Marcos Vera-Hernandez

Very interesting analysis by @jburnmurdoch.ft.com.

It is (I think) a priori surprising that the graduate premium has held up so well in other countries during growth in participation.

www.ft.com/content/649d...

When they choose which scientists to collaborate with, cite or work with as peer-reviewers or editors, they still "pick people they know", she said. Her message is simple: "Don't pick your mates." "More diverse voices being published in research literature leads to more diverse collaborations [between the west and Asia, and will lead to better science, better drugs,’ she said. Dhand cited a study from UK Research and Innovation showing that when British scientists collaborate with their Indian counterparts, their joint research ends up having a greater score for its impact than either nationality achieves independently. "Both were benefiting", she said.

Sharp argument from the chief scientific officer at @nature.com that promoting diversity in science is needed to get over misperceptions about where great research is happening and a tendency amongst some to just collaborate with ‘your mates’
www.thetimes.com/article/e5ee...

The Council for Science & Technology which advises the PM is looking for a new member ‘with social & behavioural science expertise’. Great opportunity to bring a social science perspective to the heart of policymaking. Apply by 19 Jan
apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/roles/9075

A gentle reminder that the deadline to submit your paper to the 2nd Workshop of the Global Health Economics Working Group is approaching (1 Dec). More information about the conference and how to submit: ⬇️ @bancalaria.bsky.social @mylene-lagarde.bsky.social @radhikajain.bsky.social

ESE-RGHI-GHE Workshop on Health Economics in LMICs 2026 The workshop will foster in-depth discussions, bringing together development economists and health researchers from across the globe.

Do you have a paper on the economics of health in lower-and-middle income countries? Submit it to the 2nd Workshop of the Global Health Economics WG in Rotterdam 4-5 June 2026. Submit at tinyurl.com/ywcwz7ba by 1 Dec. Special treat: keynote by @martinabjorkman.bsky.social

Thank you David!

Weekly links October 17: statistical power, good descriptives, nice graphs, publishing metrics, and more…

This week's links include a mini-symposium on power calculations, what makes for good descriptive work, publishing tips for econometrics, making nice dot charts, and more... blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

this has a good overview of the recent Fiscal Studies symposium to which @papiteide.bsky.social and I contributed. Our paper here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/..., more on the symposium here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14755890...

and my article with @brendonmcconnell.bsky.social compiles formulae for covariates, panel data, and uneven designs, and we discuss simulation and multiple hypothesis testing. All provided with spreadsheets, and examples of STATA code. Many thanks to Monica Costa Dias for making it possible! (3/3)

@dmckenzie.bsky.social's paper (tinyurl.com/43pv4ppd) offers practical tips to improve power at the design and analysis stage, read it not to leave power on the table! Brandon Hauser and Mauricio Olivares' paper discuss easy adjustments which are required using randomisation inference, (2/3)

Fiscal Studies | IFS Public Economics Journal | Wiley Online Library Click on the title to browse this journal

Are you preparing a randomized controlled trial? Don't miss a special symposium of Fiscal Studies (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1475...) with three articles on power and sample size calculations. (1/3) @theifs.bsky.social

Jointly organised with Rotterdam Global Health Initiative and Erasmus School of Economics.
@radhikajain.bsky.social l @bancalaria.bsky.social @mylene-lagarde.bsky.social (2/2)

ESE-RGHI-GHE Workshop on Health Economics in LMICs 2026 The workshop will foster in-depth discussions, bringing together development economists and health researchers from across the globe.

Do you have a paper on the economics of health in lower-and-middle income countries? Submit it to the 2nd Workshop of the Global Health Economics WG in Rotterdam 4-5 June 2026. Submit at tinyurl.com/ywcwz7ba by 1 Dec. Special treat: keynote by @martinabjorkman.bsky.social

After the success of the first conference, the submission link for the second is already open tinyurl.com/ywcwz7ba. Submit by Dec 1. Workshop in Rotterdam 4-5 June 2026, jointly organised with Rotterdam Global Health Initiative and Erasmus School of Economics.

A new future for universities: how can universities help support national renewal and local pride? it Monday 29 September • 15:15 - 16:15pm ® Sherwood Room 6, ACC Liverpool

If you are interested in universities policy I’ll be on a panel discussing this with @greenmirandahere.bsky.social @pollymackenzie.bsky.social @papiteide.bsky.social & Michael Spence on Monday 3.15pm in Liverpool

National renewal discussion at the labour party conference.

Marcos Vera-Hernández @papiteide.bsky.social will share his Stone Centre funded research at the Labour party conference with FT's @greenmirandahere.bsky.social, UAL's @pollymackenzie.bsky.social, TBA's @hetanshah.bsky.social, & @ucl.ac.uk's Michael Spence. Discover his research: bit.ly/mvhinfo

Institute for Government

Some good jobs here. The nice folk at @instituteforgovernment.org.uk are looking for Exec Directors for Research & Innovation, and for Impact & Influence, as well as a Director of IfG Academy. You’d work with @drhannahwhite.bsky.social and her excellent team
micro.green-park.co.uk/ifg/

Chile’s 1981 reform shifted pensions from DB → DC. Workers already employed were compensated for pre-reform contributions, creating a policy-driven kink in cohort-level pension wealth. We exploit this kink with a Regression Kink Design (RKD) to identify the causal effect on health investments.

Would you take better care of your health today if you knew you’d be richer in retirement? We study Chile’s 1981 pension reform with a fuzzy Regression Kink Design on linked admin + household panel data. Answer: yes. Preventive care rises (healthy behaviours modestly), and old-age mortality falls.

Calling Econ PhD candidates:

Applications open: Nuffield Postdoctoral Research Fellowships: econjobmarket.org/positions/11...
Deadline: September 30

Recent fellows include Claudia Noack and Christophe Gaillac --- tough acts to follow. If you're ready for a top-tier postdoc, please apply!

Our Local Projections Difference-in-Differences (LP-DiD) paper is out in the Journal of Applied Econometrics.

LP-DiD is a convenient, flexible and computationally fast framework for estimating DiD using simple well-specified regressions....

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📢 Pre-doc RA position at LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance! Join the Education & Skills programme led by Prof Sandra McNally. Work with large UK education datasets (e.g. NPD, LEO). Strong Stata skills & interest in policy a must. Apply by Aug 24 👉 ow.ly/bpN450WrLq4

Call for papers for the Central Bank of Colombia Annual Conference (9-10 Oct, Pereira), this year dedicated to health economics. Deadline for subs. 14 July. Keynote speakers (FGV), Jonathan Skinner (Dartmouth), and myself. redinvestigadores.org/app/JavaBrid... Funding provided for accepted papers.

And the other is to run @raeng.org.uk - the Royal Academy of Engineering
www.russellreynolds.com/en/executive...

This series by @leightjessica.bsky.social is a nice way of finding out about lots of new work in development & it is great to see someone using these platforms to celebrate others.

YouTube video by CORE Econ Simon Johnson: How do good institutions influence economic growth?

We're delighted to share the first of our new Economist In Action videos. @simonhrjohnson.bsky.social explains how to find out whether rich countries have good institutions because they are rich, or whether they are rich because their institutions are good.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=n91H...

Closing a fantastic IFS-ADBI-GHE Health Economics in LMICs workshop 🔝A huge thank you to all of you who joined us in London @theifs.bsky.social @papiteide.bsky.social

We are delighted to share the program for the IFS-ADBI-GHE Workshop on Health Economics in LMICs 2025! We are looking forward to a fantastic couple of days @theifs.bsky.social @adb.org @papiteide.bsky.social

Research Associate in Health Economics:Oxford Road

The Manchester Centre for Health Economics has three new Research Associate positions in Health Economics (£37,174 - £41,671 p/a). These are 24-month fixed-term contracts from July 2025 to June 2027.

For full details and to apply, visit
www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

Join @ucleconomics.bsky.social this May for this year's annual Gorman Lecture and Conference 2025.

Find out more about this year's programme and book your tickets ⬇️