California’s $20 fast-food minimum wage raised restaurant prices approximately 3–4 percent. Other prices including food-at-home exhibit no differential movement, pointing to wage-driven pass-through, from Jeffrey Clemens, Olivia Edwards, Jonathan Meer, and Joshua D. Nguyen www.nber.org/papers/w34990

A surge in SNAP retailer participation during the Great Recession boosted adopters’ food sales and product variety while improving access, but welfare gains were modest, from Anne T. Byrne, Xiao Dong, Jessie Handbury, Erik James, Katherine Meckel, and Andrés C. Rovira www.nber.org/papers/w34467

In a new AEI Economic Perspectives paper, Tobias Peter and I propose that DC legalize redevelopment of large single-family lots into duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes. We also analyze the consequences of making such a change in terms of new housing production etc. www.aei.org/research-pro...

I read this article with great interest, as the unsuccessful US effort to suppress Afghan opium production was the subject of some of my earliest research. Readers of this article might be interested in the Twitter thread below: x.com/jeffreypclem...

Timely research on the SNAP program

Low-income households denied SNAP due to administrative barriers suffer downstream consequences. Process-related denials increase debt, delinquencies, and decrease credit scores, from Tatiana Homonoff, Min S. Lee, and Katherine Meckel www.nber.org/papers/w34434

This is painstakingly done, comprehensive work on the earnings of individuals who make minimum wage at some point in their careers (typically, though not always, at career onset). Recommended reading for anyone interested in how minimum wages fit into the big picture.

This is painstakingly done, comprehensive work on the earnings of individuals who make minimum wage at some point in their careers (typically, though not always, at career onset). Recommended reading for anyone interested in how minimum wages fit into the big picture.

Workers earning minimum wages typically show stronger future careers, and state minimum wage policies do not significantly alter these relative trajectories, from Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr, and Louis J. Maiden www.nber.org/papers/w34405

Excited to receive our new 536 page book on tax competition and coordination in the mail today: "Policy Responses to Tax Competition" (w/ Poterba & @omzidar.bsky.social) I know everyone is looking forward to order it here: amazon.com/-/es/Respons...

Thanks to our editor at @uchicagopress.bsky.social and all the authors who contributed @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social @stanveuger.bsky.social @s-stantcheva.bsky.social @mariusbrulhart.bsky.social @kurtschmidheiny.bsky.social & many others not on here!

Featured in the latest Digest: Federal Fiscal Aid to State and Local Governments and COVID-19 Mortality https://www.nber.org/digest/202507/federal-fiscal-aid-state-and-local-governments-reduced-covid-19-mortality

Many thanks to the economists who signed on, including @dacemoglumit.bsky.social, @kylepomerleau.bsky.social, @michaelrstrain.bsky.social, @danieldbunn.bsky.social‬, @kclausing.bsky.social, and @jasonfurman.bsky.social, and to our magnificent counsel. Full brief here: www.aei.org/articles/ami...

I organized an economist amicus brief in V.O.S. Selections Inc. v. Trump, the "Liberation Day" tariffs case in which the government's appeal will soon be considered by the Federal Circuit Appeal Court.

Thank you to the hundreds of business leaders who are standing against the unconscionable attacks on our university system. They know that was is being destroyed is future American innovation and prosperity.

An unpopular view: new diff-in-diff methods have been a setback for empirical work. I see an increased flow of papers that do 5 variants of them plus extensive torturing of parallel trends robustness to "prove" that a weak research design is solid. That effort could've been spent more productively

Spirits: "US tariff uncertainty takes its toll" www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/05/us-t... "The problem with this administration is that you have to have a really loud voice in the ear of the White House to get anything done"

Here is the full essay: theamericanenterprise.com/can-europe-e...

In the new issue of The American Enterprise, @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social and I have an article comparing the evolution of America’s system of fiscal federalism to Europe’s.

Federal subsidies to state and local municipalities in the US during COVID-19 significantly improved individual #health outcomes as subsidies were channelled toward critical health care inputs. Jeffrey Clemens & Anwita Mahajan @ucsandiego.bsky.social cepr.org/voxeu/column... #EconSky

I'm happy to report receiving the green light for promotion to full professor at UCSD economics effective July 1st! I'm feeling grateful to my family, mentors, co-authors, colleagues and many others who have helped to push and pull me along the way.

"US consumer confidence plunges in April" www.reuters.com/business/us-...

. @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social of @ucsandiego.bsky.social and Michael Wither of Powerlytics Inc investigate when tinkering with safety net programs is harmful to beneficiaries. #HealthInsurance #LaborMarkets #SafetyNet

Very happy to have this paper out in broad circulation.

Melinda Pitts, research center director, Center for Human Capital Studies @atlantafed.bsky.social estimates that the potential reduction in the full federal workforce, including contract and grant employees, could be as high as 1.2 million www.atlantafed.org/blogs/macrob...

Very happy to have this paper out in broad circulation.

Michelle White was a wonderful friend, colleague, role model, and mentor to many of us at UCSD and beyond. She will be greatly missed.

Very happy to have this paper out in circulation in its final form! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Having my doubts that 145% is the right tariff rate to impose on the second largest economy in the world.

Perhaps good practical advice, but 1, 6, 8, and 11 are indicators of a bad equilibrium. They give too much power to referees based on non-essential things. Constructively, editors are in a position to counter that. Referees give advice, they don't make decisions.

Unbelievable news. Pancreatic is one of the deadliest cancers. New paper shows personalized mRNA vaccines can induce durable T cells that attack pancreatic cancer, with 75% of patients cancer free at three years—far, far better than standard of care. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Paper submission deadline tomorrow (the 27th) by midnight EST!

Happy to see that this important project by some of my UCSD Econ colleagues is now circulating as a working paper.

Happy to see that this important project by some of my UCSD Econ colleagues is now circulating as a working paper.

Reminder to submit your papers on topics related to the economics of state and local government finances, fiscal federalism, and related themes by February 27th: www.nber.org/conferences/... Conference to be held September 11-12, 2025.

Reminder to submit your papers on topics related to the economics of state and local government finances, fiscal federalism, and related themes by February 27th: www.nber.org/conferences/... Conference to be held September 11-12, 2025.

Does Peer Review Penalize Scientific Risk Taking?

Many thanks to Alex Tabarrok for this generous discussion of my new paper with Melissa Gentry and Jonathan Meer, as well as a Journal of Economic Perspectives paper from a few years ago. 1/3

Not looking good over at census.gov

I'm keeping a running list of disappearing federal data in the 🧵 below. If there are others I missed let me know. crampell[at]washpost[dot]com or Signal username crampell.13

FDA Deregulation of E-Cigarettes Saved Lives and Spurred Innovation

It’s hard to see the forest for the trees right now, but if you want a broader perspective, check out our @siepr.bsky.social Policy Brief (w/ @weakinstrument.bsky.social) on economic policy issues we expect to be front and center in the coming years open.substack.com/pub/nealemah...

Combining survey and administrative data to measure the progressivity of taxes and transfers at the US federal level and separately for each state, from Johannes Fleck, Jonathan Heathcote, Kjetil Storesletten, and Giovanni L. Violante https://www.nber.org/papers/w33385

Today's NAEP results—& the apparent role of chronic absenteeism—are unsurprising to any close observer What's curious to me is this evidence-based sense of calamity doesn't really shape broader public sentiment. In fact, satisfaction is rebounding!👇 Is it crisis fatigue? Biases in info & judgment?

Some facts on federal grants to state and local governments, from a recent paper of mine with @stanveuger.bsky.social:

Full paper here: www.nber.org/papers/w31251

Newly relevant

"The economists analyzed granular product-level data and found tariff evasion can explain as much as $90 billion of the estimated $240 billion pullback in US imports from China compared with pre-trade war levels." 😱 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2025-01-27/nothing-is-certain-except-tar…