Monthly U.S. fentanyl overdose deaths have fallen more than 60% from their peak in mid-2023—from nearly 7,000/month to around 2,600. That's ~4,000 fewer Americans dying every month.

Since the yield curve inverted in 2022, the U.S. economy has gone a record 45 months without entering a recession.

One under-reported story about the economy over the past 15 years is that concerns about increasing healthcare expenditures turned out to be mostly unfounded. The CBO projected that healthcare would make up an increasing share of the economy, but spending mostly remained flat.

I recently wrote a little bit about the “struggling college graduates” narrative. Two main points: 1. The timing of the trend suggests it is not related to AI 2. Recent college graduates are still faring better than young people without college degrees www.incontext.indiana.edu/2025/sept-oc...

We hear a lot about the promise of middle-skills jobs, with a heavy emphasis on blue collar trades. But in the past four decades, those are the jobs where wages have fallen below the median wage.

The yield curve inverted in April 2022, typically signaling recession within 6-24 months. But 38 months later, the U.S. economy still hasn’t entered recession—the longest streak since 1978.

This chart shows the common evolution of economic development in OECD countries and China: Beginning as agricultural economies, industrializing, then ultimately becoming service-based (tertiarization). blog.waldrn.com/p/what-happe...

Median number of authors on an top econ journal publication: 1963-1983: One 1993-2011: Two 2024: Three

Two quick updates: First, the analysis script is available here: github.com/dawaldron/bo... Second, I've realized that there was a mode change that I didn't note in the initial post. The Monitoring the Future survey switched from paper forms to electronics tablets between 2018 and 2020.

Here’s my latest post on the concerning trend of American boys becoming less supportive of gender equality. blog.waldrn.com/p/american-b...

A concerning trend has emerged among American boys. The share of 8th and 10th graders who support gender equality has dropped from 2018 to 2023.

⚾️New side project for baseball fans: Minimalist newspaper-style MLB box scores, available daily at waldrn.com/boxscores/. Code available at github.com/dawaldron/ba... for those interested.

Today's annual benchmark revisions to jobs data turned tech job growth from bad to worse—instead of only slow growth from late 2023 through 2024, the industry has actually been losing jobs at a rate not seen since the Great Recession

“Actually it’s good that a bunch of teenagers are unilaterally firing thousands of government employees because they have ChatGPT” i can’t get over how unfathomably stupid the average SF venture capitalist is

Here's a map of where high-tech manufacturing is located in the U.S.:

“High-tech” sounds like the future, but American high-tech manufacturing has been declining for decades.

Indiana lawmakers are considering cutting the benefits duration for UI. Some potential effects include a less efficient labor market, lower re-employment wages, higher risk of poverty for unemployed workers.

1935 report on unemployment compensation in Indiana uses log scales for several charts #dataviz📊

Here’s a map of when housing structures were built in the United States

There’s more pickup trucks on the road than ever before. There are increasingly used for personal use only, rather than being used for work.

Here’s a 3d render of Lego Mount Rainier

Here’s a map of Indy’s foreign-born population as of 2022. #gischat #Indianapolis

Here’s a map of Indy’s foreign-born population as of 2022. #gischat #Indianapolis

Happy International Men’s Day! 🥳 Icymi: what’s hurting the least educated men? And how might that change? open.substack.com/pub/dralicee...

Where are my #HoosierSky folks? Building a (non-sports) #Hoosier Starter Pack. Where is everyone @micahpollak.com, @goodtroublein.bsky.social, @jesseforindy.bsky.social, @john-m-indy.bsky.social, @indyfromspace.bsky.social, @melbaunicorn.bsky.social & @firerokita.bsky.social? go.bsky.app/RFzF6yf

My letter to the NYT editor. I sent it yesterday; we will see if they run it. I'll put links in this thread.

#30DayMapChallenge Day 2: Lines CONUS runway orientation Inspired by trailsofwind.figures.cc

#30DayMapChallenge Day 1: Points 100,000 Indianapolis street lights. (With a subtle color difference based on whether they are listed as HPS or LED)

Percent of recipes including herb/spice/seasoning by cuisine.

Question for 📈📉 #Econsky: what’s an online resource you like and think everyone should know about?

Multiply by 37: A Surprisingly Accurate Rule of Thumb for Converting Effect Sizes from Standard Deviations to Percentile Points edworkingpapers.com/ai23-829