Steve Cicala

Leah Libresco Sargeant ® @LeahLibresco "Moderna's CEO announced the company will no longer invest in new Phase 3 vaccine trials for infectious diseases: 'You cannot make a return on investment if you don't have access to the U.S. market.' Vaccines for Epstein-Barr virus, herpes, and shingles have been shelved."

There needs to be some serious accountability for the colossal harm to life these absolute demons have caused, and will cause. Life in prison is the moderate option.

Deterrence is Democrats’ only weapon, and they are shockingly unwilling/incapable to wield it.

A power purchase agreement is a financial contract with the *option* to generate the power yourself. You only exercise that option when your plant is cheaper than the wholesale price.

Not a lot of coal plants meet that criterion.

So it's just another Trump grift, sending taxpayer money to owners.

If you’re reporting on the Trump administration’s order to buy coal:

Not so fast. If I am a coal fired power plant with a contract at $50/MWh, and it costs me $40 to produce, I don’t just make $10.

If power markets are at $25/MWh, I buy the power from the market, and don’t generate at all.

If only there were an institution that had both a renowned National Opinion Research Center AND a well-funded Forum dedicated to promoting the understanding, practice, and advancement of free and open discourse.

They could really bolster their credibility while Gallup complies in advance.

How come?

Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics of Education in Medford, for Tufts University Exciting opportunity in Medford, for Tufts University as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Economics of...

Postdoc posting: Economics of education at Tufts with my colleague Elizabeth Setren.

main.hercjobs.org/jobs/2203818...

The Weekly Show with Jon Ste... • 4h X Jon noticed some anger from economists in the comments last week. He gets into that and so much more with the Chief Economist of American Compass @oren_cass on a new episode tomorrow. #theweeklyshow #jonstewart #politics THE WEEKLY SHOW

“We noticed some anger from doctors last week. That’s why we invited RFK Jr. to talk about vaccines”

Tenured faculty: Academic publishing is dead.

Also tenured faculty: I don't think this candidate has published enough for tenure. I don't know how to evaluate this other stuff, why did they spend time on it?

Submissions for the NBER Regulation conference are due today!

Resistance erupts over ICE's warehouse buying spree DHS has scouted dozens of locations to retrofit into ICE detention centers.

We are going to need that detention capacity when it’s time for accountability.

www.axios.com/2026/02/01/i...

Without question the most consistently impressive people I met at @harvard.edu were the mid-career soldiers at @harvardkennedy.bsky.social

$20 million gift launches lab at Harris School to advance field of algorithmic public policy Gift from Thomas and Susan Dunn supports creation of the Bike Shop @UChicago, which aims to shape AI development and build scalable solutions to pressing societal problems

Wow, a great gift!

I recently read some work that applies AI tools to classify data from textbooks and thought this is a cool and important area at the intersection of public policy and behavioral science. A field to invest in.

news.uchicago.edu/story/20-mil...

So nice to see this in print! My paper on green trade policy, deforestation, and palm oil. 🌲🌳

Penn station should be razed and naming it after Donald Trump will surely accomplish that goal.

So count me in favor.

This is true. I’ve had a simple renewal application before DHS pending review for like four months.

YouTube video by Forbes Breaking News 'Do You Recognize That Quote?': Sean Casten Grills Scott Bessent On Previous Comments On Tariffs

It's so easy to drag on Congress. There are so many demonstrable buffoons. They get so little done.

What person of any talent would want to run for Congress?

Well @seancasten.bsky.social is a serious person, and here he shows the value of basic competence in gov.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNqp...

That’s a damn shame.

Will @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social next discourage @schumer.senate.gov from retiring?

This is tremendous. Take the time to watch it.

Great tip!

New turbine orders have 2030 delivery dates, so if you "don't have visibility" for demand in 2030, I've got to wonder what you're really doing.

My guess is this is a press release for an audience of 1.

Dems could help by telegraphing that it's going to be a lot harder to run gas in 2030.

Professional athletes are being advised not to leave the hotel or go anywhere without their passports while visiting Minnesota.

This is not a country that can safely host international events like the World Cup.

Boycotting is not even a political question anymore. It is a basic issue of safety.

Interacted with Warsh just a bit in 2005-2006 when he was at NEC and I was a lowly staff economist at CEA. How do I put this diplomatically? Let’s just say the careful and informed thinking gap between me and Nobel Prize winner Ben Bernanke (my boss at CEA) felt much smaller.

This is a word salad heavily dressed in lies.

“Potential” and the Gender Promotion Gap† By Alan Benson, Danielle Li, and Kelly Shue* We show that subjective assessments of employee “potential” contribute to gender gaps in promotion and pay. Using data on 29,809 management-track employees from a large retail chain, we find that women receive substantially lower potential ratings despite receiving higher performance ratings. Differences in potential ratings account for approximately half of the gender promotion gap. Women’s lower potential ratings do not reflect accurate forecasts of future performance: Women subsequently outperform male colleagues, both on average and on the margin of promotion. We highlight two mechanisms driving the gender potential gap: strategic retention and stereotyping. (JEL J16, J31, J71, L81, M12, M51)

"...women receive substantially lower potential ratings despite receiving higher performance ratings... lower potential ratings do not reflect accurate forecasts of future performance: Women subsequently outperform male colleagues..."
pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...

Calling the Gestapo “the Gestapo” is causing the Gestapo to act like the Gestapo.

This is the crucial part. Republicans knew how to use their minority power. Democrats appear to be frittering it away.

Reminder that, as of the latest reports, Liam Ramos is still in prison in Texas - now for 5 days.

His parents are legal asylum seekers with no criminal record.