You can help Bolts continue to provide crucial coverage of local elections. Here's how: - Repost this = I donate $1. - Follow @boltsmag.org = I donate $1. - Donate (link below) + tell me how much = I match your donation. (Donate monthly = I match a year's worth)

Cool new article alert 🚨: Tax Base Fragmentation as a Dimension of Metropolitan Inequality by @robertmanduca.bsky.social, @bhighsmith.bsky.social, Jacob Waggoner. academic.oup.com/ser/article/...

Love seeing this use of our tax base fragmentation viz!!

🚨We analyzed 138 million geocoded property tax records to quantify how municipal boundaries spatially overlap onto economic segregation in every US metro area—creating disparities in localities’ ability to fund public goods. And we made an interactive map of our results! [1/16]

Check out this 🧵 on our own @robertmanduca.bsky.social's work with @bhighsmith.bsky.social and Jacob Waggoner. 👇 #AcademicSky #WealthInequality

We conceptualize ‘tax base fragmentation’: the spatial concentration (within a metro area) of property wealth in particular wealthy municipalities. The concept is intuitive—but not captured by existing measures of segregation and jurisdictional fragmentation. Link: academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...

Check out our new paper (+ the accompanying web viz)!

A new working paper from @umichstonecid.bsky.social/SRC researcher @robertmanduca.bsky.social examining the geography of social transfer programs & implications for cuts to Medicaid & SNAP in the recently signed federal budget. Also see: equitablegrowth.org/medicaid-and...

In @marketwatch.com @robertmanduca.bsky.social helps break down what's at stake for local communities as a result of Medicaid cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill—on average these safety-net programs account for 40 percent of money flowing into local communities. www.marketwatch.com/story/how-th...

Hey that's @robertmanduca.bsky.social's research!

... 58% of military in CA-22 (Valadao) 223% of water transport (Staten Island ferries! largest private industry in district) in NY-11 (Malliotakis) 100% of pipeline transport in TX-15 (De La Cruz) equitablegrowth.org/medicaid-and... h/t @robertmanduca.bsky.social @equitablegrowth.bsky.social

"Cuts to social programs will have a major impact on local economic activity." Social programs are a key part of the regional economic base. @robertmanduca.bsky.social on how Medicaid and SNAP cuts in the #ReconciliationBill will negatively impact local economies: equitablegrowth.org/medicaid-and...

Starting in 10 minutes!

New working paper alert! Posted at @equitablegrowth.bsky.social, it investigates the economic geography of social transfer programs and financial income--with implications for the Medicaid and SNAP cuts proposed in the reconciliation bill 👀 equitablegrowth.org/working-pape...

Reductions to essential public programs in the budget reconciliation bill impact more than beneficiaries. They affect key service providers, local businesses, and community stability. @robertmanduca.bsky.social on Medicaid and SNAP cuts impacting local economies:

Really excited for this!

Social Security, unemployment insurance and child tax credits are in a sense assets that aren’t usually counted up when discussing wealth and #inequality. A sociologist explains how these benefits are worth far more in countries like Norway: buff.ly/yA3Ljst By @robertmanduca.bsky.social @umich.edu

Social Security, unemployment insurance and child tax credits are in a sense assets that aren’t usually counted up when discussing wealth and #inequality. A sociologist explains how these benefits are worth far more in countries like Norway: buff.ly/NkctZvA By @robertmanduca.bsky.social @umich.edu

How wealthy are you? Join our own #umich #sociologist @robertmanduca.bsky.social as he explores an aspect of personal wealth many of us overlook: the benefits Americans will get from Social Security and other similar government benefit programs (via @us.theconversation.com). myumi.ch/4mxgq

I'm in @theconversation.com today writing about my recent paper on augmented wealth! theconversation.com/youre-probab...

this is predictable. it is structural. the marginal voter has concerns orthogonal to the dimensions of contestation btw the parties. it's much more frequent just to care abt other things than to deeply care abt yet be perfectly balanced btw the candidates' issues. www.interfluidity.com/v2/7687.html

[new draft post] Balance as a norm https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/04/24/balance-as-a-norm/index.html

I have a new paper out! "Should Social Insurance Programs Count as Wealth? Augmented Wealth in Research and Policy." Published yesterday in Socio-Economic Review @sasemeeting.bsky.social doi.org/10.1093/ser/...

The latest pub. from Rourke O'Brien, @schechtlm.bsky.social, our own @robertmanduca.bsky.social, & Atheendar Venkataramani suggests that local government spending may reduce mortality, esp. for people with lower incomes. Read more in SSM – Population Health: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

[new draft post] If we weren't idiots, Balance of Payments edition https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/04/01/if-we-werent-idiots-balance-of-payments-edition/index.html

Seems like a good time to re-up this interview www.buzzsprout.com/1240292/epis...

It probably goes without saying for most of you who follow me, but the extent to which the private sector relies on open government datasets is massive. Limiting access to data or taking data offline would have huge consequences for everyone from startups to large corporations.

Just ran into this trying to update some maps. @ipums.bsky.social NHGIS here I come!

Some people think it's better to invite people to Minnesota in the summer. I disagree 😀 Come to this conference and avoid the humidity by staying inside talking about health, life course, and big data at @ipums.bsky.social @minnpop.bsky.social . Submit your proposals by 31 January! lcc.umn.edu/DIRC

The GC Wealth Project - an invaluable source for data and research on wealth and wealth-related policies - continues to grow. Check out the latest expansion and update! @stone-lis.bsky.social @morellisal.bsky.social 👇👇👇

ISR is accepting applications for the next cohort of Junior Professional Researchers! This is a great opportunity for recent college grads to get experience working in social science research at ISR. Please reach out with any questions! #statsky #episky #econsky #publichealth #academicsky #polisky

Cheers to 2025! As we begin the new year, we took a moment to reflect on all that we accomplished in 2024. Check out our most-read news stories from the past year. #NewYear

Upward mobility is a key indicator of economic success, but Faculty Associate @robertmanduca.bsky.social found that income mobility in the U.S. has been on the decline for decades. inequality.umich.edu/robert-mandu...

I understand the #middleclass malaise by appreciating three facts about #socialmobility and #inequality: 1. almost complete relative mobility among the children of middle income families 2. growing inequality that widens the rungs of the ladder, particularly at the top 3. polarizing income growth

🚨New paper: State Capacity for Building Infrastructure US infrastructure construction (transportation, energy, etc.) is often costly & slow. I discuss the data & propose reforms. 🧵 Here is the paper: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

A thread on my paper with @masseconomics.bsky.social published earlier this year in @edqjournal.bsky.social: "Beyond Local and Traded: Evidence for a Third Industry Market Area Type and Implications for Regional Economic Development" #urbanism #sociology #geog journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....

🚨New publication alert🚨 What happens to female labor market supply when their male partner starts to earn payroll tax exempt income? Joint work w/ @andreashaupt.bsky.social, now open access at JMF: doi.org/10.1111/jomf... #sociology #gendersky #polisky #econsky

Huge thanks to the many practitioners and academics who helped us refine this project, and to the amazing Lab at the Fair team that helped the PALS Lab pilot an early draft of the survey at the Ann Arbor Art Fair in 2022 michigan.law.umich.edu/news/science...

Kate Weisburd and I have a new empirical paper out in the Northwestern University Law Review! We ask: what do ordinary Americans believe about how Miranda rights are invoked? t.co/fjpjlJ4vUY 1/4

Prof. Katherine Michelmore of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy wins the 2024 David N. Kershaw Award & Prize! We discussed expanding tax credits to benefit family well-being: www.mathematica.org/blogs/kersha... #EconSky

New paper out this week in @socservreview.bsky.social, joint with U-M Soc PhD students Catalina Anampa Castro and Analidis Ochoa! Social Transfer Programs as Non-Spatially-Targeted Methods of Reducing Interregional Geographic Inequality www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

We have a new paper out in AEJ: Applied! Measuring Absolute Income Mobility: Lessons from North America and Europe, joint with @adrianadermon.bsky.social + many others not on Bluesky

I'm glad to share this Q&A with sociologist Neil Gong about his research & forthcoming book We talked about homeless tent encampments, psychiatric institutions, Housing First and our country's dramatically bifurcated systems for treating severe mental illness www.vox.com/24011278/men...