How much do countries reduce income inequality through taxes and transfers? Most countries reduce income inequality through taxes and transfers — taxing higher incomes more, and redistributing through benefits like pensions, unemployment support, and family allowances.

What happens when the state quietly disappears? A new paper finds that support for populism in Italy (2008–18) rose where hospitals closed, especially in remote municipalities. Greater distance to public services reinforced feelings of abandonment and boosted populist voting.

Postdoc alert! Fellow in Public Policy at the LSE School of Public Policy. Up to 3 years, a great job in a tight market. Needs to be able to support teaching on our MPP program, but political scientists could definitely do this (make your case!) www.jobs.lse.ac.uk

📊 Data update: How many people live in poverty around the world, and how has that changed over the last decades? The World Bank's Poverty and Inequality Platform (PIP) is one of the primary tools we have for answering these questions.

The global number of people without electricity has halved since 2000, but it has increased in Sub-Saharan Africa— Most people in the world would think very little before flicking on the lights, charging a mobile phone or turning on a laptop to read this.

Hunger levels have increased across Africa over the last decade— In every region of Africa, hunger is more prevalent than a decade ago. The chart shows the increase in the share of the population that is undernourished, comparing 2014 and 2024 (the most recent year available).

It’s a common misconception that life expectancy has increased only because fewer children die. Historical mortality records show that adults today also live much longer than adults in the past.

Nature research paper: Reproducibility and robustness of economics and political science research go.nature.com/3QdKP93

Stand Up for Science appelle toutes celles et tous ceux qui défendent les sciences comme biens communs à manifester le jeudi 26 mars 2026. A Paris, le cortège partira de Jussieu à 16h pour rejoindre le Panthéon en passant par la rue des Ecoles, le boulevard Saint Michel et la rue Soufflot.

Outside rich countries, widespread informal work means unemployment rates are low— (This Data Insight was written by @eortizospina.bsky.social.) Last year, three-quarters of the world’s countries had unemployment rates below 10%, according to data from the International Labour Organization.

📊 Data update: How much do people trust their government? How does this vary across countries, and how has it changed over time? To help answer these questions, the OECD publishes data on trust in government across 47 countries, drawing on the Gallup World Poll.

A fascinating result on social cohesion: closing bars leads to more votes for the far right, whereas opening them has the opposite effect (in #France). www.cepremap.fr/2026/01/quan...

Happy to see our paper "The Church as Arbiter" with @cboix.bsky.social now available online at @thejop.bsky.social. Here 👇 A Thread

Was the global decline of extreme poverty only due to China? The share of the world population living in extreme poverty has never declined as rapidly as in the past three decades.

Marco Rubio just flew to Budapest to deliver a speech in which he provided a full endorsement of Viktor Orbán in the upcoming Hungarian elections. Here is the letter he signed in 2019 warning about Hungary's "downward democratic trajectory" under Orbán h/t Carrick Ryan

Nice essay by Carlos Chavez on the history and development of causal inference carloschavezp29.substack.com/p/on-causality

We rarely think of economics as scandalous, but maybe we should. Sam Bowles, in conversation with @durlauf.bsky.social & Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, argues that a core assumption in the field impedes moral reasoning about wealth redistribution. Watch "Why Economic Inequalities Endure"→ bit.ly/3Yj4F3B

📢now forthcoming in ECMA! The Class Gap in Career Progression: Evidence from US Academia Class is rarely a focus of research or DEI in elite US occupations. Evidence suggests it should be: we find a large class gap in at least one occupation - tenure-track academia...🧵

📊 Data update: Explore updated data on social spending by governments— How much are different countries spending on social programs like housing, unemployment, benefits for the sick and elderly, and more?

Our paper with Robin Rampaer and David Raymaekers, on how earthquakes and time preference, is out in the Journal of Development Studies. It illustrates the externalities of research & teaching, as it began with Robin's Ma dissertation at @ulbruxelles.bsky.social. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Deadline for SIOE submission in one day! January 15. Come to Fontainebleau to hear about Inst and Orgs in one of the foremost historical (Fontainebleau castle) and sports (world-class bouldering) sites in Europe! www.sioe.org/conference/2...

@PhoebeIshak deserves a shoutout. Working with her is stimulating, productive, and fun.

What is an economics PhD? Should I do an economics PhD? And how should I prepare and apply to a PhD programme? Assistant Professor of Economics Abdoulaye Ndiaye outlines everything you need to know about a PhD in economics. https://voxdev.org/topic/everything-you-need-know-about-phd-economics

The Elgar Encyclopedia of Public Choice is now out. I'm honoured to have been invited to contribute three entries on: - elections and social norms, with @mgiani.bsky.social; - the grease the wheels hypothesis of corruption; - democracy and institutional quality.

📢 Postdoc opportunity at @uni-goettingen.de's Ibero! Seeking an economist to research development, trade, Latin America etc. 3-year position starting between April and October 2026. Apply by Jan 17: obp.uni-goettingen.de/en-us/OBF/In... #AcademicJobs #EconTwitter #LatinAmerica Details👇

The world as 100 people over the last two centuries

There is still time to take our survey! And THANK YOU to everyone who did so already!

Very cool online tool that let's you see how your life might have turned out if you had been born in a different place on the planet. The biggest lottery in life is the "lottery of birthplace":

The anecdote about "true and non-trivial" ideas from social sciences leaves the impression that ideas other than comparative advantage are either trivial or untrue. Behold more basic ideas (from economics) that are true and non-trivial. #EconSky mytwocentsandcounting.substack.com/p/true-and-n...

It has become received wisdom in Brussels and Washington that there is a new “euro-sclerosis”: that the EU economy is lagging the US This view is wrong A little primer on the measurement of productivity – and why reports of the economic death of Europe are greatly exaggerated🧵

Forthcoming article "Spending Limits, Public Funding, and Election Outcomes" by Nikolaj Broberg @vinpons.bsky.social and Clemence Tricaud @eeanews.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/jeea...

Les universités ne sont pas un coût mais un investissement. L'Echo publie une carte blanche rédigée par des académiques flamands et francophones dont j'ai le plaisir de faire partie. www.lecho.be/opinions/gen...

SIOE 2026 at INSEAD Fontainebleau! 13-15 July. Call: www.sioe.org/conference/2...

"It's now or never": 1 week left before the submission deadline to the EPCS conference in Madrid! epcsmadrid2026.es

The Penn World Table is a real public good for anyone interested in development and macroeconomics. (and so is @ourworldindata.org, by the way).👍

In the last decades, the world has made fantastic progress against extreme poverty. In 1990, 2.3 billion people lived in extreme poverty. Since then, the number of extremely poor people has declined by 1.5 *billion* people. 🧵

I am hiring a 2-year post-doc, starting Sep 1 2026 econjobmarket.org/positions/12... If you are interested in culture, gender and masculinity, please apply and join me in Sydney!

Si ce graphique du #ClimateInequality Report du ‪@wid.world vous interpelle, joignez-vous à nous le 26 octobre pour la prochaine édition du management. C'est gratuit et ouvert à toutes et à tous mais vous devez penser à vous inscrire.👇 @ulbrecherche.bsky.social www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/billets-mi...

The growth incidence curve: The upward sloping curve implies that the relative (percentage) gains were greater for the rich than the poor, chart @brankomilan.bsky.social

Publication bias is greater at the top five journals: "56% of statistically significant results [in leading econ journals] were selected to be statistically significant. Selection bias is greater at top5 journals, where 66% of significant results were selected to be significant."

Only 4 weeks to go before the submission deadline to the EPCS conference in Madrid! www.epcsmadrid2026.es

🚨NEW REPORT: The Climate Inequality Report 2025 reveals how wealth inequality and the climate crisis drive each other. What's new in the report? — A thread🧵 Download the report▶️ wid.world/news-article... #cop30 #climatejustice #inequality

Does #equality promote #inclusion and #productivity, or hinder #growth❓ 🔴Our new study revisits this long-running debate — finding a strong positive link between equality and development over the long run. Read more▶️ wid.world/news-article...

🚨5 days left to apply!!!

Yes! Yes, we are hiring! Two positions are opened, one in International Trade. The other one in Microeconomics. Full time. Great colleagues. Great location. Have you already applied ? www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing.... #job #economics #professorship @ulbruxelles.bsky.social

(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)

Two full-time academic positions are up for grabs at my faculty this year, one in international economics the other in microeconomics. Would you be interested? www.ulb.be/fr/vacances-...

Nous mettons en accès public un document de travail (« working paper ») qui reprend et étend la note 92 de l’IPP sur l’imposition des milliardaires (1/10) www.ipp.eu/publication/...