Ukrainian scientists release rare underwater footage of penguins in Antarctica.

Martin Peterson's creative response to being banned from teaching Plato (shared with his permission).

Since Jan 1 2025, which feels like four trillion years ago, research has been shared on here 5 million whole-ass times. Bluesky recently passed 2 billion posts IN TOTAL. So 0.25% of the entire site's traffic was citations to research. That is actually massively high. Is it? Yes. Here's why.

Senate is voting NOW on this war powers resolution to block Trump from using military force "within or against Venezuela" without approval from Congress. Led by Kaine, endorsed by Rand Paul, Schiff and Schumer. Needs a simple majority to pass. www.kaine.senate.gov/imo/media/do...

I really don’t understand the concept of “bullshit jobs”. People want to spend their money on goods and services, you need those supposedly-BS jobs to produce those goods and services.

What is just crazy about this, aside from the need for this statement at all, is that Greenland already IS in the US sphere of influence. It's far cheaper for the US, in material, security, and reputational terms, to have Denmark continue administering Greenland and work within NATO on security.

1998: Age of Empires II (okay, 1999, but let's gloss over that) Now: Age of Empires II Definitive Edition

I have a new paper w Andrea Prat & Jake Spitz. We show that Republican appointed Supreme Court Justices vote in favor of the richer party by over 70% today, as compared to D’s at 30%. In the 1950s and both were at 50%. This strong trend may contribute to rising inequality. www.nber.org/papers/w34643

The Battle of Stones River concluded #otd in 1863. Braxton Bragg's Confederates attacked enemy positions east of the river but Union artillery inflicted heavy losses; Bragg withdrew the following day. Over 30% of all troops engaged were killed, wounded, or captured/missing.

France has selected the successor to its ageing Boeing E-3F fleet: Saab’s GlobalEye—an increasingly “European” solution that reduces (without fully eliminating) France’s reliance on Washington. www.itamilradar.com/2026/01/01/f...

Is Donald Trump a friend or an enemy of Europe? 48% of Europeans think he is an enemy, only 10% say he is a friend. Only in Poland, more people think he is a friend, rather than an enemy.

Happy new year from GMT+1!

Wichtig: Morgen letzte Chance einen dreiseitigen LinkedIn-Jahresrückblick über die eigenen Erfolge zu posten

One of the small innovations I’m grateful for is the ability to autobuy ETFs every day, in any amount. This incorporates a bunch of other changes in securities markets (index funds, commission-free trading, fractional trading) and makes it easy to slowly accumulate shares of economic growth.

The 2025 Headline of the Year Nominees 🧵

“EU, I hate to bring this up, because I know you’ve already got a lot on you. But… we all thought this was supposed to be the year you could finally start growing..”

Right, I am off work (yes some of us "soldiered" on during Christmas), so got some time to put down coherent thoughts on a range of events. First of all, the Trumpian battleship. Which as part of Trump's "Golden Fleet" even got its (her) own website. 🧵 www.goldenfleet.navy.mil

Actual 2025 tariff rates are, to date, far less than statutory rates, but the costs of the tariffs are mostly borne by the US – estimated tariff pass-through to US prices in 2025 is 94%. Tariffs on imports act like a 1 to 2pp tax on US manufacturing. brentneiman.com/research/GN2...

It’s almost like history is complex and refuses to be boiled down to simple talking points used as proof for something being inevitable ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Merry Christmas!

You know how all books on battleships have a few pages on Sovetsky Soyuz and H-39, with phrases like ”construction was plagued with difficulties”, ”technical challenges with the revolutionary [insert system] meant progress was slow”, and ”the partially complete hull was broken up”? This is it.

With what looks like a VLS and a single gun, my theory is: The US Navy figured out that if they make the ship huuuuge and name it after Trump, they can get CG(X) rolling again.

McGill is accepting applications of top international researchers for what are called Impact+ chairs. These are intended for outstanding researchers currently working and residing abroad and involve some real funding. Application deadline January 26th. www.mcgill.ca/provost/acad...

From Germany to Japan and Argentina to Ukraine, editors dedicated themselves to recording and preserving the world’s knowledge, ensuring that it is accurate, neutral and well sourced. Without their collective efforts, much of what shapes our world today would be lost.

Wow, Bodo #Ramelow hat mich tatsächlich geblockt, weil ich ihn darauf aufmerksam gemacht habe, dass #Russland sich ja einfach zurückziehen könnte. Soviel zum Thema evidence-based policy making und verständigungsorientiertem Dialog.

"For technical subjects, timed and invigilated exams remain a fair and reliable way to assess essential skills as part of a mixed assessment strategy in economics degrees." Preach! Timely statement by the RES HoD Conference res.org.uk/res-chude-st...

🚨 History buffs of the Holy Roman Empire: We built an app to visualize rulers' itineraries between 919 and 1519 based on the Regesta Imperii. Thank you @albertwendsjo.bsky.social for all the help! Explore here: carlmc.shinyapps.io/hre-itinerar... Please let us know of any issues and feedback!

Indeed! Unsurprisingly, there is no boom in manufacturing jobs in the US. Tariffs are still a bad idea. "Where Are Those Manufacturing Jobs?" "Remember when tariffs were supposed to produce a U.S. manufacturing boom? It hasn’t happened." www.wsj.com/opinion/jobs...

Calculating the mean center of population is a fun geospatial exercise. Repeating this exercise for 230 years worth of US Census data clearly shows the westward march of population expansion throughout US post-Columbus history. Wonder when the pendulum might swing back east…

New at JIE: "Economic diversity and the resilience of cities" by François de Soyres, Simon Fuchs, Illenin O. Kondo, Helene Maghin

"We welcome PhDs to a round table table discussion from assistant professors who were recently on the job market"

Macro at LSE is hiring predocs for September 2025! Come and work in the best city in the world, on cutting edge macro with Ben Moll, Ricardo Reis, Joe Hazell, Ethan Ilzetzki, and me. Past predocs have gone to places like Harvard, LSE and Northwestern. t.co/2RrUaQl6Pk #econ_ra #EconSky

Impact, richtig gemacht.

www.zeit.de/wirtschaft/2... Zivis für alle! Bestimmt finden sich auch in der Gastronomie, im Hochschulwesen, in der Industrie, bei der Anwaltskammer und beim Verband der Klangschalentherapeuten noch Argumente, warum man selbst sicherheitsrelevant ist und unbedingt günstige Arbeitskräfte braucht...

Even more tragic/ironic saying this at the party conference of probably the biggest transatlanticist germany ever had

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on the end of the Pax Americana, yesterday in Munich, Germany. “Dear friends, the decades of the Pax Americana are largely over for us in Europe, and for us in Germany, as well. It no longer exists as we know it. And nostalgia won’t change that.

The strong winds of a “back to basics” movement are blowing, between this trend and the book reading complaint (and the grade inflation one, and the testing one, and the accountability…). It’s coming.

move over, guitar george

Our paper with @fcinnio.bsky.social @hornungerik.bsky.social “Flow of ideas: Economic societies and the rise of useful knowledge” is out in print @theeconjournal.bsky.social 🚨🚨🚨 In it, we investigate the effect of knowledge sharing societies from the 18th century on long-run innovation. Read on ->

The Roman shipwreck at Comacchio, Italy, is over 21 m long and 5.62 m wide. It was discovered in 1980 during the maintenance of a drainage canal. The vessel was loaded with amphorae, lead ingots, and boxwood logs. It dates to the 1st c. BC. 📷Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici Emilia Romagna 🏺

NEW DATA: Where the teens are YouTube 92% TikTok 68% Instagram 63% Snapchat 55% Facebook 31% (down from 71%) WhatsApp 24% Reddit 17% X 16% (down from 33%) https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2025/12/09/teens-social-media-and-ai-chatbots-2025/

Donate now ➡️ donate.wikipedia25.org #Wikipedia25

It's happening! Canada launched two programs to recruit international researchers. Canada Impact+ Research Chairs (1 million/yr for 8 yrs +) Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders. I will do my best to facilitate the process for those interested. Hit me up. www.canada.ca/en/impact-pl...

Awesome view from my office: sunset over Lake Constance 😍