The letter is ready, thanks to all those who helped out! Starting to gather signature now, please consider signing (link at top of letter) & spread the word. docs.google.com/document/d/1...

This is where Columbia, Brown, Penn have gotten us. If this isn't stopped, it's just one institution after another paying tributes to the crown. Either it stops or we're done for and the "we" isn't just higher ed, it's everybody.

We should've made a bigger national crisis of someone breaking into Nancy Pelosi's home & trying to kill her husband. But then, we should've made a bigger national crisis about hundreds of someones breaking into the Capitol & trying to steal an election. But then, we should've done lots of things.

For some perspective, the federal government funds *over half* of all scientific research and development conducted by the @uofcalifornia.bsky.social -- and UC is collectively responsible, in turn, for over 8% of all academic research conducted in the United States.

The Republican Party has fully embraced fascism and destroyed American democracy. But some Democrats still say Latinx. I have never felt more politically homeless.

tag yourself, i'm dark red

Redistribution or govt spending don’t make equality, unionization does

Older kids used calculators to show us how to spell HELL. But AI, which can be used by extremists to create radicalizing propaganda, by fascists to control citizens, and by bullies to harass and abuse is a *tool just like it.*

The whole building shook right in the middle of micro theory! It’s probably a sign that I should pay more attention to mechanism design

Nearly a 1,000 student visas invoked by Sec. of State Rubio and counting.

They’re coming for the students; they’re coming for the faculty.

worth noting that all of this language is *obvious* lies repeated over and over again on every grant cancellation to avoid any of the many legal requirements, and I hope judges have the sense to treat it as such.

Fiat lux! 💙🐻💛 Let’s hope the legacy of the Free Speech Movement stays strong and admin doesn’t cave.

Universal access to free pre-Kindergarten child care raises parents' income - not only during the childcare years, but also in the years after. Cc @kathrinbertschy.bsky.social

My garden’s first strawberry harvests 🥰

UMASS IS RESCINDING ALL GRAD POSITIONS FOR THIS YEAR

In fiscal year 2024, the report found, NIH awarded more than $36.9 billion to researchers, supporting more than 408,000 jobs and generating over $94.5 billion in new economic activity nationwide. news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

This is a grave and sobering admission: they are not pursuing the “WELL ACTUALLY he broke the law during protests,” they are bragging that they are deporting people for protected speech.

Why is the NPS braver than all Congresspeople combined?

How did such a large share of the world’s population escape extreme poverty? Paul Niehaus, Tom Vogl and I were curious and are excited to share with you what we've found. vincentarmentano.com/research/hpf...

The Senator wants to protect the universities in her state from the leopards, but she needs to consider that if you destroy the universities in other "Blue" states, it will have a downstream effect because research is deeply interconnected UA-Birmingham can't succeed if you nuke the UCs & SUNYs

If you’ve ever complained about free speech on college campuses but aren’t upset about this, you’re not serious. Can’t even do mainstream economics while avoiding this list.

Senators be like “thoughts and prayers 🙏🏻”

Article 30 of the German Constitution defines education as a matter for the individual states. Can you guess why? Because the Nazis consolidated the educational system for their heinous propaganda purposes. "Bildung ist Ländersache" precisely to prevent such top-down mandates.

These seeds are meant to be planted before the annual rain season. But it’s been the driest winter in 150 years — since they started recording. So I still planted them now. Hopefully it will rain on Sunday 🌧️🌷🌻 and help put out some of the fires

US colleagues take note: faculty at my alma mater in Turkey, Bogazici Uni, have been protesting the appointment of Erdogan apparatchiks *every single day* for the last 5 years. They turn their backs to the president’s office - in full regalia -rain or shine.

All NIH study sections canceled indefinitely. This will halt science and devastate research budgets in universities.

My roommate is a med student and told me Border Patrol was parked outside the hospital today — a foul scare tactic. The hospital gets lots of migrants injured in their journey as well as farm workers. They were parked in the fire lane, which is extra insane cuz there were several fires today

Me trynna do my metrics pset rn

Literally planning reality show-style deportation raids in liberal cities so they can be covered by conservative media www.wsj.com/politics/pol... Immigration is a difficult, complex issue, but this makes a joke of any claim that what's being done here is principled or being driven by "the law."

Here is the handbook I was missing as a PhD student! Edited by Dirk Schindler & Arjan Lejour, it includes contributions by more than 40 scholars on all aspects of tax haven research in economics. My chapter "Tax Havens and Illicit Financial Flows"... (1/5)

Crazy idea, stick with me... Law, but for rich people.

Erica Chuang was one of the IPA data geniuses & is on the job market! She's finishing up at UCSD in environmental& natural resource econ. Her JMP looks at how to design policies when private firms own resources that are good for the environment, like forests. www.ericakchuang.com #econsky #econjmp

People hate on the humanities, but as @seanmcarroll.bsky.social said, "But what really makes me laugh is the idea that philosophy doesn't matter [...] you can't help but do philosophy. You can only do it well or do it badly." (link) I think we underestimate how many philo Qs we encounter

One of the biggest lessons from Syria is that, just a month ago, almost no one could have predicted the Assad regime would fall today. The "realities on the ground" crowd would have denied such a possibility. A reminder of why people in Ukraine fight rather than surrender.

Really good thread

As we gawk at the $250M Musk spent elect Trump, take a guess how long it took him to “earn” it back in the market? It took just 15 minutes. I'm not kidding... 15 minutes. According to Bloomberg, his net worth soared by $8B just today. That’s billionaire math for you—and it’s all of our problem.

so much "r vs stata" debate but this 2018 QJE I was gonna use for a replication project uses SAS...

🚨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....

He's too old! And clearly campaigning with Liz Cheney has only hurt him.

This is very interesting #EconJMP by @sahilchinoy.bsky.social. Democrats & Republicans will sacrifice ~3% salary ($2k/year) for ideologically aligned workplaces.

I wonder if these kinds of tax breakdowns affect attitudes toward taxation, voting behavior and/or migration decisions by making regional taxes more salient. Cuz on the one hand I'm like "wow 0.25% is not that much" but on the other I'm like "I wonder if taxes are lower in the next county over"

68F (20C) in San Diego today. You really wouldn’t know it’s December and I love it.

grade inflation but for my pre-tenure profs who receive a greater weight on their teaching evals 😌 like they're all so incredibly nice and I want them to stick around

hoping that my micro TA is old enough that they still watched Bill Nye in school

Right now, I’m growing food in half my garden plot and flowers in the other. Might have to change that ratio— not sure my 2 tomato plants will be enough to meet my tomato needs when prices increase 🍅🌱