At the Stone Center (@mitshapingwork.bsky.social) launch event, Professors @atifrmian.bsky.social and @omzidar.bsky.social presented research on the debt crisis and wealth in America during a panel discussion on wealth inequality. Learn more and watch the full panel: https://bit.ly/4j42Cdv

(2/) 💰 The top 1% isn’t just tech billionaires @omzidar.bsky.social stressed that owners of businesses like car dealerships, construction firms, and franchises make up a significant portion of the top 1%.

Was fun discussing whether the US is a gerontocracy www.marketplace.org/episode/2025...

Who is rich in America, and how did they become rich? How is wealth inequality connected to housing markets, finance, and the macroeconomy? A panel at our upcoming launch will feature @atifrmian.bsky.social, @omzidar.bsky.social, and Antoinette Schoar. Register: shapingwork.mit.edu/events/stone...

Many thanks to all the signatories, including @dacemoglumit.bsky.social, @emilyjblanchard.bsky.social, @danieldbunn.bsky.social, @kclausing.bsky.social, @stevecicala.bsky.social, @jasonfurman.bsky.social, @kylepomerleau.bsky.social, @michaelrstrain.bsky.social, and @omzidar.bsky.social.

An early Christmas gift 👇 Thanks, @davidragrawal.bsky.social, Jim Poterba and @omzidar.bsky.social, for leading this project so successfully. It was an honor and a pleasure to contribute a chapter on corporate tax competition among the Swiss cantons.

you are about to see the nation’s beer distributors—aka “the toughest lobby you’ve never heard of”—lose their fucking minds

Please apply to work with us irs.princeton.edu/senior-resea...

Patrick Dovigi, Waste Management open.substack.com/pub/everywhe...

The GOP megabill now before the Senate cuts taxes for high earners and reduces benefits for the poor. www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Fun fact: debt and sin are the same word in German HT: Andreas Peichl

I've had the pleasure to organize this year's @cepr.org Public Economics Symposium, together with @sigginho.bsky.social and Johannes Spinnewijn. Here's the program: drive.google.com/file/d/1CggW... Looking forward to 2 great days in Cologne, keynotes by @omzidar.bsky.social and Cecile Gaubert!

Eric Zwick was on ⁦‪@DKThomp‬⁩’s podcast talking about our research on the tax cuts and jobs act and a bit about our forthcoming book on the stealthy wealthy podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

Thanks for having me on the show @smerconish.bsky.social youtu.be/rRL4X49KVBM?...

Appeal from colleagues at Harvard: "...we also call upon our fellow institutions of higher education in the United States to declare their willingness to facilitate the immediate co-enrollment of Harvard’s international students., including formal acceptance of transfer for immigration purposes."

Seems like a good time to re-read this paper by Chodorow-Reich, @omzidar.bsky.social, and Zwick. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Owen’s Substack -sign up here for updates on our forthcoming book on the stealthy wealthy everywheremillionaire.substack.com?r=4a6ft&utm_...

Michael is joined by Dr. @omzidar.bsky.social , a professor from Princeton University, to discuss the "Stealthy Wealthy": entrepreneurs who quietly build multimillion-dollar fortunes through unglamorous, essential businesses. Listen to the #podcast here 🎧➡️ loom.ly/7l3hQnE

If you have not done so already, I would take a look at Isaac William Martin's Rich People's Movements and The Permanent Tax Revolt. He has interviewed many people involved in anti-tax activism.

The WSJ did a story today on our forthcoming book on the stealthy wealthy: who is really rich in America and how they got there www.wsj.com/business/mak...

Congratulations @s-stantcheva.bsky.social ! www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/ho...

Markets are now down ~14% since Trump was inaugurated. Not as bad as the recent trough under Trump, but the gap between market performance to date vs. performance in same period in earlier administrations appears to be growing

JFC. So far, Trump has caused markets to lose about 14%. Here's how the same period to date looks under other recent presidential terms

Markets are down sharply, again. Extraordinary economic pessimism, entirely attributable to mismanagement.

"Reconsidering commitment to tax cuts for the rich"* ** *** **** * Except for the tax cut for the heirs of the wealthiest estates **Except for the tax cut for passthrough biz, half of which goes to millionaires *** Except for corporate tax cuts about a third of which goes to the top 1% **** Etc.

Citing Professor Seema Jayachandran's (@seema.bsky.social) research, @nytimes.com analyzes the potential impact of firing the staff at the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/02/c...

Exactly this, from @natasharsarin.bsky.social & former IRS commissioner Danny Werfel: "In other words, an extremely diminished IRS could unlock a race to the bottom and create an evasion advantage for those who are comfortable skirting their tax bills." www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

wild graph from @jacobbogage.bsky.social

Take a simple example: I run a trade deficit with Trader Joe's buying their meals, while they buy none of mine. My trade deficit as a share of my imports is 100%. By Trump's trade logic, this deficit is evidence they're imposing 100% tariffs on the meals I try to sell them. Obviously this is false.

The graph is from Sarah Bianchi, Matt Aks and Karlin Gatton at EvercoreISI. And my piece: www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/o...

I am proud to have Chris Eisgruber leading my university. He is meeting the moment.

DOGE canceled major contracts for collection of data on students, teachers, and schools, as well as public research on things like best practices for improving students' reading ability. www.newamerica.org/education-po...

This is ominous. Commerce Secretary suggests new GDP calculations might deliberately exclude government spending to obscure impact of DOGE cuts. apnews.com/article/trum...

Wealthy car dealers ripping off consumers being the main winners of DOGE is pure black comedy. www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

Dean Karlan's job at USAID was LITERALLY to improve the efficiency of its programs. DOGE is clearly not actually after cutting fraud and waste. And its actions will clearly make the US weaker while also making the world a worse place. www.npr.org/sections/goa...

It also opens the door to DOGE affiliates unlawfully adjusting Americans’ tax liabilities or refunds. 3/3

Providing a political appointee with access to these files opens the door to a violation of Sec. 7217, which prohibits the President, VP, and EOP staff from directly or indirectly interfering with taxpayer audits and investigations. 2/3

This is deeply concerning. I’m unaware of any instance of political appointees at Treasury or IRS having access to this database. I didn’t and the political appointees on my team did not. 1/3 www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

On Friday night, HHS ordered CDC to take down all flu vaccine campaign materials from its website. Materials are starting to come down. For example, a campaign explaining that flu shot can reduce flu severity from "wild to mild" is now offline. Left image is from Friday, right is now Meanwhile...

As of Feb 9, less than 10% of PEPFAR contractors surveyed had restarted any activities. It's not their fault: They need to get explicit program-level waivers and that's a bottleneck. Plus, even with a waiver, USG owes them heaps of $ and they have no cash.