Well to be fair Trump look some tentative first steps yesterday towards screwing over college athletes, so it’s not all just bad economy and war.

Oil up by $12 a barrel in less than 12 hours. Gas prices skyrocketing. Almost 100,000 jobs lost last month. Another war in the Middle East. Are we great again yet?

Trump said he would “solve all of the problems in the room.” The only reason that is even remotely possible is that there were no actual college athletes in the room. A lot easier to “solve” a labor-management dispute when labor isn’t in the room. www.espn.com/college-spor...

In Ireland with a group of 50 Holy Cross students. A particular circumstance led to a “USA! USA!” chant starting which immediately died out and after a few confused seconds restarted with a “Worcester! Worcester!” chant.

And in related news, I am now estimating that every World Cup match has an economic impact of $1.9 gagillion dollars.

Truly a great honor!

Just got back from a vacation in Tanzania. Completely amazing. Like I think I have seen dairy farms that had lower concentrations of large animals than the Serengeti. (Now if I could only get Toto's "Africa" out of my brain, I could get some work done!)

If only there were only anything we could do with tax policy that would reduce the number of people retiring with 12 homes, but I just can't think of anything that might work! www.comicsands.com/bessent-reti...

I see that Trump now wants to protect credit users by capping interest rates. In fact, I think there should be some some of government bureau that protects consumers' finances. But what would we even call such a agency?

Headed to Istanbul and Tanzania in the next few weeks. More than usual I am making sure that none of my clothing clearly identifies me as an American. I’m just happy I am not trying to visit Denmark any time soon.

Yup, nothing says “merit” like denying visas to the Ethiopians for the World cross-country championships. On the bright side, at least the US immigration service didn’t shoot these athletes. www.nytimes.com/athletic/695...

I have always liked everyone. I’m literally the black lab of humans. But this MN shit is fucking evil and is making even me start to hate every one of my fellow Americans who has made this possible.

This is absurd. There's no way you can devote $1.8 BILLION in public money to a stadium and not cost Kansas taxpayers "one new cent." If it's true that we can costlessly pay for government projects with tax districts, then why don't we just fund everything that way? www.kctv5.com/2025/12/24/k...

“When you’re a tenant in a stadium, it’s not your true hub. Women deserve that. Just like men.” "Women deserve the same level of economic malpractice as men" may be the stupidest economic argument ever made for public funding of a stadium. www.fieldofschemes.com/2025/12/16/2...

So, having overseen dozens of ceremonial coin flips in my day, I will say it is actually strangely hard to do correctly if you haven't done it before. Most people screw it up. (And that, is probably the nicest post I will ever make regarding Trump.)

This is just so weird. Who tosses a coin like that? Typically presidents practice before doing the first pitch for baseball. Does this mean no one was willing to practice a coin toss with him? I’ve been holding that in, but I just had to get it out. Like, WTF? Whatever this means, it isn’t good.

Looks like the AEA still wants me as a member. Of course, I don’t know how honored I should really be. I mean, you would have to be a real jackass to be kicked out of the AEA, right?

How about keeping Stoops and directing $37.9 million more to buying better players. I bet you get better results than finding a new coach to lead your existing level of talent, and with the $100K you save, you can buy an extra economics professor for a year. www.cbssports.com/college-foot...

Look, I realize this this is an easy way to generate content for a company that doesn’t want to hire actual reporters, but this isn’t even newsworthy enough to post Bluesky let alone worthy of a real news organization.

Based on what I am reading here, Denver Mayor Mike Johnson may be in the running for the dumbest mayor of a major US city. Way to signal an absolute zero intent to negotiate a decent deal for Denver taxpayers. www.cbsnews.com/colorado/new...

Committee for Corporate Welfare - no oversight at all. Atlanta Ctee for Progress & MACC never saw a corporate handout they didn't shill for. Arthur Blank pockets $30M/yr of our hotel-motel tax & has 2 votes! Invest Atlanta board members rarely look critically at TAD cost-effectiveness. Just say No!

I just found an old midterm of mine from September 29, 1999. On that test I asked, "Should the U.S. Treasury abolish the penny?" Looks like I was 25 years ahead of my time. apnews.com/article/us-m...

I am sure this is just a misunderstanding. Who amongst us soccer referees hasn't accidentally placed 18,227 bets on soccer matches? www.theguardian.com/football/202...

I think 2 things here: 1. The chance that Trump forces FIFA to move games out of Boston or other blue cities is now 0%. 2. The winner of the prize is pre-ordained in order to get the answer in part 1. Just total corruption (and for once I am not talking about FIFA!) apnews.com/article/fifa...

Somehow I sound much more authoritative when translated into German! And yeah, the NBA gambling scandal is a big enough deal to get attention across the pond. open.spotify.com/episode/6qQs...

It will take more than a few bad headlines for sports leagues to turn away from the deluge of gambling money. I have to admit I feel a bit star-struck to be one of two experts quoted along with Michael Lewis of Moneyball and Liar's Poker fame. www.cnn.com/2025/10/25/b...

All I know is that it is a lot cheaper to hear me talk about ticket prices on NPR's Morning Edition today than it is to buy tickets to any sporting events nowadays. www.npr.org/2025/10/23/n...

Mamdani hasn’t been elected yet and he’s already driving criminals out of New York.

I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out that the Worcester MiLB baseball stadium has not lived up to its economic expectations! www.telegram.com/story/news/l...

Happy to be featured on the latest episode of Freakonomics Radio discussing the crazy(???) idea of the NFL and NCAA merging and forming a promotion/relegation league. freakonomics.com/podcast/the-...

I am passing up a B-52s/Devo concert to attend this “Insights into Educational Inequality” better be as much a banger as “Whip It” or “Love Shack”!

Why is everyone buying lottery tickets? I will tell you on @marketplace.org! www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0...

I don't know why anyone would trust a (reverse)carpetbagger like you to know anything about the Worcester sports market. It's just too bad there aren't any decent sports economists in Worcester who could have given the city decent advice about the stadium.

Here's a good article showing how far Trump has split MAGA and traditional business Republicans. AEI, a wildly conservative traditional thinktank, is talking about how to improve electric cars. Trump is talking about how to eliminate them. www.aei.org/research-pro...

But to be fair, Steve Ballmer living out his midlife crisis by buying a sports team with his billions is probably better than Elon Musk living out his midlife crisis by destroying democracy.

Good job by the state of Illinois understanding the basics of stadium finance. While you ***might*** be able to argue for local subsidies, there is no way the state makes anything simply moving a stadium from one location in the state to another. frontofficesports.com/bears-withou...

I wonder if any economists have studied the economic benefits of new stadiums…

So, the US military is now engaging in extrajudicial assassinations of citizens of countries we are not at war with? That somehow sounds bad when I say it like that... www.cnn.com/2025/09/02/p...

It is wildly depressing that our primary economic data collection agency is now slated to be run by a guy with such poor qualifications that he wouldn't be competitive for an assistant professor job at my college. www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-bls-nominee-e-j-antoni-suspending-monthly-jobs-report/

Can’t we think of a more efficient use of taxpayer money like maybe sports stadiums? www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

Met this guy walking with my dog today. Fortunately coyotes are typically only dangerous if you have small animals, your pet is unleashed, or the coyote is carrying any packages labeled “ACME”.

Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements This is a big deal

This is what totalitarian regimes do, cook the numbers to please Dear Leader

Trump in a social media post said Erika McEntarfer, the BLS commissioner, would be “replaced with someone much more competent and qualified,” asserting without evidence that the government’s jobs numbers have been manipulated for political purposes. This is bad. Like East Germany or Zimbabwe bad.

Just so’s we’re all clear, almost 3/4 of everything we buy from Europe is now 15% more expensive.

Just to be clear, the new EU trade deal should be reported as massive tariff increase. Just because the 15% tariff is smaller than Trump had threatened, it is still a massive increase over rates that prevailed under Biden, Obama, or Bush. Not a win for economy, just a smaller loss.

Well, if Trump's racism prevents some stadium subsidies, I guess we should call that a win? www.cnn.com/2025/07/20/p...

Unbelievable. Trump basically just stole the FIFA Club World Cup trophy. Imagine FIFA being in the room with anyone and being the less corrupt party.

Great weekend listening with this week's guest, @victor-matheson.bsky.social Check it out if you missed it earlier this week!

Unpopular take, but if tips are now untaxed thanks to the Republican's disaster of a bill, the expected tip amount should be readjusted down to 15% (or maybe 17-18%), right? That's basically the same after-tax income to the server.