Dealing with these strange little things for my VT farms project.

This was fascinating. A favorable trade regime, accounting practices trickling down from larger estates, and technology in the form of the centrifugal cream separator explain the success of Danish butter, not just the famous cooperative creameries.

Nothing cleans my office faster than a long overdue data task.

My new article in the Economic History Review: I show that Belgian financial elites were far more involved in companies operating in King Leopold’s Congo Free State than in other Belgian firms, challenging the view that these elites had little interest in the Congo Free State.

Undergraduate economists, check out the Williams Pier conference. It's a great opportunity to share your work!

The Committee on Education of the Economic History Association invites nominations for the Jonathan Hughes Prize for Excellence in Teaching Economic History. Anyone can write a nomination letter! Entries due April 22, 2026. The prize includes a $1,200 cash award.

Probably not rational but so far my response to the pressure to use LLMs to "work faster faster faster your'll be left behiiiiind" has been to make all my writing a little rougher. You'll never mistake that my emails, referee reports, recommendation letters, and drafts were composed by a human.

Why is HR everywhere like this? Why not just say, "you have some buttons to click before January?"

Godammit.

Hi all, please spread the word and we hope everyone can make good use of this new data drop: cmfdata.org The full surviving establishment-level Census of Manufactures manuscripts and digitized data from 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880!

The Middlebury Department of Economics is seeking a two-year VAP for 2026-28, any field. The would be a great gig: brilliant colleagues (present company excepted), curious students, friendly vibes, gorgeous location. Please apply / spread the word. apply.interfolio.com/177226

The Committee on Education of the Economic History Association invites nominations for the Jonathan Hughes Prize for Excellence in Teaching Economic History. Anyone can write a nomination letter! Entries due April 22, 2026. The prize includes a $1,200 cash award.

Word is, every NSF proposal now has to say something about AI. I guess I might as well make this useful. Which AI tools would you like me to test out and compare on a large data entry task?

Mokyr's work could not have been done today in most economics departments, but the irony is that his work would not fit in history departments today, either. Methodologically he seems more 'history' than 'economics' to economists, but the content and reasoning are too 'economics' for most historians

My economic history syllabus is increasingly "let's read Nobel winners together." I wonder what the ratio of Nobel winners to non-winners is among our course readings. Congratulations to today's winners. I've only met Mokyr, a true original, passionate and energetic, inhumanly erudite.

That's like four economics awards in a row with a substantial economic-history component, right? That strikes me as a remarkable shift. www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists...

I just looked back at my old tenure self-evaluation while trying to cleanse my palate from writing a million letters for others. I apologize, dear colleagues, for all the adjectives.

Hey all, are there any master's programs for economics (in the US or elsewhere) that offer financial aid or merit scholarships?

I get so irritated by surveys from textbook publishers that offer gift cards but then I literally can't fill them out because my answer to every question would be "we cannot use any of this awful shit at my LAC," and that's often not an option.

In my most optimistic fantasy of the end-game of US higher ed, leaner times force colleges and universities to ruthlessly purge their useless grifter work-making admins and recenter on their missions, but in reality I know the managerial class always finds a way to fail up.

Wait, what?

Cannot fucking *wait* to teach North and Weingast (1989) again.

Authoritarians love "Gen AI" because it - Sounds confident even when factually wrong - Broadly conforms to & reproduces their biases, off the shelf - Lets them create bespoke realities (text, audio, moving & still image) which agree w/ their biases - Degrades trust in knowledge/evidence/expertise…

Nothing like hiring a nanny so you can catch up on referee reports to *really* drive home the concept of opportunity cost.

Middlebury's recent round of austerity measures are a blow to our community and come at the exact wrong moment, when we should be preparing to rally together to defend higher education in the US. www.middleburycampus.com/article/2025...

Upon learning that yesterday would be my last day as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, I shared this parting message with my colleagues. The next few months will be frenetic and stressful for them. Here are some things that you can do to help them with the mission ahead. (1)

I made a tiny child last week. Sorry I'm going to be late on everything for a while.

A🧵: In my time in administration, I’ve implored my colleagues to understand that STEM fields were particularly vulnerable to changes in federal research funding policy. Nearly every time, I was met with a cavalier attitude that political headwinds wouldn’t allow drastic changes. 1/N

I’m watching closely for anything happening inside BLS, Census and the other federal statistical agencies. Know something? Reach out — anonymity guaranteed. Signal: bencasselman.96

What it looks like right now when you check the status of a pending NSF grant.

Hearing that NSF panels are getting canceled today.

It's been a while since I enjoyed reading a paper as much as Winnie Rothenberg's "The Market and Massachusetts Farmers" (JEH 1981). Fun and clever, and a gift to undergraduate teachers (Gini coefficients! Coefficients of variation! Regressions of hog weights to show the existence of a supply curve!)

Happy Solstice from Vermont

My economic history students were stunned today hearing about FDR's hundred days. "How did they do it? Were they all executive orders?" No, kids, our legislature used to be able to pass legislation.

Just back from the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Convention in Boston. I wrote up some thoughts on seven years of organizing interdisciplinary panels on the economic history and historical political economy of the region. amandagreggeconomics.com/2024/11/25/l...

Middlebury Campus this afternoon.

The Republicans in my life do not care one ounce that Trump is a terrible person. All they care about is that he pulls the right levers when in power. So many smart people I know just do not understand this. You should be worried about the next election.

It was nice while it lasted.

I want this made into a sticker that I can put on student essays.

The head on this tenor banjo I bought today (from the days when every college had a banjo club)

Attended an Irish session at St John's Club in Burlington. Summer weather in October.

We're approaching that last incredible moment in the semester where I'm not behind on grading something.

Somebody wants me to wash my car (yes, I'm very sorry to report, that is actually my license plate).

Morning walk in the neighborhood.

I understand why it's happening, but I do wish that various scandals took up a little less of the air here and elsewhere. I used to love EconTwitter as a place to celebrate each other's work. Most of us are just trying our best after all. Hoping this new place can get back to that positivity a bit.

Today, you can order four free COVID tests. Go here: www.covid.gov/tests Pass it on.

Hi folks. I'm here and ready to start posting about Russian economic history, life in Vermont, local economic history, and my gigantic horse-dogs.