking in Industrial Policy Conference ‪at Columbia, Nov. 6-7, 2025. Submit here by Sept. 12: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F.... Conf page: cdep.sipa.columbia.edu/content/new-.... Hosts: ‪@ipdcolumbia.bsky.social‬, @cdepcolumbia.bsky.social, ‪@columbiaigp.bsky.social‬, CPE.

Something every Democrat can and should do is calmly announce that when next in power they will fully fund, staff, and empower investigations into any and all abuses of power in these four years - and will not let the "look to the future" fetishists in the NYT Editorial Board talk them out of it.

'Crimson Courage' is urging Harvard *not* to knuckle under to Trump protection-money demands, as Columbia and Brown have Started as Harvard-alum movement, now seeking support from all who care about acad independence Can read and sign letter here. (We have) crimsoncourage.fillout.com/august-letter

Great thread on the causes and consequences of Britain's high energy prices

Having failed to retaliate, we've set ourselves up for a world of higher US tariffs, regardless of the next election Best thing Europe can do now is to expand and deepen the Single Market - lots of domestic potential for more growth!

Question for trade people Suppose Dems win the 2028 election. What's the probability the Trump tariffs are repealed? For bonus points: what can other countries do now to increase this probability?

As Trump's 1 August tariff deadline approaches, here are five ways Trump's trade war is affecting the US and global economy. 1) A surge in tariff revenue for the US government...

“Air pollution fell substantially as Paris restricted car traffic and made way for parks, people-streets and bike-lanes.” Better for the climate, better for health, better for livability & quality of life. Common sense. Such a no-brainer, it’s remarkable that more cities HAVEN’T done the same.

🚨 New research, with @swatidhingra.bsky.social and Danyal Arnold Brexit promised a “free” and more globally competitive UK. We take a closer look at what Brexit has meant for UK’s services exports using new data on trade barriers. Five years on, we find the promise has not materialised.

This is unfortunate: www.nytimes.com/2025/07/28/u... I wrote to the president of Harvard. I hope other faculty will speak their conscience, even if it means more struggle ahead.

I think the EU made a strategic error in ripping up the MFN principle for the sake of an agreement with the US Europe benefits from a rules-based multilateral trading system, and the EU should be supporting multilateralism, not undermining it

Von der Leyen's statement on the US deal says that they have agreed 'zero-for-zero tariffs on a number of strategic products' and gives some examples including aircraft and certain chemicals, etc. But has anyone seen the list of products covered? Does it exist? ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

What has Brexit meant for the UK's ability to export services abroad? Shania Bhalotia, Swati Dhingra and Danyal Arnold argue it has caused: 📈 Higher trade costs ⭕ More red tape 📉 Fewer opportunities Find out more about their study 👉 ukandeu.ac.uk/deglob...