Meritocracy is back

“IMF is fully aligned” with Bessent bailout - IMF head Alas, I get the Fund’s role here I don’t get the claim that Argentina has “robust” policy for increasing reserves

EVERCORE, on Argentina bailout: There are concerns “Bessent could try to push the Fed to open up a swap line directly with the Argentine central bank at the Fed’s credit risk. .. Bessent is likely hoping that an initial down payment on domestic farm support will give him enough political cover ..”

Xiaoying You: "Nearly 80% of CATL’s overseas investment has been in Europe. The company has pumped $12.3 billion into three production hubs, according to the September analysis. Its German facility is up and running, while its plants in Hungary and Spain are under construction." #battchat

(1) banger (2) i wish non-economists would realise just how much time each economics paper takes to write (because of our norms about how thorough each paper has to be)

New paper from SIEPR's Jared Bernstein @jaredb-econ.bsky.social and Daniel Posthumus delves into U.S. manufacturing's slide and what to do about it. Key insights: The 2000s China Shock tells only part of the story, and Trump tariffs will only make the underlying problem worse. tinyurl.com/bbrmb28f

Our co-founder @nathanlane.bsky.social featured on @visiblehandpod.bsky.social for a fascinating conversation on South Korea's Industrial Policy! 🙌

Despite Liberation Day tariffs, beef imports up 30 percent in first half of year, writes @taylornrogers.ft.com et al www.ft.com/content/5fad...

I spoke with the Visible Hand podcast about South Korean industrial policy www.thevisiblehand.uk/episodes/epi...

Italy trying to get US to call off mega tariff on imported pasta that will double prices for American consumers. Via Reuters

Milei's need for a US bailout understandably makes headlines. But also contradictory: Milei's contempt for markets doing...what markets would do. There are many reasons why traders would rationally sell pesos (FT). But no no *this* sell-off is due to enemies & haters. www.ft.com/content/0425...

A 2-mile-long suspension bridge between Italy and Sicily — the world’s longest of its type — is scheduled to open by 2032. Opponents say it’s a costly waste of time.

Joey Fishkin on the compact balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

The most important human story in the entertainment industry right now is the severe downturn in film and TV production in LA and how it's affecting middle-class crew workers. I spoke to dozens of them for this story about the depressed Hollywood economy. www.wsj.com/business/med...

today's newsletter: a consideration of the many wonderful cars in One Battle After Another, in particular Willa's 2005 Yaris, Sensei's T-Bird Super Coupe and Bob's boosted 1991 Nissan Sentra SE-R

Rowan helped push the President of U Penn out. Now he wants to use the power of the government, including tax dollars, to persuade universities to surrender their academic freedom. Because, he believes, he and other rich men know how to run a university better than the faculty.

“A list of the 321 canceled grants obtained by Heatmap tells a different story. While much of the funding was awarded to blue state-based companies, the intended projects would have benefitted communities elsewhere, including in Texas, Florida, and Louisiana.”

We’re hiring @ LSE We have *multiple* economist positions—assistant and associate professor—here at LSE International Development. Our economics group is expanding and we have exciting stuff planned. We’re keen on big picture economists. Feel free to DM me questions.

Knowledge spillovers are key to growth but hard to estimate. Randomly giving out energy-efficient motors to leather-goods firms in Bangladesh led to strong local spillovers, from Ritam Chaurey, Gaurav Nayyar, Siddharth Sharma, and @ericverhoogen.bsky.social https://www.nber.org/papers/w34296

1/ New report from @bentleyallan.bsky.social's Net Zero Policy Lab: As the US withdraws from green tech industries and pressures allies to follow suit, China is stepping in to power the developing world's energy transition. The scale is staggering. www.netzeropolicylab.com/china-green-...

Gm

I fully understand how difficult it is to remain focused on any one particular atrocity but this really ought to be a serious scandal and people need to pay heavy prices for this

In a new case study, Sebastian Buck and I unpack the origins & functioning of a €3 billion investment instrument established by the German state of Saarland. Since 2022, the fund has made investments with the twin aims of stabilizing existing industries and enabling long-term transformation⬇️

On the one hand, a downside of BlueSky is that it is harder to follow ML/AI research here. On the other hand, there is also less ML gibberish and absolutely cooked AI-related content.

“The small body size of Homo floresiensis was likely an adaptation to the unique conditions of their island environment on Flores.”

EU plans tariffs of 25-50% on Chinese steel and related products, Handelsblatt reports reut.rs/4njL3al

one of those drop everything and just read it things …. www.netzeropolicylab.com/china-green-...

📢 Conference announcement! Paolo Surico and I are excited to be organizing this @cepr.org conference on Public Policies for Innovation. If you work in the #Economics of #Innovation and #InnovationPolicy, please submit + spread the word. Non-presenting attendees also invited.

Each time I try to make it through this Walter Mignolo lecture

Isaac Chotiner has invited me to sample some delicious Amontillado wine and I don’t know guys but I think I’m going to come out of this interview seeming like *quite* the wine expert

We're just trying to be helpful. on.ft.com/4gGwMCj

New from @nealemahoney.bsky.social and me: "Building an affordable economy: A three-legged stool strategy." Everybody's talking affordability, as they should be! Here's our framework & principles: siepr.stanford.edu/publications... Substack summary: econjared.substack.com/p/a-three-le...

Once more: the best evidence shows that Tylenol taken during pregnancy is not harmful. **This question is settled.** The benefit of reducing discomfort and fever is extremely important at a time when the fetus is developing. Pregnant women - Tylenol is safe. sciencebasedmedicine.org/tylenol-and-...

The 100K H-1B fee is the biggest opportunity for the UK yet to revive economic growth and business dynamism. Now let’s drop those visa fees and NHS surcharges right away to send a clear signal and reap the benefits!

We’re hiring @bennettschool.cam.ac.uk for a postdoc in geopolitics of AI www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/researc...

I agree with a lot here here. But I reject the claim that economists dont “want to know anything about production.” There are global fields and literatures dedicated to this. Yes, even machines, processes, etc. This isn’t to mention, industrial economists working directly for these sectors.

We had to take our cat to the vet suddenly and it was 100% less stressful

WSJ: "Cardboard-Box Demand Slumping" "On a per-capita basis ... box shipments per American down more than 20% from 1999 peak" "The US will have shed ~9% of its containerboard-production capacity in a span of about 8 months" "Wave of industry consolidation began last year" $IP

I had no idea Arc’teryx was part of this

The empire of Segu (1712-1861): ethnic ambiguity in a pre-colonial African state www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-empire...

In these difficult times for science funding, the Golden Goose Award is a reminder of its benefits. #econsky #academicsky marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2025/09/the-...

TLDR: the article says zilch. Nothing. Incredibly confident prose around vapor. Ah yes, universities should borrow from the corporate crib sheet. As for Schumpeter, you won’t find him here. Just vibes.

Out today in JAERE! We measure water pollution released at India's industrial clusters. Does it hurt agriculture? Surprisingly: Not by much Come for how we published a paper of null results & with no regression tables Stay for new ways to proxy for crop yields & map hydrological relationships 🧵

Increases in wildfires are expected to cause a notable increase in premature deaths, according to two studies in Nature. go.nature.com/4mynauQ go.nature.com/4nJoxI5 #medsky ⚒️ 🧪

This very cool pod @stepchange.bsky.social just does one giant, deeply researched episode every six months or so. This time around it's a subject dear to all our hearts: data centers! Take four hours (!) & learn the crucial context you need to understand today's debates:

A decade ago about 20% of the long-term unemployed were college grads. Today it's about 1/3. And the long-term unemployment rate for college grads has been rising pretty quickly the last two years. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/b...

Brilliant application of CS to labor economics: In hiring, adding an "exploration bonus" improves quality, and esp favors minority candidates (it's a remedy for statistical discrimination-- if you favor hiring a rare type of candidate you learn more about their group, to improve future hires)

Extreme heat damages crops and increases the number of strongly undernourished households in terms of calories, iron, and other nutrients. While some households cope by buying food grown elsewhere, the poorest remain highly vulnerable. Read today's article to learn more:

What if charging EVs is really cleaner than we think? Read our new open access paper below to find out why! 🔌🚗 🔌💡

Really interesting @planetmoney.bsky.social podcast on the evolution of US government industrial policy with respect to semiconductors: its evolution from the CHIPs Act to the recent US government purchase of shares of Intel. A reminder that industrial policies come in many varieties. 🙌