Simon Johnson and I are hiring a postdoc at MIT to research the history, social implications, and future of technology. The job description and application link are available here: shapingwork.mit.edu/careers/jame...

How would you regulate int'l migration if it weren't optional? Faced with demographic & technological shocks, we have alternatives to denial, anger, bargaining, and depression: Acceptance and innovation. My new @cgdev.org blog with @helen-dempster.bsky.social and Italian Labor Minister Calderone—>

"Do you think these Supreme Court Justices are great big brains? Big stars who were selected because they're the best lawyers in the United States? And their decisions are usually great? You think all that? I don't." Judge Richard Posner radiolab.org/podcast/radi...

How your email finds me >> Art by @hbtyson.bsky.social

When numbly ignorant, quack pseudoscience is the official policy of the United States government—forced on all Americans—we all suffer. Children of Conservative Americans, children of Liberal Americans. All of us.

The whistleblower that Kristof mentions is @nenrich.bsky.social and this is his book bookshop.org/p/books/unti...

Authoritarian rule is an act of weakness, an act of small people who fear the accountability that liberal democracy delivers. It has been defeated many times and it can be defeated again.

Péter Magyar Led Hungarians out of Autocracy. Where Will He Take Them Now? www.newyorker.com/news/the-new...

Breaking news: Indiana University plant microbiologist Roger Innes has been locked out of his laboratory by the school in response to a request by one of his federal funders. The move comes after Innes complained about the government’s prosecution of Chinese postdocs. https://scim.ag/4tsDqRr

Hungary’s parliament sings “Ode to Joy” — the anthem of Europe — after Péter Magyar is sworn in as prime minister. Hungary is once again a proud member of the European Union.

This, the US Supreme Court has explained to us, is what it looks like to finally live in a land free of racial discrimination. www.nytimes.com/2026/04/30/u... South Carolina is 26% black. Louisiana is 33%. Mississippi is 37%.

In this post I discuss Nobel Prize-winning economist Alvin Roth's new @washingtonpost.com article making case for legalizing kidney sales. I'm a longtime advocate of organ markets myself, but his advocacy far more significant than mine: reason.com/volokh/2026/...

Big news on the Section 122 tariffs -- US Court of International Trade just ruled against them.

What is especially galling is that this saved zero dollars, since the cruise ships pay for the inspections. And now their industry is less trusted because of perceived health risks. Amazing lose-lose policymaking.

Opinion | Mass Deportation and American Jobs A study finds that U.S. employment falls in areas with more ICE arrests. www.wsj.com/opinion/mass...

U.S. intel also indicates that Iran retains about 75% of its pre-war inventories of mobile launchers & about 70% of its pre-war stockpiles of missiles, per a U.S. official. The regime has also been able to recover underground storage facilities & repair damaged missiles

What happens when you pull thousands of FBI, DEA, ATF, IRS, USPS, and BOP officers away from fighting a vast array of dangerous crimes, and force them to arrest people who, in their vast majority, have *zero criminal record*? Americans are placed in danger.

The United States was the world’s top destination for global talent, bringing together the world’s best in countless fields with ease. The decision to throw away that incomparable asset will permanently impoverish all Americans, Conservative and Liberal.

Fascinating conversation with @drodrik.bsky.social on the future of working class jobs. Bonus: hearing Dani say “buurtzorg”

📖World of Labour: Article "The brain drain from developing countries" by F. Docquier & @catiabatista.bsky.social #BrainDrain need not be a curse—it can be a catalyst: under the right conds., sel. emigration promotes skills acquis. & eco. dev. in the country of origin. 🔗 wol.iza.org/articles/the...

President Trump’s immigration raids and checkpoints are weighing on the labor market, leading to fewer jobs for both U.S.-born men without a college degree as well as undocumented immigrants, according to a new economic study.

"The survey results appear to be another sign that overseas travelers are not planning to come to the U.S. in the numbers once expected as a result of a slew of factors including tighter immigration policies by the U.S. administration."

Mass deportation is a poor economic policy. Economists Chloe East & Elizabeth Cox on effects of ICE arrests: “There is a negative and significant impact on employment of US-born male workers with at most a high-school education.” @mclem.org @douglasrivlin.bsky.social www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

ICE activity in Trump’s second term reduces employment of immigrants in the US and of US-born workers in immigrant-heavy sectors, from Elizabeth Cox and Chloe N. East www.nber.org/papers/w35129

Adulthood is just cycling between "If I don't say yes to every opportunity, no new opportunities will ever be offered to me" and "Oh no, I have said yes to too many things" over and over until you die.

"The State of U.S. Science and Engineering 2026" report which was prepared by NCSES under the guidance of the recently-terminated National Science Board is now out. The report covers the state of STEM education, US R&D vs. China, and translational tech.

Congratulations to all the 2026 Pulitzer Prize recipients and to the Finalists and Thank You for the great reporting www.pulitzer.org/news/2026-pu...

ICE is everywhere. In 2022, ICE made arrests in 30% of counties. In 2025, ICE made arrests in 62% of counties. We ask: Do ICE arrests spark political action? Theory and prior evidence suggest it should. We find that ICE activity mostly does not mobilize citizens.

The United States government has just quietly terminated its program to support international students whose home countries are in crisis such as war. This program rightly had bipartisan support. It was a humane way to protect the best & brightest kids who are investing their future in America.

Shame on every last person in public office who lacks the minimal integrity to state the most basic facts. Disemboweling our Constitution, by denying that it was written in English and that English words have meanings, is the very opposite of “Conservative”. It will harm ALL Americans.

New @nberpubs: "The Value of Reliable Statistics" www.nber.org/papers/w3513... "preserving trust in the integrity and quality of official statistics generates economic benefits of about $25 for every $1 spent on the agency’s budget"

Institutions and rules cannot be replaced with ‘deals’. Deals are nothing, a scrawl on tissue paper that is only good until the deal’s off. Shattering our institutions, rules, and norms in favor of ‘deals’ is trading a bag of diamonds for a bag of Doritos.

This statement by the President of the United States calls for several leaders of the opposition party to be executed. It declares that they are trying to destabilize the country as part of a war. This poison injected into our country’s veins would be equally vile from a Liberal or Conservative.

DOJ identified 4 green card holders who voted in 2024 in NJ, or 0.00006% of total votes. As I wrote in 2024, noncitizen voting remains extraordinarily rare. Audits find only a tiny handful of cases, most often green card holders who got bad advice from others.

The harassment of scientists is appalling. Targeting public health experts with intimidation, threats, or political theater undermines science, erodes trust, and ultimately harms patients and communities.

The United States is now a country where soldiers with powerful military weapons can and will detain you simply because you are not white. It’s not hidden. The Supreme Court has explicitly approved the practice. Rare bodycam footage of what it looks like in practice, from local police partners—>

The ongoing, poisonous attacks on our non-partisan national institutions have already done permanent damage. They will not benefit anyone’s “side”. They will harm all Conservative and Liberal Americans.

Today the Supreme Court hears arguments in a case that could terminate Temporary Protected Status for 1.4 million migrants. With 19 colleagues incl. 3 Nobel laureates, I estimated the economic impact of ending TPS. We find losses >$45bn per year —> www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25... cc @piie.com

✨ Timeline cleanse I've never seen anything more beautiful than Botticelli's sketches to illustrate Dante: recherche.smb.museum?language=de&... One of my favorites: "Beatrice introduces Dante to some difficult questions" (Paradiso VII) —> id.smb.museum/object/940236

The United States is ruled by the American people, via a Constitution that establishes three coequal branches of the federal government. It is not ruled by a monarch, a dictator, or any other individual. No living politician’s face or signature should stain our money or our passports.

Tomorrow the Supreme Court hears arguments in a case that could terminate Temporary Protected Status for 1.4 million migrants. With 19 colleagues including 3 Nobel laureates, I estimated the economic impact of ending TPS. @cnn.com on our estimates and the stakes for the country (cc @piie.com) —>

“Earlier this year, [UNSG] Guterres warned that the multilateral institution faced “imminent financial collapse” unless its member nations pay their dues in full & on time. Now, the U.S. is providing a window of opportunity for those funds to flow. But only if the U.N. is willing to step in line.”

Immigrants with legal permission to live + work in the U.S. are losing status. Some are professionals, highly educated, others lived here all their lives or are newlyweds. They have one thing in common: they were born in a travel banned country My latest: www.npr.org/2026/04/28/n...

More details on the firing of the National Science Board. The NSF now has no director, deputy director, or board. They have issued almost no new awards in 2026. The plan appears to be to completely destroyed the agency. The details are horrifying and have Russ Vought written all over them.

Five pieces of golden advice on an underappreciated pillar of a fulfilling career in economics —>

National Science Board eviscerated; Trump admin fires all 22 members arstechnica.com/science/2026...

The delivery of our public health system into the hands of conspiracy-soaked quacks will harm American children. Defenseless newborns—the babies of Conservative and Liberal Americans.

The United States now has the most government restrictions on academic freedom of any high-income country. www.chemistryworld.com/news/academi... Raw data from @vdeminstitute.bsky.social —> academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

Real talk by @gretchentg.bsky.social on the firing of the National Science Board blog.ucs.org/gretchen-gol...

American science, and thus our capacity for economic dynamism, innovation, and continued global leadership, is being systematically dismantled. This will permanently impoverish the futures of all Conservative and Liberal Americans.