scary possibility

Multiple large natural experiments have documented Shingles vaccine is linked with ~20-25% reduced risk of dementia and Alzheimer's disease. A new report today adds to that and extends the to slowing the progression of dementia @cellcellpress.bsky.social www.cell.com/cell/fulltex...

To quote Joe Biden, this is a big fucking deal. www.aeaweb.org/news/aea-sta...

If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features." There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.

🚨Attention! AshEcon call for papers! 🚨 www.ashecon.org/2026-minneap... Due date for abstracts: December 10, 2025 I'm the Program Chair for Health and Development, so would like to encourage global health scholars in particular Some tips for prospective authors in thread below

CSWEP strongly condemns Larry Summers’ behavior as revealed in the email correspondence with the late Jeffrey Epstein. While abuse of power in the economics profession is not new, rarely has the intent behind such abuse been so clearly stated.

I know that the job market is rough this year for Econ PhDs. @utoronto.ca has expanded its postdoc funding. If you are on the market and work on school finance or early childhood education and are interested in a PostDoc, let me know! #econsky #educsky postdoc.sgs.utoronto.ca/current-post...

PSA for people with NIH grant periods starting January 1st (including most NIGMS MIRAs): your RPPR is due Saturday, but they haven’t sent out the usual automated reminders, presumably due to the shutdown

Yes to all of these! And don‘t crowd tables with meaningless extra digits just because they are software defaults!

My research team has published research showing that malnutrition and hunger in childhood are long-term risk factors for dementia decades later in life. Makes me think about the long-term health consequences of withholding SNAP benefits from families.

Some authors have contacted AEA editors about an unexpected loss of data access that affects their ability to respond to an R&R. If this affects you, please explain the circumstances in your cover letter. Or reach out to the coeditor if you need guidance before resubmitting. @aeajournals.bsky.social

A bellwether of the wreckage that will be caused by the catastrophic assault on science in the U.S.

Just here to remind everyone that while the federal government is shutdown, all study sections at the NIH are currently on hold. Another blow to science and to early career scientists like myself with young labs and research groups. Very hard to remain positive about this career path.

It might be hard to convey to people outside economics just how seismic this is. The Trump effect has most certainly arrived to US academia.

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

The acting CDC director has now approved ACIP recs allowing anyone 6 months+ to receive an updated Covid-19 shot after discussing w/ their provider. If you are on the fence about getting an updated shot, read my in-depth take on the evidence we've accumulated on these vaccines. #publichealth

The econ PhD market will be difficult this year. The exact same thing happened when I went on the market years ago: I sent out 150 applications...and got 1 interview! Then I wrote a paper about it! ideas.repec.org/p/feb/natura... Both sides of the market responded. Is this happening now too?

🫡

new results finds MA patients more likely to be stuck in hospital when they need SNF care, we found similar areas of concern with very sick patients being more likely to be sent home with no home care (along with less SNF) in MA vs TM jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Hey Firefox users.

Who wants to plan a field trip if we can’t get them at work?

Hi authors! Please remember to file a claim!

They important thing about #TaylorSwift getting engaged is that millions of dollars in grants funding for research projects on how to cure cancer,reverse alzheimer's dz and discover vaccines for serious infections, are being canceled daily and we really should care about how devastating that is.

no phds at harris, jesus

Good. I agree with the American College of Ob-Gyns. I was horrified when RFK Jr, Jay Bhattacharya, & Marty Makary announced, in a video on X, that they were advising against vaccination in pregnancy—a closed-door decision that flies in the face of science & evidence www.cnn.com/2025/08/22/h...

Really simple instructions for how to turn off the auto AI on your web browser. I use Firefox and it does indeed work and only took a second! 🔥

Instead of making numbers into unwanted dates, now excel wants to make up AI “data” too 🙄

great news for everyone who hates these texts, also protective for dementia patients (i.e. www.cnn.com/interactive/...)

American Academy of Pediatrics has released our annual update to our immunization recommendations to best help children and adolescents build immunity and stay healthy. Read our full policy statement to learn about AAP's updated immunization schedule. www.aap.org/en/news-room...

Society of Labor Economists (SoLE) Annual Conference will be May 1-2, 2026 in Denver, Colorado. Submission portal is now open! Deadline for submissions is October 31--don't forget to submit! It will be a great conference! (organized by me and @jrothst.bsky.social) mailchi.mp/sole-jole/so...

Are you looking for a PhD position and want to spend your summers in the Rocky Mountains? My lab @cudenverclas.bsky.social is looking for 1 PhD student to work on a NSF-funded project to study elevational range shifts in Colorado! 🧪🌍🐙 Apply by Nov 1! Details here docs.google.com/document/d/1...

People who know me IRL, or know my career, know the degree to which I know the CDC (first/only reporter to embed with their disease detectives, wrote a book about it, etc.). That's a bias if you want to interpret it as so. Still it's just astonishing to me that this attack hasn't been bigger news.

What could go wrong?

On the (almost) 105th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment in the US, women are * 51% of population * 29% of House of Representatives * 26% of Senate * 18% of full professors at PhD granting economics departments

These estimates represent a lot of promising science that won’t get done if these policies continue 🙁

I expand on why I--like just about every economist and wonk I know--believes that EJ Antoni is a terrible pick for BLS Commission. Shout outs to Alan Cole, Stan Veuger and if more space would have called out dozens more. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/o...

FYI if you’re waiting on a FOIA request

really need folks to understand how close CDC came to a mass casualty event. i saw all the news photos and was still shocked when i saw the dozens of bullet holes across the windows of HQ offices—including some of senior agency leadership. it is truly a miracle more people weren’t hurt

NIH comment request for public access fees on NIH grants:

UPDATE: The pause was scrapped Tuesday evening after intervention by top White House officials. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Eek!

IHEA-bound friends, let me know if you would like to join a conference-adjacent hike/ outdoor networking session!

NEW: In an unprecedented move, the NIH will soon disinvite dozens of scientists about to take positions on advisory councils that make final decisions on grant funding. NIH staff were told to select others aligned with the Trump administration and told to expect placements by political appointees.

This would be a devastating loss

My HCRIS hospital cost report code + data is updated through 2024! I threw the switch and moved everything to R. The new code lets you pull variables from the alphanumeric file, like hospital names and IDs. NB: I'm using this data now but pls think of it like beta testing. github.com/asacarny/hos...

agree, I learn so much from paper summary posts!

Visa bans are blocking foreign doctors—just as hospitals face a physician shortage. New doctors from abroad make up 1 in 6 U.S. medical residents — the foot soldiers of hospitals. Now, residency programs risk being gutted… www.nytimes.com/2025/06/18/h... #BlueSky #MedSky #ObSky #NurseSky #NeuroSky

Here's an easy way to contact your senators if you want to help protect the millions of acres of forest service and BLM land Congress is proposing to sell: www.accessfund.org/action-alert...

Happy to be here representing some of Janet’s influence on the economics of aging. Amazing celebration of important research and training that has happened and the many contributions this lineage will make going forward. #econsky

NIH APPLICANTS: Your application will be WITHDRAWN BEFORE REVIEW if you have an international collaboration and do not include a Foreign Justification. Normally this could be provided after review as JIT but NOT ANYMORE. You have been warned.