Jack Calland

Incredible social science & data use here.

The immediate story is about how the opioid epidemic (pushed by pharma in high cancer areas), resulted in major opioid death & economic hardship which - through various media/political channels - resulted in a sustained rise in support for the Republicans

And then there’s the story about Alex Karp’s not-at-all-weird interview (for lack of a better word) with Oswald Mosley’s grandson for a senior position at Palantir.

Excited to post the latest version of my JMP: The female labor supply constraints of spousal jealousy bit.ly/4nn9apn

I use two field experiments to study the role of spousal jealousy in constraining married women’s employment. More below 👇:

ADAM ABOOBAKER: Lower inflation target — corporate influence or economic strategy? The reasoning behind this recent policy shift is hard to follow and warrants reversal

Excellent critique of the new inflation target by @adamaboobaker.bsky.social. There is simply no historical precedent for low inflation delivering growth.

www.businessday.co.za/opinion/2025...

Surely the only time Fanon has been cited in an econ top 5? (Akerlof & Kranton, 2000, QJE)

Larry Summers' downfall is a long time coming. Don't forget that in 1991, he supported dumping toxic waste on Africa's poorest countries – "under-populated countries in Africa are vastly underpolluted". I hope I never see that ghoul's name or ugly face ever again.

When every child is stunted, no child Is? How local norms distort perceptions of growth: Guest post by Sneha Nimmagadda

In today's job market post, Sneha Nimmagadda shows in India that mothers misperceive how stunted their kids are, because so many other kids around are also stunted. Correcting this perception changes beliefs and feeding practices, increasing weight for age blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

BBC Gives Israeli Deaths 33 Times More Coverage, New Study Reveals | Novara Media An analysis of over 35,000 broadcast segments and articles found that the BBC referenced the 7 October attacks in at least 40% of its coverage - but only 0.5% of articles referenced Israel’s decades o...

Yes, absolutely there is an impartiality crisis at the BBC. But it's not the one the billionaire media insists it is. novaramedia.com/2025/06/16/b...

Poor old Nick just wants real wage increases... Yeah, post-2019 Tory policies have just completely hamstrung the new govt in so many ways. There's a reason it's been 50 years since the last basic income rate rise.

I take your point that the left's strongest voices focus on wealth, maybe too optimistically, and could make a stronger case for a more broadly felt "higher costs, higher benefits" welfare state. But this is (understandably) tactical!

Taxing choices: Taking the public’s temperature ahead of the budget | IPPR Only history will reveal what the current chancellor, Rachel Reeves’, pre-budget routine looks like. But whatever it is, it will now be in full flow. With

The guy I meant is the "left wing voter" who doesn't want to pay more tax, not Gary or Zack. ("Nick, 30" is literally made up by the right, as you say.) That view is more nuanced: if tax must be raised, it must be raised fairly, which means starting with the wealthiest (as IPPR show here).

That said, I enjoyed this pithy summary of the problem of governing by bond market: "Voters might not like her but the gilt market does. Vote Labour!"

For instance, you could tax wealth or luxury purchases more instead of raising VAT for everyone (i.e. tax the Aston Martin but not groceries).

The idea that the left hates tax more than the right is fiction. Labour is appealing to the tax-hating majority, who voted for it.

You've made up a guy to get mad at. No one likes paying tax, so it's reasonable to ask for tax to be fair. Council tax is regressive and wealth is taxed far less than work. The left would be much happier with broad income tax increases if the system is fairer overall.

Chartbook 414: Slouching towards (Red-Green) utopia. Voicing the muted politics of China's renewable energy revolution. It can’t be said too often.

Tooze on China’s “spectacular achievement of development” – going from power poverty to dirty-power rich and now to clean-power rich in under 30 years. adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...

Looks like a great project. I'd love to see something similar but aimed at crime and safety in South Africa – how tackling poverty and inequality can make us all safer from crime.

There is no need for a moral panic about the UK's welfare system.

Far from perfect but recent discourse is nuts

Spending is controlled, not spiralling

Worklessness is near record lows

My column www.ft.com/content/ee67...

It's been a great pleasure working with Ntuthuko for most of my time at J-PAL. A truly kind, smart, and diligent person –– and a brilliant footballer! All the best mate. ❤️

Colleagues, I know it's cold in Joburg, but do we really need the AC at 30°?

Neat summary of global incomes relative to the US since 1980 in this blog by Robert Wade: blogs.lse.ac.uk/internationa...

How interest rate caps increased the provision of credit to firms in Bangladesh A cap on corporate loan interest rates in Bangladesh led to an increase in lending–without rationing credit to riskier borrowers–indicating banks have substantial upfront market power. What are the im...

A cap on interest rates for business loans increased the provision of credit to firms in Bangladesh:

voxdev.org/topic/macroe...

The irony really is lost on these guys huh

Why (almost) everything I learnt on social media about the Buffelsfontein mine tragedy (including that the starving miners were not fully human) turned out to be wrong tinyurl.com/29urrdjv

Fascinating paper by Claudia Goldin on drivers of low fertility in advanced economies.

Countries where economic progress outstrips social progress (in particular, gender equality in household division of labour) see the most rapid falls in fertility..

www.nber.org/papers/w33311

This is clever: The fact that rainfall is a plausible instrumental variable for many different causal stories, means that it is not a good instrumental variable for any of them. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

A great way to end the year 🎉

My paper, co-authored w/ Haroon Bhorat, on the labour market effects of SA’s🇿🇦 SRD grant is now published in World Development.

We began this work back in 2020. So happy it found a good home!

Full (OA) paper here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

#EconSky

Christmas lunch Gantt is locked and loaded

Ads in the Gmail inbox is a devastating development

Not to be dramatic, but doing the GRE has been one of the most agonising experiences of my career

South Africa’s poverty relief grant should be increased rather than paid to be more people – economists explain why South Africa’s social relief grant has enabled recipients to search for work or start small businesses.

CSAE's Kate Orkin and Brynde Kreft et al. discuss adapting South Africa’s SRD grant for poverty and unemployment reduction in @africa.theconversation.com 👇

📚Read the SA-TIED working paper: sa-tied.wider.unu.edu/sites/defaul...

theconversation.com/south-africa...