Ninth Grader Demi Johnson receives National Geographic award for plan to save Mississippi's oyster reef population. The ninth grader has produced 1,100 oysters that will in turn spawn millions of larvae into the ecosystem, a huge ecological impact

Is there any good work on the use of the term “freedman”, specifically when it stopped being used and if there was any resistance to its use in the South? I’m trying to think about whether an odd repeated 1879 use of “freeman” but avoidance of talking directly about slavery is important or not.

If we’re going to redraw Virginia’s boundaries then this is our opening bid:

Oh Lord they’re actually trying it. MAGA Republicans want Trump to annex Arlington for D.C. www.axios.com/local/washin...

It's true the institutional machinery is structured such that the Supreme Court speaks last among the branches on constitutionality, but people often confuse that with the Supreme Court being correct or with nothing else happening if they're incorrect. Gordon Tullock had good thoughts on this.

I am not a Hayek scholar but it's still really exciting to see these digitized papers online. Digitized archives are so valuable for broadening the scope of people who do history of economics. www.hoover.org/news/papers-...

Dems are rightly frustrated that half of the party are 75+ with the mental faculties, physical health, and kneejerk conservatism that age usually implies. It keeps costing us materially. It doesn't look like a lot of these issues apply to L. Louise Lucas.

Yikes @postopinions.bsky.social. At least when the Yes people treat Texas and Virginia differently they justify it as a response to a prior move.

I loled

I am realizing that some of the disagreement over Virginia is that a lot of people identify more with national parties than the communities they live in. This seems problematic.

It's kind of weird people will be mad at a Texas Democrat shilling for Texans on something that *will not pass* to gain a Democratic advantage in the Senate but will be totally OK with abandoning fundamental democratic principles in Virginia redistricting to gain a Democratic advantage in the House.

I actually don't want to be better at doing the bad things they do than they are at doing the bad things they do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

the Supreme Court has ruled that partisan gerrymandering is okay, racially motivated redistricting isn’t. of course, there’s no reason to trust this corrupt Supreme Court on either ruling.

I've staked my claim as being opposed to this redistricting, but it is almost certainly very legal and constitutional. Votes must have equal weight. Protected classes must not be discriminated against. This is all clear. But there's no constitutional prohibition on the partisan gerrymander.

I feel like this and many other things are sleeper issues in a Maslow's hierarchy of needs sense. We all know the corruption is outrageous and not hard to find, but we're predominantly preoccupied with an insane war in Iran or an insane pedophile ring or an insane domestic deployment of troops.

I agree there is false equivalence but the false equivalence comes from who acted first and who acted maliciously, not from this. This wasn't voters saying fuck the politicians, this was voters saying fuck the other half of the voters. I hope the new Ds take western Virginia to heart in their votes.

Monopsony

You can pry Arlington from my cold dead hands.

Usually irrationality of world leaders is conceived of as them being chaos agents, but a lot of times it’s just that they don’t think one period ahead.

Welp, by a small margin we ceded ground on our elections. It’s not the end of the world and I’m going to remain optimistic that we find our way back because Virginia Democrats are among the best in the country. But it was an unforced error. We need to learn fighting them doesn’t mean mimicking them.

💯 I always hate it when Northern Virginians say they’re from DC.

Go vote, Virginia!

For decades, economists gave short shrift to the idea of monopsony — a power employers can have to suppress wages. Now a wave of research suggests it's everywhere, and a new book argues it's key to understanding today's inequality. n.pr/4e0RHRi

In Virginia, voters are heading to the polls on Tuesday for a high-stakes ballot measure that could reshape the state’s congressional map and potentially shift the balance of power in Washington. https://to.pbs.org/4tYikec

I know the data probably aren’t there to calculate it but I’d love to see the likelihood that we even get 10-1 if the Virginia redistricting passes. It isn’t 100%. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but it definitely isn’t 100%.

As it’s happens I don’t think my state should draw district lines on the basis of who voters will vote for. Voters choose their representatives, representatives don’t choose their voters. Vote no tomorrow!!!

If the second Trump administration consisted of DOGE and nothing else it would still be one of the very worst in American history: www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2026/04/they...

Exactly one year ago today:

Pretty, overcast day on the mountain. It was a gardening day, getting ready for the spring (which comes a little later up there). This year I’ll have nine raised beds on the mountain, up from two last year (maybe more as we go). Between rocky soil and deer there’s only a few things I have in ground.

A nice shot of Caroline and her great grandma tonight at my grandad’s 90th birthday.

This is a big one. Stellar reporting from Sarah Fitzpatrick. To call it a must-read is an understatement: www.theatlantic.com/politics/202...

Not so top secret anymore!

RIP to a real one. I have fond memories of the one time I had drinks with him in Kansas City. Even if he did tell me I was quite wrong to think of Keynes as a socialist.

RIP Robert Skidelsky - an amazing and important scholar. His biographies get a lot of well deserved attention, but my favorite is the shorter Keynes: Return of the Master. It’s a fantastic, accessible introduction to Keynes that came at a really critical time.

I’m in a workshop on valuing non market goods and the speaker just said “there’s a magic in duality” when talking about demand curves. Don’t ever let anyone tell you economics disenchants life!

Awful www.cnn.com/2026/04/16/u...

You really appreciate the guys that kept track of their correspondence when you start working with someone that has really spotty archiving. And why wouldn’t they? It’s not their job to make my life easier after they’re dead. I’m not blaming them, but you start to appreciate the fastidious ones.

My team is hiring a research assistant - please share with anyone that you think may be interested! urban.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/Urban-...

Teeny grape buds! There are soooo many more on the vines than last year, I’m really excited.

A new issue of History of Political Economy is now available online read.dukeupress.edu/hope/issue/5...

Ok but is it *true*? I’m Team Leo in all of this mess, but God in fact quite famously blessed lots of conflicts. Some Christians are pacifist, of course, but it’s not common and it’s certainly not traditional for the Catholic church. It seems weird to pretend these things aren’t true.

Question today from a student on their final paper: “what should I do for the input costs now since they’re cutting regulatory enforcement staff? Do I change the benefit too if there’s no enforcement?” I said I give full permission to pretend these are normal times for the purposes of the paper 😩

Good. Sexual predators don’t belong in office. I’m glad I haven’t seen any apologetics for him.

Cover drop and I'm in love press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

I haven’t taken a close look yet but Vincent Geloso and coauthors have an interesting looking paper out criticizing a recent criticism of structural adjustment programs. I don’t work in this area but I do have an article on Milton Friedman’s opposition to SAPs. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

That’s a demogorgon, right?

Watching Brazil, South Korea and Hungary get rid of their authoritarians

Competitive authoritarianism is, fwiw, the typical American style of authoritarianism as seen particularly in the history of the U.S. South.