Starting my #econtwitter #econsky recap 🧵 for #neudc2025 @TuftsEconomics! First session: displaced persons. Tamim shows that a housing subsidy for Syrian refugees in Jordan had only minor positive economic effects + led to a deterioration in relations btw hosts + refugees

CEGA Faculty Co-Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social shares results from mental health trainings and cash transfers to refugees in Kenya, finding 3-day mental health trainings are cost-effective and impactful even seven months later and cash transfers boost food security and better healthcare. #E2A2025

RIP Betty are.berkeley.edu/news/remembe...

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S. Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world. www.nobelprize.org

Nick Kristof lays out how millions are dying from cuts to US foreign aid: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/o...

Orgullo celeste 🇺🇾 worldathletics.org/competitions...

The mortgage fraud claim against Lisa Cook is false, per documents obtained by Reuters. Bill Pulte's accusation, the sole pretext Trump used to fire her from the Fed, was that she claimed two homes as primary residence. These docs show she did not. www.reuters.com/world/us/fed...

Forthcoming in EJ: ‘Destructive Behaviour, Judgement, and Economic Decision-making under Thermal Stress’ by Ingvild Almas, Maximilian Auffhammer, Tessa Bold, Ian Bolliger, Aluma Dembo, Solomon M Hsiang, Shuhei Kitamura, Edward Miguel, Robert Pickmans doi.org/10.1093/ej/u...

I'm comfortably for as much independence of the Fed as possible from politicians of any type. I also don't think there is anything undemocratic in democratically setting up institutions that are protected from continuous political pressure

What is foreign aid and why should Americans care about it? In a new 101 video from @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social News, CEGA Faculty Co-Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social explains how foreign aid efforts like cash transfers in Kenya are investments in a healthier world for all. go.cega.org/101in101

When aid doesn’t arrive on time, many refugees turn to debt to survive, effectively pledging future aid to buy food for today. CSAE's @oliviersterck.bsky.social & @odid-qeh.bsky.social's Vittorio Bruni on the cost of ration cuts & delivery delays in Kenya's refugee camps.

🚨 Evidence alert: RCT from a @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social / @ox.ac.uk team found that unconditional cash xfers led to 48% ⬇️ infant deaths in Kenya. 🧢 off to team behind this study: Michael Walker, @tedmiguel.bsky.social, Dennis Egger, Nick Shankar, and Grady Killeen. go.cega.org/cashimpacts A 🧵

Link to @apoorvanyt.bsky.social NYT coverage: archive.ph/ct2o0 Link to study: nber.org/papers/w34152 Link to @give-directly.bsky.social summary: givedirectly.org/mortality2025/ www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/h...

The paper 'Can Cash Transfers Save Lives? Evidence from a Large-Scale Experiment in Kenya' is published in @nber.org er.org ✒️Michael Walker, ‪@nshankar.bsky.social, @tedmiguel.bsky.social, @eggerdennis.bsky.social & Grady Killeen ‪ Read here👇 www.nber.org/papers/w34152

And nice NPR coverage today of our research in Kenya! www.npr.org/sections/goa...

Great NYT write up of our new results on child mortality and cash transfers in Kenya: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/18/h...

Was stunned when I saw these results...👇 In rural Kenya a $1k transfer cut infant & child mortality in ~ *half* with largest drops around delivery & near physician-staffed facilities 😲 Kudos to @tedmiguel.bsky.social @nshankar.bsky.social @eggerdennis.bsky.social & others involved in the study!🧵

The Building Inclusive Growth (BIG) Forum is September 25-26 at Notre Dame. We'll have talks by @danilaserra-eco.bsky.social @deankarlan.bsky.social @tedmiguel.bsky.social @novosad.bsky.social and @taryndinkelman.bsky.social. #econsky Register now! 👇 biglab.nd.edu/news-events/...

💵 Can cash transfers save lives? At the 2025 @nber.org Summer Institute, CEGA Faculty Co-Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social shared surprising new findings from Kenya showing that cash transfers have the potential to reduce child mortality. 🔗 Learn more here: go.cega.org/NBERsi25

A study predicted economic damages from climate change 3x higher than previous assessments. But it was flawed -- all thanks to the data from just one country. I dug into this strange study and the researchers calling it out: www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Excellent article by Pratik Pawar on the consequences of cutting the Demographic and Health Surveys, and efforts to revive them. I'm quoted briefly.

"Autocracies overstate yearly GDP growth by approximately 35%."

Nature recovers— a bald eagle nest in the Bay Area after decades: oaklandside.org/2025/08/04/r...

Nobel prize winner George Akerlof (my former colleague) on the firing of statistics officials: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/o...

It has been the honor of my life to serve as Commissioner of BLS alongside the many dedicated civil servants tasked with measuring a vast and dynamic economy. It is vital and important work and I thank them for their service to this nation.

Firing the BLS Commissioner — the wonk in charge of the statisticians who track economic reality — is an authoritarian four alarm fire. It will also backfire: You can't bend economic reality, but you can break the trust of markets. And biased data yields worse policy.

um. www.wsj.com/world/middle...

STAGGERING: This new study of 133 countries is the first to estimate the impact of all USAID’s work. In 2 decades, it has saved *92M* lives. Current cuts, if not reversed, are forecast to cost up to *14M* lives thru 2030. www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

How do cash transfer programmes affect businesses & prices in a refugee camp? Listen to @oliviersterck.bsky.social & @antoniadelius.bsky.social discussing the project in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya on the CSAE Research Podcasts series www.csae.ox.ac.uk/cash-transfe... @oxfordecondept.bsky.social

“Work on something you genuinely care about” says CEGA Faculty Co-Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social. In a recent interview, he shares insights from his research and offers advice on creating a meaningful social impact in research. 🔗 go.cega.org/EMinterview

Quite a stat: Medicaid paid for 4 out of every 10 births in the United States in 2023. www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Delighted to have received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant for the next phase of the Social Science Prediction Platform! Some exciting new developments coming soon... watch this space! @socscipredict.bsky.social @sloanfoundation.bsky.social @econuoft.bsky.social ft.bsky.social

Have you checked out the dynamic booths at #AES2025? All of our Summit sponsors have engaged attendees across the two days of our Summit to share their latest research, current career opportunities, and more. At the ‪@beckerfriedman.bsky.social‬ booth, attendees learned about the BFI data studio!

Today is #WorldRefugeeDay The US Administration has obliterated our entire refugee program—zeroing out admissions of refugees & terminating support to refugees already here. If you are American, please tell your representative to reverse this policy. It takes two minutes, here—> p2a.co/bVI53mo

On Juneteenth, we celebrate freedom and recommit ourselves to the work that remains undone. We remember that even in the darkest hours, there is cause to hope for tomorrow’s light.

Foreign aid cuts have slashed support for nutritional programs around the world. As Nick Kristof explains, decades of evidence from CEGA Faculty Director @tedmiguel.bsky.social has proven that deworming medications are a cost-effective way to boost physical, mental, and economic development.

From @nickkristof.bsky.social: "'We have a whole set of solutions,' said Shawn Baker of Helen Keller Intl, which works in nutrition and blindness. He noted that a recent World Bank study estimated that each $1 invested in nutrition yields a return of $23. Try finding a hedge fund with that return."

Mindscape 318 | Edward Miguel @tedmiguel.bsky.social on the Developing Practice of Development Economics. #MindscapePodcast www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2025...

"I personally was pretty surprised, actually, at how efficient the government was," said former DOGE engineer Sahil Lavingia www.npr.org/2025/06/02/n...