Update: we are at 379 signatures in support of Lisa Cook and Fed independence! The letter be open for signatures through Sun. (Link to sign at the top). If you are on X or listservs, please spread the word there! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I signed an open letter from economists supporting Fed independence & Governor Lisa Cook Letter: docs.google.com/document/d/1... Add your name by Monday: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

I signed an open letter from economists supporting Fed independence & Gov. Lisa Cook. Add your name by Monday: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... | Letter: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

@tmmcmillan.bsky.social has a new must-read piece on SNAP and work requirements. While her characterization of the evidence is both accurate and awesome, her story and the stories of other participants matter more. Let's all act in good faith. Gift article: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/10/o...

Watch me scramble in real time as I try to find the economic angle on the Musk-Trump tiff. (I think I found one, and the issues it highlights are terrifyingly important.)

Seems like if we want to increase a culture of work etc etc, this might be more promising than taking food benefits away from 60 year olds or parents of 9 year olds. Of course funding things like this wouldn’t open up budgetary space for tax cuts for rich people.

Ok folks, we know work requirements reduce benefits without increasing work (cc: @chloeneast.bsky.social) But who loses benefits and what happens if work requirements are reversed? New evidence from linked SNAP-Medicaid data and a natural experiment in CT tell a concerning story... Thread below 👇

New from @chloeneast.bsky.social at Can We Still Govern: AEI cited her work to make the case for SNAP work requirements. Chloe explains that her and other research show that work requirements reduce SNAP access while doing nothing for employment outcomes. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-aei-g...

The recurring theme of work requirements is that they hurt people who are working or looking for work. Worse, the requirements make it impossible for some workers, such as those in the service sector with irregular hours. From @lizananat.bsky.social www.hamiltonproject.org/publication/...

I respond to AEI’s mischaracterization of three of my papers AND discuss the clear evidence that work requirements don’t increase work, but do reduce food assistance for households that need it.

Who do work requirements penalize? @lizananat.bsky.social‬, ‪@agpines.bsky.social‬, and Olivia Howard offer findings on low-income service sector workers whose unpredictable work hours are largely driven by their employers and not by choice. www.brookings.edu/articles/wor...

As @lizananat.bsky.social shows here, work requirements are unrelated to the jobs poor families depend on to survive. The result: one third of eligible service workers would get kicked off of programs with work requirements because of high volatility in the number of hours worked in service jobs.

Critical point: The legislation is designed to kick people off Medicaid because it ignores the reality that low-wage jobs have highly variable hours--and they can't control that.

Work requirements will trip some people up because they struggle with paperwork, but will by design hurt other people who work a lot but have unstable hours (thread)

New research from me&@agpines.bsky.social Congress is pushing work requirements for Medicaid&SNAP. You’ve heard these kick eligible folks off (@pamherd.bsky.social @donmoyn.bsky.social), don't increase work&cause hunger (@laurenhlb.bsky.social @chloeneast.bsky.social). But wait there's more! 1/n

#priorities It really is just that simple.

ICYMI: Check out @lizananat.bsky.social Elizabeth Ananat’s, Mallya Professor of Women and Economics, Barnard College, presentation, “Schedule Volatility in Hourly Service Work: Evidence and Implications for Federal Income-Support Policies.” #academicsky www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqwG...

Congress is considering adding or expanding work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP. But work requirements penalize low-income workers and families, who—not by choice—often experience volatility in employment and work hours. @lizananat.bsky.social, ‪@agpines.bsky.social‬, and Olivia Howard explain:

New @hamiltonproject.org research by @lizananat.bsky.social @agpines.bsky.social & Olivia Howard finds that work requirements penalize low-income workers for something they can’t control: employer-driven volatility in employment and hours. www.brookings.edu/articles/wor...

A striking admission in Trump officials’ work requirements NYT op-ed: many working ppl who “work inconsistently throughout the year” will lose Medicaid & SNAP New @hamiltonproject.org‬ ‬‬ brief by @lizananat.bsky.social‬, @agpines.bsky.social‬, Olivia Howard shows this is true - and why 1/

The administration is moving the rule. Official public (that's us!!) comment period is open. Friends of BLS has resources making it super easy & efficient for you to: 1) submit evidence to the official record & 2) communicate to your federal reps #econsky www.friendsofbls.org/updates/2025...

Economists who use BLS data-- submit a public comment to defend its integrity!! See Aaron's thread!! #econsky

This can't be said enough. The narrative is quickly becoming but universities need fed funds, when it should be that the fed govt needs universities. NCI/NIGMS funding to Harvard/MIT supported research that led to the discovery of Herceptin, a cancer drug that has saved 3 million lives to date! 🧪

Can we get more of this? “The Japanese American National Museum will ‘scrub nothing,’ Fujioka said, and instead will highlight the importance of DEI. “Our community is based on diversity, equity is guaranteed to us in the Constitution, and inclusion is what we believe in,” Fujioka said.

The problem is: they've mistaken correlation for causation. They think their parents and grandparents had a good life *because* of manufacturing jobs. When, in reality, their parents and grandparents had a good life *despite* manufacturing jobs, because of unions, high taxes, and social policies.

The child mental health crisis has existed for decades, but the link between poor mental health and youth suicide is mediated by policy and can be broken, from Janet Currie https://www.nber.org/papers/w33632

Hello! We are a scrappy three-year-old civics blog based in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, NC. We just updated thegriffinlist.com, which contains detailed instructions for 65,000 NC voters whose votes might be thrown out in the state Supreme Court race. Please share!

Thank you, @aefpweb.bsky.social, IHEP, and @publiccitizen.bsky.social for challenging the recent devastation at IES. Proud to be an AEFP member today (and every day).

Amazing energy in NYC today!

The NYC protest was both massive and intimate. Old and young. Sophisticated and crass. Angry and joyful. Signs were high art, quilted, scribbled, streaked with rain. Here are just a few.

Some of the stats in here are really striking. Per one paper, federal investments in R&D account for at least a fifth of all productivity gains in the U.S. economy since World War II. And the societal return for every $1 invested in the sciences is *conservatively* estimated at $5.

Tariffs get all the attention, but ask economists what they're really worried about and many will point to the Trump administration's cuts to federal support for the sciences, including canceling grants and revoking student visas. #EconSky www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/b...

Next week! Don’t miss @lizananat.bsky.social as she joins us to present, “Schedule Volatility in Hourly Service Work: Evidence and Implications for Federal Income-Support Policies.” Learn more and save your seat: inequality.umich.edu/elizabeth-an... #academicsky #polisky

A gulag but offshore.

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

Every so often I look at the paper of record to see if it is quickly communicating to readers that they are living through a constitutional crisis, and the answer consistently is "no." They are covering the topics, but in the name of journalistic balance, not conveying the alarm.

The president of Princeton speaks out: “The attack on Columbia is a radical threat to scholarly excellence and to America’s leadership in research. Universities and their leaders should speak up and litigate forcefully to protect their rights.” www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Hang together or hang separately.

U.S. economic policy uncertainty index higher than anytime other than COVID pandemic.

The take-gov’t-out-of-GDP is a silly idea from people who don’t think about economic measurement. But we cannot dismiss the possibility that it's a prelude to manipulating the economic numbers. I don't expect that, but I can't rule it out. econjared.substack.com/p/taking-gov...

“By firing us, you’re going to cut down on how much revenue the country brings in,” Nershi said in an interview. “This was not about saving money.”

As another Trump-induced market crisis unfolds from tariffs, it's time we ask "What's the Matter with Billionaires?" I've run the numbers. Billionaires do better under Dems. So why do billionaires keep supporting GOP policies against their economic interests? See my latest piece on why. (TLDR 🧵⬇️)

RIP #FESAC The Fed. Economic #Statistics Advisory Committee has been axed by the Commerce Sec. Since 2000, FESAC’s unpaid top academic & private experts have advised #Census, #BLS & #BEA on their key #economicindicators. Why: "mission fulfilled" HUH? #inflation #GDP #jobs #econsky #productivity

It was a lie.

You're fired! Oops, nope. Please come back. bsky.app/profile/anne...

Bad actors can formally restore funding in a narrow sense but effectively make it impossible to spend $ We're seeing this malicious faux compliance across govt. as the Trump administration pretends to comply with court orders or allow certain kinds of spending it is actually blocking in practice

The Trump administration is: *breaking the law by not spending appropriated money from Congress *breaking the law by ignoring a court order *lying about it *killing people *silencing public employees who are pointing all of this out

People should be calling this what it is, which is a crypto bailout. They're cutting cancer research so they can bailout rich, degenerate gamblers bsky.app/profile/ronf...