Save the date! The fifth annual Scotland and Northern England Conference in Applied Microeconomics will be held from 5-7 May 2026 at the Crieff Hydro Hotel in Perthshire. Professor Steve Machin (LSE) will deliver the keynote. For more info: applied-microecon.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/sane-worksho...

I may have solved the municipal speed cameras issue. We can pull the speed cameras and instead install speed regulators in all vehicles. It slows down our streets without 'punishing' drivers with a so-called cash grab.

When a partner has a health shock, our study shows what happens to work, chores and fun theconversation.com/when-a-partn...

We are hiring! 📣 SFU's School of Public Policy is looking for a new tenure-track faculty member with expertise in Indigenous Public Policy to join us! Details available here: sfu.ca/policy-school/job-posting Please share with your networks #AcademicJobs #Indigenous #PublicPolicy

Albertan politicians pretty frequently claims all benefits of oil in Alberta should accrue to Alberta because it's theirs. By the same token, surely provinces with ports/sea access should be able to claim all the benefits of those ports/sea access? Why the call for generosity in only one case?

Word Cloud of student responses from today's class to: what sci-fi/fantasy/other books/movies can you think of with an example of externalities/public goods. Given I'd covered The Sneetches the previous class, bit annoyed I hadn't thought of The Lorax myself.

After 20 years of working on skills and innovation policy in Canada, Ontario and other provinces, the most practical and cynical advice I can offer any firm or organization is this: Invest heavily in developing your rent-seeking strategy and skills. www.thetrillium.ca/news/politic...

I would be quite upset if it were a Zoom* meeting and I was able to keep the camera off a d knit. * obv order from least to most upsetting is Zoom<Fly-in <Teams

I tried to do this last Saturday but the LW trains weren't running - on a day with sold out Blue Jays game, Leafs game, and various other things. My second choice (carpool in) was a poor one.

Good history helps us avoid nostalgia. The great article “Economic History and the Historians” (2020) by Anne McCants reminds me why nostalgia can get us in trouble. Two of her examples are very relevant to today: vaccinations and the popular narrative of some economic “good old days.”

I remember being told that it would take 193 years to reach legal limits for nitrogen dioxide. I decided this was unacceptable. Thanks to the bold policies we put in place, we've managed to do it in nine years - 184 years earlier than expected.

“The Ulez scheme, introduced in 2019, meant the drivers of the most polluting cars had to pay a £12.50 daily charge. The zone was extended across the whole of Greater London in August 2023, creating the world's biggest pollution charging zone.” And walk or bike through London, you feel it.

Computers used to scream when connecting you to the Internet. We should've heeded that warning. share.google/xRTKZapC5xxZ...

The US, our closest ally, has announced a major military campaign to deal with a crisis engulfing its largest cities. When our PM meets the US President, will he offer Australian troops to help, as a good ally should? </irony off> #auspol

This is why we fund scientists to study things like oyster slobber even if you don’t think it sounds important

Good grief. I cannot imagine having to listen to this drivel.

Or pineapples, or bananas, or coffee, or vanilla, or ginger, or pepper, or star anise ... But why stop at the country level? Shouldn't Alaska produce all its own food? Or what about the city level, make Houston self sufficient in all its food!

We've launched a new documentary highlighting the devastating impact of climate change on the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu. Save Tuvalu, Save the World is presented by Walkley Award-winning journalist and former ABC Four Corners reporter @stephenlongaus.bsky.social. #auspol Watch ⤵️

This Ontario lake reveals the effect of humans on the planet, scientists say #Ontario #Canada #Ecosystems Milton's Crawford Lake is known as a popular place for hiking. But scientists say it also best exemplifies the moment /1 thread www.cbc.ca/player/play/...

On a visit to New Zealand, FBI Director Kash Patel gave the country’s police and spy bosses gifts of inoperable pistols that were illegal to possess under local gun laws and had to be destroyed, New Zealand law enforcement agencies told The Associated Press.

There are only 41,000 coal miners in the United States. By way of comparison, there are 100,000 **registered** yoga teachers, 361,000 Starbucks baristas and 265,000 faculty and staff members working for the University of California system alone.

I wrote about this in "The Unaccountability Machine" - when you describe leveraged buyouts to ordinary people, half of them say that it should be illegal and the other half are often convinced that it already is.

Strategic trade policy by Brander, James A. (1995)

Consistent finding in the US. Don't think it's been studied in Canada - harder typically (different policy environment, smaller n), but Conestoga College vs others may be worth trying?

"Study upon study has found that women who use their political power to push for environmental action are targeted much more frequently than their male counterparts, and the attacks they endure are far worse." 🔗 Read the full article: thewalrus.ca/they-called-...

Pulled out a couple of plastic bags during a Lake Ontario swim on the weekend. (Was still 18C, not too cold at all!)

Objectively the correct side i will take no questions at this time.

One of the plants I'd like to add to my garden but haven't found. But if anyone in SWOntario is looking for some wild ginger (asarum canadense) I can probably provide some (apparently its scarce in nurseries at the moment?).

“In 2023, cars and their drivers killed 8,820 American pedestrians and bicyclists — 7,314 pedestrians and 1,166 cyclists. They injured another 136,281, an increase of over 5,300 injuries from 2022.” Put the responsibility where it belongs. Via @jalopnik.bsky.social www.jalopnik.com/1979666/defe...

What a ride. www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09...

Stupidly drove into TO downtown yesterday. Bikes were buzzing around getting places; cars were often at complete standstills. Main reasons: 1. Cars parked on the side of the road. 2. Cars driving past others queued to turn then forcing their way in at head of queue. 3. Cars blocking intersections.

Canada may have lost the game, but this is such an amazing picture of Sophie De Goede being hoisted by her teammates after being named the World Rugby Womens 15s Player of the Year

We saw break dancing added to the Olympic program for the Paris Games, and now there is a push for shearing to be included for the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.

"I didn’t realize what the impact has been until I got here, but the pushback from the president’s comments about the 51st state, the tariffs, have really left a bad taste in Canadians’ mouths,” 1: still understating it. 2: seems like something you should be able to learn from your ambassador?

New research by Pierre Azoulay, Danielle Li, Bhaven Sampat and me. Earlier this year, the President’s budget proposed a 40% cut to the budget of the NIH. This motivated us to ask: what if the NIH had been 40% smaller?

🌟 Shortlisted for the 2025 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction 🌟 Nghi Vo’s latest novel, The City in Glass, is a story about deeply understanding and loving a place, and about the difficult, necessary, meaningful work required to rebuild when one’s world is irrevocably broken.

She basically invented astrophysics. She proved the laws of chemistry, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics, not just gravity, applied universally. She determined the composition of the sun and primacy of hydrogen in the universe. She advised the PhDs of Frank Drake and Frank Kameny.

Tulane realized the real money for a university is housing, not tuition, so they forced students to live on campus for an extra year. Now there's a glut of rental housing surrounding campus and prices dropped. Critical geographers are flocking to NOLA to understand what made landlords less greedy.

A Victorian scientist whose farming technique has revolutionised agriculture in Niger has been awarded an international peace prize.

I am re-posting (for different timezone audiences) this amazing job opportunity to drive data innovation, governance and stewardship in the Pacific. This time with a photo taken from across the road of the headquarters where this role is based. Applications close 26 October, New Caledonia time.

Unfortunately even after numbers have gone up 5000%, he still won't be able to bring them down by 1000, 2000%.

An inquiry into Queensland's child safety system has heard the system is made up of a "labyrinth" of meetings and bureaucracy, as carers and former children call for change.

So just to be clear, all taxpayers will pay for traffic calming instead of fining the people that speed and leaving everyone else alone. We like this for a policy change? Are we so afraid of going after the actual rule breakers that we would rather put it on the back of everybody?

In my life I've seen treatments for AIDs developed, vaccines for Ebola and malaria, and now this. Medical science is one is the areas that still consistently seems to make these miraculous advances and I'm genuinely grateful to everyone involved. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Truly impressive number of birds migrating tonight. More than 800 MILLION birds up in the air right now❗ #BirdMigration

I decided to take a grad-level dynamic programming macroeconomics class this fall. Here’s a thread where I’ll share fun things I learn, updating it through the end of the semester. I last studied this material 20 years ago, when it felt much less formalized. /1

Have a look at Australia's wipe off 5 campaign. The limit is the limit. Any amount over can get a ticket. Straight forward. We need to START treating drivers like they are adults and have the ability to make choices to follow the rules and can actually operate a machine within those rules.

Canada takes on England on Saturday in the Final of the Womens Rugby World Cup England are the favourites in this match; they are undefeated in their last 32 games! 8am PDT on TSN

Well now this is a heck of a graph