Jeffrey Lin
@jeffrlin.bsky.social
📤 6481
📥 402
📝 197
Economist studying cities, regions, and growth. West Philly dad. Views are my own.
https://jlin.org/
pinned post!
📈📉 🔔 New paper🔔 In the era of AI and rapid Natural Language Processing (NLP) advances, how should economists choose the right NLP model? Our work provides insights focusing on a patent analysis application. With
@inaganguli.bsky.social
, Vitaly Meursault & Nick Reynolds. 1/
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Patent Text and Long-Run Innovation Dynamics: The Critical Role of Model Selection
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
https://www.nber.org/papers/w32934
over 1 year ago
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Zak Yudhishthu
22 days ago
In an effort to get to know my new home, I've sought out all kinds of books about Chicago. Here are some notes on my favorite books about this great city, and noteworthy themes across my reading.
pencillingout.substack.com/p/reflection...
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Reflections on a year of reading Chicago
A journey through the Windy City's many great books
https://pencillingout.substack.com/p/reflections-on-a-year-of-reading
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The Quarterly Journal of Economics
29 days ago
#QJE
Feb 2026, #10, “The Price of Housing in the United States, 1890–2006,” by Lyons (@ronanlyons), Shertzer (@econhist-allday), Gray (@econhistoryorbust), and Agorastos:
doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
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The Price of Housing in the United States, 1890–2006*
Abstract. We construct the first annual market rent and home sales price series for American cities over the twentieth century using 2.7 million newspaper
https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjaf047
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Jeffrey Lin
Trade Diversion (Jonathan Dingel)
about 1 month ago
Join us Monday at 8:00am in 310 for an
#ASSA2026
session on Spatial Sorting and Economic Transformations Papers on poverty (non-)traps, income sorting, urban exploration & WFH by Bryan Stuart, Yuhei Miyauchi, Gabriel Kreindler, Yichen Su. Discussants:
@chrisseveren.bsky.social
, Couture, Rappaport
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Jeffrey Lin
Trade Diversion (Jonathan Dingel)
about 1 month ago
Join us Saturday at 10:15am for an
#ASSA2026
session on Development of American Cities featuring papers on mortgage markets, slavery, migration & ghost towns by L D'Amico, S Naidu, T Jaworski, M Hoelzlein Discussants:
@econhist-allday.bsky.social
, S Heblich,
@allie-green.com
,
@jeffrlin.bsky.social
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Diego Puga
about 1 month ago
These are 10 of my favourite
#UrbanEconomics
&
#SpatialEconomics
articles published in academic journals in 2025, continuing with a tradition started in 2018 (order is alphabetical by first author, no ranking implied):
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Jeffrey Lin
The Quarterly Journal of Economics
4 months ago
Recently accepted by
#QJE
, “The Price of Housing in the United States, 1890–2006,” by Lyons (@ronanlyons), Shertzer (@econhist-allday), Gray (@econhistoryorbust), and Agorastos:
doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
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The Price of Housing in the United States, 1890–2006*
Abstract. We construct the first annual market rent and home sales price series for American cities over the 20th century using 2.7 million newspaper real
https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjaf047
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Jeffrey Lin
Rick Hornbeck
3 months ago
Hi all, please spread the word and we hope everyone can make good use of this new data drop:
cmfdata.org
The full surviving establishment-level Census of Manufactures manuscripts and digitized data from 1850, 1860, 1870, and 1880!
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Historical Census of Manufactures Microdata - Historical Census of Manufactures Microdata
http://CMFdata.org
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Zachary Schrag
3 months ago
Next Wednesday in Philadelphia!
phillyguides.org/event/nativi...
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Nativist/ Bible Riots of 1844 - Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides
The Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) will hold its next monthly meeting on Wednesday, November 12 at 7 pm, in person at the Great Hall of Christ Church Neighborhood […]
https://phillyguides.org/event/nativist-bible-riots-of-1844/
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Jeffrey Lin
Arpit Gupta
4 months ago
🚨New predoc positions!🚨 Join
@alexbartik.bsky.social
and me to work on developing LLM tools to analyze zoning regulations and their impacts on housing affordability. One position starting at the "normal" cycle next year, and another ASAP. Apply here:
apply.interfolio.com/176538
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Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
https://apply.interfolio.com/176538
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Jeffrey Lin
Michael Clemens
4 months ago
Okay
#EconSky
, if you do any kind of spatial analysis, it's a good time to be alive ☞ A new, open-access global spatial database combining 73 harmonized datasets on the world population, its distribution in space, and its characteristics, 2015–2023:
doi.org/10.12688/ver...
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Daniel Tannenbaum
4 months ago
Hello
#econsky
, the Nebraska Labor Summit will be held Friday, March 13, 2026. It's a really fun, junior-centric, research conference in labor and related applied micro fields. Martha Bailey and Alex Mas will give the keynotes. Deadline for submissions is Nov. 1!
forms.gle/JC5tN5cT1R2i4ZUJA
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Jeffrey Lin
#urbanecon
4 months ago
New in JOEG: Off-the-job learning in cities.
#econsky
#urbanecon
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Off-the-job learning in cities
Abstract Cities are characterized by high skill levels and workers improve their skills through learning. This article presents novel stylized facts on learning behavior and cities. I use Japanese survey data that provide distinctively rich first-hand information about the frequency, purpose, and subject of off-the-job learning. First, people engage in learning more frequently in denser cities. Second, people in denser cities are more likely to learn to gain new employment or cultivate themselves. Third, while cities tend to facilitate learning of skills required in skill-intensive sectors, what people learn depends on the local demand for skills.
https://academic.oup.com/joeg/article/25/5/771/8110509?rss=1
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Jeffrey Lin
Alvin Murphy
4 months ago
Check out the call for papers for a Real Estate Economics Special Issue on Commercial Real Estate with guest editor Xudong An! Special-Issue conference sessions will be held at the AREUEA National Meeting in Washington, D.C., in May 2026.
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal...
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<em>Real Estate Economics</em> | AREUEA Journal | Wiley Online Library
<em>Real Estate Economics</em> is a leading journal facilitating communication between researchers and industry professionals and improving the analysis of real estate decisions.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/page/journal/15406229/call-for-papers/cre
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Jeffrey Lin
Lewis Lehe
4 months ago
in new
@findingspress.org
paper, PhD candidate shirin qiam (now at Minneapolis Met Council). uses a deep learning model and post processing pipeline that outlines surface parking lots. Tulsa has a lot, Oakland surprisingly little.
findingspress.org/article/1452...
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Jeffrey Lin
Call for student poster submissions for the AREUEA-ASSA conference, deadline November 1.
www.areuea.org/areuea-assa
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2026 AREUEA-ASSA Conference
2022 AREUEA-ASSA Conference
https://www.areuea.org/areuea-assa
4 months ago
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Jeffrey Lin
Call for submissions for AREUEA doctoral dissertation award. Submission deadline October 31. Recent PhDs who defended between July 2024 and June 2025 are eligible.
www.areuea.org/hoyt-institu...
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Hoyt Institute Doctoral Dissertation Award
Hoyt Institute Doctoral Dissertation Award Competition
https://www.areuea.org/hoyt-institute-doctoral-dissertation-award
4 months ago
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Call for submissions for AREUEA doctoral dissertation award. Submission deadline October 31. Recent PhDs who defended between July 2024 and June 2025 are eligible.
www.areuea.org/hoyt-institu...
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Hoyt Institute Doctoral Dissertation Award
Hoyt Institute Doctoral Dissertation Award Competition
https://www.areuea.org/hoyt-institute-doctoral-dissertation-award
4 months ago
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Call for student poster submissions for the AREUEA-ASSA conference, deadline November 1.
www.areuea.org/areuea-assa
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2026 AREUEA-ASSA Conference
2022 AREUEA-ASSA Conference
https://www.areuea.org/areuea-assa
4 months ago
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Jeffrey Lin
Henry G Overman
4 months ago
Thanks to everyone who came to the
@urbaneconomics.bsky.social
North American Meetings in Montreal and to all those who worked behind the scenes to make it happen. Our next meeting will be in Barcelona, 8-9 May 2026. Call for papers coming soon.
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Jeffrey Lin
Streetfilms/Clarence Eckerson Jr.
5 months ago
Very exciting! The seminal 1980 documentary "The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces" by William H. "Holly" Whyte has been RESTORED and screening in NYC this week! I wanted to honor his work and used his words in the companion book and produced this 11 years ago.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU2v...
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William “Holly” Whyte in His Own Words, “The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces” (1980)
YouTube video by Streetfilms®
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU2vVqbtRAY
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Jeffrey Lin
Stephen Redding
5 months ago
Excited to see the new Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics (Volume 6), edited jointly with Dave Donaldson come out:
www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/han...
. Fantastic set of chapters on recent advances and pointing the way to exciting further research
@treballen.bsky.social
@siepr.bsky.social
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Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics | Volume 6, Issue 1: Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics | ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier
Read the latest chapters of Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics at ScienceDirect.com, Elsevier’s leading platform of peer-reviewed scholarly literature
https://www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/handbook-of-regional-and-urban-economics/vol/6/issue/1
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Jeffrey Lin
Check out our conversation on Densely Speaking with Zach about this research from earlier this year.
@gregshill.com
open.spotify.com/episode/6HcN...
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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Check out our conversation on Densely Speaking with Zach about this research from earlier this year.
@gregshill.com
open.spotify.com/episode/6HcN...
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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Jeffrey Lin
Zach Liscow
5 months ago
🚨NEW RESULTS (w/ Slattery & Nober) - When gov't engineers retire, highway projects cost more: the engineers pay for themselves 6 times over - Improving gov’t engineer quality from the 25th to 75th percentile reduces costs by 14%, equal to 3x avg. engineer pay Paper:
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
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Some interesting ideas in this paper!
add a skeleton here at some point
5 months ago
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Jeffrey Lin
Nolan Hicks
5 months ago
"SEPTA cuts made Philly schools’ attendance tumble significantly Early district data show 63% of city schools showed an increase in late arrivals, and 54% had more students absent." --
www.inquirer.com/education/ph...
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SEPTA cuts hurt Philly schools’ attendance
Early district data show 63% of city schools showed an increase in late arrivals, and 54% had more students absent.
https://www.inquirer.com/education/philadelphia-school-district-transportation-septa-service-cuts-attendance-20250902.html
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Jeffrey Lin
Jarrett Walker
6 months ago
I wrote an unusually strongly worded thing about the transit crisis in Pennsylvania, which is coming soon to Oregon and Illinois.
humantransit.org/2025/08/the-...
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The Fall of Philadelphia — Human Transit
The Pennsylvania State Senate has decided that the transit system of America’s fifth largest city should be substantially destroyed. Similar dramas are playing out in Illinois, Oregon, and Rhode Isla...
https://humantransit.org/2025/08/the-fall-of-philadelphia.html
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Nolan Hicks
6 months ago
What's happening in Philly is heartbreaking and infuriating.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Daniel Immerwahr in the
@newyorker.com
on 1970s arsons and Bench Ansfield‘s new book (and brief mention of my paper with Ellen, Hartley and You).
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
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Did Racial Capitalism Set the Bronx on Fire?
To some, the fires lit in New York in the late seventies signalled rampant criminality; to others, rebellion. But maybe they were signs of something else entirely.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/25/born-in-flames-the-business-of-arson-and-the-remaking-of-the-american-city-bench-ansfield-book-review
6 months ago
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Daniel Immerwahr in the
@newyorker.com
on 1970s arsons and Bench Ansfield‘s new book (and brief mention of my paper with Ellen, Hartley and You).
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...
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Did Racial Capitalism Set the Bronx on Fire?
To some, the fires lit in New York in the late seventies signalled rampant criminality; to others, rebellion. But maybe they were signs of something else entirely.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/08/25/born-in-flames-the-business-of-arson-and-the-remaking-of-the-american-city-bench-ansfield-book-review
6 months ago
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Jeffrey Lin
Erika McEntarfer
6 months ago
A key challenge for BLS is adequate funding for data collection and modernization. During my tenure I tried to identify the causes. One person told me, ‘your problem is that while BLS has no enemies you also have no friends’ meaning no powerful interest groups advocating for economic data.
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Jeffrey Lin
Joshua Goodman
6 months ago
The latest JEP has an extraordinary set of papers on the economics of housing. My favorite? The one showing that most people incorrectly believe that increasing housing supply won't lower housing costs. Subsidizing home-buying is popular even though it raises costs. 🤦
www.aeaweb.org/issues/814
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Jeffrey Lin
Michael Wiebe
6 months ago
Interesting new essay on rising housing costs in the Journal of Economic Perspectives:
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Jeffrey Lin
kottke.org
6 months ago
The Only Time Prince & Miles Davis Jammed Together Onstage: Watch the New Year’s Eve, 1987 Concert.
[openculture.com]
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The Only Time Prince & Miles Davis Jammed Together Onstage: Watch the New Year’s Eve, 1987 Concert
A too-precious genre of internet meme depicts departed public figures who did not know each other in life meeting in heaven with hugs, high-fives, and wincingly earnest exchanges.
https://www.openculture.com/2025/08/the-only-time-prince-miles-davis-jammed-together-onstage-1987.html
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Jeffrey Lin
Lars Vilhuber
6 months ago
isi-web.org/statement/st...
#bls
#statistics
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Statement about dismissal of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in the United States | The International Statistical Institute
The ISI expresses its deep concern regarding the reported dismissal of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer in the United States.
https://isi-web.org/statement/statement-about-dismissal-bureau-labor-statistics-bls-commissioner-erika-mcentarfer
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Jeffrey Lin
Michael Clemens
6 months ago
Please read this piece. “Though I am a congenital optimist, for the first time I believe that if the behavior that this administration has exhibited in just its first six months continues and is amplified for its full four years, the America you know will be gone.” The opposite of Conservatism.
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Opinion | The America We Knew Is Rapidly Slipping Away
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/04/opinion/columnists/friedman-trump-labor-firing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.b08.PtTK.iFdyuxZJAJRD&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
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Jeffrey Lin
COPAFS
7 months ago
AEA Statement on Dismissal of BLS Comm. "The independence of the federal statistical agencies is essential to the proper functioning of a modern economy. Accurate, timely, and impartial statistics are the foundation upon which households, businesses, and policymakers make critical decisions."
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Jeffrey Lin
Julia Coronado
7 months ago
NABE strongly condemns the baseless removal of BLS Commissioner McEntarfer & the unfounded accusations leveled against the work of the agency. This unprecedented attack on the US statistical system threatens the long-standing credibility of our data
files.constantcontact.com/668faa28001/...
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Jeffrey Lin
Lars Vilhuber
7 months ago
With government statistics, it's pretty simple. If you liked the February, March, and April numbers, then you have to accept all the next ones, too. They are produced in the exact same way, it's what the computer spits out, based on the inputs provided. You do not get to cherry pick your stats.
add a skeleton here at some point
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Jeffrey Lin
Aaron Sojourner
7 months ago
What to make of POTUS's attempt to fire the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)? Let's run down what knowledgable people are saying...
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Jeffrey Lin
Erica Groshen
7 months ago
The Friends of
#BLS
protest the firing of BLS Commissioner Erika McEntarfer. The rationale for firing her is without merit and undermines the credibility of federal economic statistics that are a cornerstone of intelligent economic decision-making by businesses, families, and policymakers.
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Jeffrey Lin
Steve Liesman
7 months ago
“The National Association for Business Economics (NABE) strongly condemns the removal of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Commissioner Erika McEntarfer and the unfounded accusations leveled against the work of the agency… A totally apolitical group.
files.constantcontact.com/668faa28001/...
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https://files.constantcontact.com/668faa28001/7d1189d3-c097-49c4-aee6-8e9ea29cc985.pdf
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Jeffrey Lin
Sandile Hlatshwayo
7 months ago
Erika McEntarfer is brilliant and among the best examples of a deeply committed and consistently objective public servant. She’s earned the respect and trust of everyone who’s had the honor to work with her, including me.
#EconSky
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Jeffrey Lin
Trevon Logan
7 months ago
Every time I teach American economic history I stress that accurate macroeconomic data is critical for our knowledge of the economy. I also tell them that we have a very high standard of data quality in our modern federal statistics. I may no longer be in a position to say this. Absolutely terrible!
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Bobby Kogan
7 months ago
Trump’s first BLS Commissioner, Bill Beach, calls today’s firing groundless and dangerous.
www.friendsofbls.org/updates/2025...
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Jeffrey Lin
Bitsy Perlman
about 1 year ago
Everyone who helps the creation of meaningful accurate data for the good of the public: I admire your service and appreciate you ❤️🧡🤍🩷❤️
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Jeffrey Lin
Michael R Strain
7 months ago
Dr. Erika McEntarfer has devoted her career to public service. She has conducted herself as BLS Commissioner with great integrity. There is no evidence whatsoever that BLS data are politically biased.
#econsky
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Jed Kolko
7 months ago
For six months, I've said that threats to economic data have been more collateral damage than intentional harm. No longer. Firing the head of the BLS is five-alarm intentional harm to the integrity of US economic data and the entire statistical system.
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Catch Dan’s presentation yesterday of our paper on the NBER stream (around 3:15):
www.youtube.com/live/FdBUD7W...
add a skeleton here at some point
7 months ago
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Watch Vitaly’s presentation of our paper at the NBER SI (timestamp 2:10):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWUy...
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Innovation (PRINN), NBER Summer Institute
YouTube video by NBER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWUylUEl_es&t=7800s
7 months ago
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