Call for papers for a World Bank Economic Review special issue on migration and development: we are doing a special issue that builds on a recent conference, but with submissions open also for non-conference papers. Short papers in the AER insights type format also welcome. Deadline November 30.

Do you have a paper on the economics of health in lower-and-middle income countries? Submit it to the 2nd Workshop of the Global Health Economics WG in Rotterdam 4-5 June 2026. Submit at tinyurl.com/ywcwz7ba by 1 Dec. Special treat: keynote by @martinabjorkman.bsky.social

And obviously, the NHS. Yes, it is overstretched and suffering from neglect, but bring a parent in for a day procedure and witness the depth of compassion in that organisation. If nothing else does, that should restore hope.

Last week, @rhodesben.bsky.social and I did a Munk Debates against Kevin Roberts and Kellyanne Conway on whether Trump is leading America into a new golden age. We won. This is from my closing statement. There’s nothing golden about a movement that bathes in gratuitous cruelty.

"For 142 years, the merit-based civil service survived because both parties recognized that functional government requires professional expertise. That consensus is dead. We're watching the transformation of public servants into party servants, of a government of laws into a government of loyalty."

The tragic landslide in Blatten gives me the excuse to tell you the story of how we found out Ice Ages existed. It's a cool story and the most important bit is rather similar to what's happening now.

indefensible

Our 2-part series on urban LMIC primary care is out. These are thick markets w many providers but variable quality. Rural frameworks focused on inadequate access don't apply. Instead, leverage competition, choice to shape mkts, reward high/push out low quality.

Finally got around to reading it. What an awesome paper (and example of how careful descriptive stats can be enlightening)!

People with Yale connections, please check out and consider signing onto this letter asking Yale leaders to join others — notably including Yale's own faculty — in taking a stand. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

How many more headlines like this do we have to see? The Israeli military's repeated strikes on areas where Gaza's most vulnerable seek refuge are neither legal nor strategic. It must stop, and an immediate independent investigation into this tragedy is necessary.

This is why we have due process; because random people speculating about things is a terrible way to run a government. Without due process, we're all just vigilantes. At its core, that's what this is about. Due process and the rule of law. Everything else is window dressing.

Such a striking depiction of turnout differences btwn Democrats and Republicans in 2024. As @adambonica.bsky.social notes below: “Official turnout records show registered Republicans had higher turnout rates than Democrats everywhere but DC.” Seems this is what Dems should really talk about.

🚨PhD alert! In light of everything happening in the world, the Econ Department at Imperial College is conducting a second round of admissions for fall 2025! Applications due April 30, offers in mid-May. Please spread the word! More details: #EconPhD @mondpanther.bsky.social @samasher.bsky.social

Steve Kerr wore a Harvard basketball shirt after the Warriors’ win tonight: “Yes, this is me supporting Harvard. Way to go. Way to stand up to the bully.”

Our database of terminated grants is powered first by PIs who send us information about their grants. If your grant was terminated--or if you received a stop work order of some sort--let us know! forms.gle/8qWNSjBerJ1G...

20,000 in ruby red Utah on their feet, in community, and ready to organize for a better world. A better world is possible.

I don't think people realize that in important respects tariffs are now higher & more inflationary than what was announced on last Wednesday. Since then we've gone from 54% to 125% on China, our 3rd largest trading partner. That outweighs delaying the increases on 70+ others.

The release of a working paper by Heather Sarsons in 2015 led junior female economists to reduce the number of working papers co-authored exclusively with men. The decrease in male co-authorships was not offset and led to a net decrease in working papers and publications.

Pittsburgh-based aerospace company, which sells parts to the major aviation companies, has declared a force majeure in the wake of Trump's tariffs so it can break contract obligations www.reuters.com/business/aer...

I wrote a piece for @voxdev.bsky.social on the economic and social impact of US tariffs on Bangladesh. It’s bleak

today we will all read imbens 2021 on statistical significance and p values, which is a strong contender for having the best opening paragraph of any stats paper pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdf/10.1...

Spectacular view of 100,000 people attending the #HandsOff march in NYC

I have never seen anything like this in NYC. 5th Ave covered from 42nd St well to the 20s. Nobody prepared for this volume. Volunteers are holding the traffic on all the side streets. No police in sight. #handsoff

If you think this can’t happen, remember that of the 125,000 Japanese Americans who were interned during WWII for years without charge or trial, two-thirds were U.S. citizens. Including me.

California is the world’s 6th largest economy by GDP, bigger than most nations. This is not a minor announcement. www.newsweek.com/california-n...

Absolutely tired of the psychodrama of one country being the problem of the entire planet.

🆕 How some development projects undermine Africa’s pastoral communities, sparking violence Today on VoxDev, Eoin McGuirk (Tufts University) & Nathan Nunn (University of British Columbia) outline their research: voxdev.org/topic/agricu...

Holy shit, this exchange between @dgorenstein.bsky.social and @julierovner.bsky.social on this week's episode of Tradeoffs captured my feelings over the past month+ so, so well. (Also having known her for years, I can hear it in Julie's voice, too.) tradeoffs.org/2025/04/03/m...

The Office for Civil Rights has requested the names & nat'lities of students & faculty..involved in alleged Title VI violations. Today, the AAUP wrote to college & universities to clarify that they are under NO LEGAL COMPULSION to comply. Doing so enables deportations. www.aaup.org/news/institu...

Take a simple example: I run a trade deficit with Trader Joe's buying their meals, while they buy none of mine. My trade deficit as a share of my imports is 100%. By Trump's trade logic, this deficit is evidence they're imposing 100% tariffs on the meals I try to sell them. Obviously this is false.

I'm going to go with "too much"

Maybe take him at his word this time?

This could happen to countless of my students at any time. No clear definition of what “supporting Hamas” means No opportunity to question or appeal the charge No communication of what other speech could, it in the future, be defined as justifying similar secret police seizures.

Video of the international student at Tufts being arrested by "federal authorities" in Massachusetts has been released and it's terrifying. They're not even uniformed officers. Just secret police thugs in hoodies and masks. From WCVB: youtu.be/PuFIs7OkzYY

Important context for why we have this video

Tonight an unbelievable **34,000 people** gathered for our Denver rally to take on billionaires and win our country back. This was the largest political gathering in Denver since Obama in 2008. Also bigger than the 2024 DNC. And the largest ever rally in Bernie’s career (and obviously, mine too).

This M. Gessen column is one of the best things the "New York Times" has published in ages: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/o...

The attack on our universities—bedrock of American innovation and global competitiveness—is having the intended effect: Creating fear and revulsion among the brilliant people from across the world who have invested their lives in those institutions & this country. Incalculable harm to our future.

Hang together or hang separately.

The ~$400m in federal funding cuts at Columbia are nearly all research grants at the medical campus supporting important studies to improve the health of Americans and people around the world. This is just one of over 200. Thanks @statnews.com for telling the stories of the research we will lose.

Chilling report from Brown University. Administration advises all foreign students, staff, and faculty to postpone or reconsider (ie cancel) international travel, due to federal government's crackdown on universities. Brown also warns against *domestic travel* -since it's unclear what ICE will do.

Enos & Levitsky: “If Columbia or another university confronts the administration on its own, it will lose. If America’s nearly 6,000 universities and colleges launch a campaign in defense of higher education, odds are that Trump will lose.” POSTED www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

This is a pretty remarkable set of results. I got fixated on adults in this, since it seems like a big change! One fact that I discovered by digging into the original reports is that this masks some pretty interesting heterogeneity: www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

see, this plane got measles and was perfectly fine

I believe this is a world first: An intra-day tariff chart.

Just published in @jpube.bsky.social: "The impact of standardized disease-specific healthcare coverage" By @fmenares.bsky.social & @pablomunoz88.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #econsky