W. Carson Byrd

Growing up Different(ly than Last Time We Asked): Social Status and Changing Reports of Childhood Income Rank - Social Indicators Research How we remember our past can be shaped by the realities of our present. This study examines how changes to present circumstances influence retrospective reports of family income rank at age 16. While retrospective survey data can be used to assess the long-term effects of childhood conditions, present-day circumstances may “anchor” memories, causing shifts in how individuals recall and report past experiences. Using panel data from the 2006–2014 General Social Surveys (8,602 observations from 2,883 individuals in the United States), we analyze how changes in objective and subjective indicators of current social status—income, financial satisfaction, and perceived income relative to others—are associated with changes in reports of childhood income rank, and how this varies by sex and race/ethnicity. Fixed-effects models reveal no significant association between changes in income and in childhood income rank. However, changes in subjective measures of social status show contrasting effects, as increases in current financial satisfaction are associated with decreases in childhood income rank, but increases in current perceived relative income are associated with increases in childhood income rank. We argue these opposing effects follow from theories of anchoring in recall bias. We further find these effects are stronger among males but are consistent across racial/ethnic groups. This demographic heterogeneity suggests that recall bias is not evenly distributed across the population and has important implications for how different groups perceive their own pasts. Our findings further highlight the malleability of retrospective perceptions and their sensitivity to current social conditions, offering methodological insights into survey reliability and recall bias.

The GSS asked the same people about their childhood income rank three different times. 56% changed their answer, even though what was trying to be measured couldn’t change! We dig into this in a new article at @socialindicators.bsky.social. 



doi.org/10.1007/s112...

🧵👇 (1/5)

Very excited to have this launched.

Who Rides Out the Storm? The Immediate Post-College Transition and its Role in Socioeconomic Earnings Gaps 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...

A new NBER working paper by @jscottclayton.bsky.social and colleagues shows that about two-thirds of the unexplained gap in post-college earnings by family income may be due to challenges in finding that first job. Family connections and resources matter.

NEW: These are all the Education Dept. offices that staffers and managers say have been impacted by layoffs since Friday, according to the union for the agency’s employees.

They include workers that supported HBCUs, tribal colleges, charter schools, civil rights reviews, special ed & more.

After 35 years at UT Austin, I hardly recognize my university | Opinion What was once a beacon of access and discovery is now fighting for its soul and mission as political attacks upend norms, rules and rights, Lisa L. Moore writes.

After 35 years at UT Austin, I hardly recognize my university | @austinstatesman.bsky.social

What was once a beacon of access and discovery is now fighting for its soul and mission as political attacks upend norms, rules and rights

www.statesman.com/opinion/colu...

The Cultural Devaluation of Feminized Work: The Evolution of U.S. Occupational Prestige and Gender Typing in Linguistic Representations, 1900 to 2019 - Wenhao Jiang, 2025 Previous research on occupational devaluation typically evaluates the potential wage declines associated with a significant inflow of women into an occupation; ...

"an occupation’s general prestige and perceived potency (but not its moral standing) declines when it becomes increasingly stereotyped as female" journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Black Unemployment Is Surging Again. This Time Is Different.

Attacks on the federal workforce are also attacks on Black workers, who are overrepresented in the public sector.

Black unemployment is 7.5%. I'm reminded of Coates' observation that Black Americans regularly experience conditions that would be considered a crisis if whites faced them.

Trump Administration Will Rehire Scores of Experts Fired in Error

New reporting: many apparently fired at CDC in 'error'. This is a failure by design given that the admin does not care about fulfilling agency missions. This is the kind of error that should have political consequences.

Unserious people cause real-world harm.

🎁
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/h...

Abstracts due December 1

I've been saying this exact thing in talks. They are breaking things that aren't easy to fix. And in some cases, like civil rights, destroying a legacy that took a couple of centuries to build, and don't have a ton of buy-in from dems, even if they get power back.

They know they won't be in power forever. So, they're breaking as much as they can right now, in the hope that whoever follows them won't be able to put it all back together.

UNC ends Black Student Movement's 52-year 'co-ownership' of Upendo Lounge BSM President Adam Sherif said administrators cited new federal guidelines that instruct all federally funded entities to ensure they are not engaging in "discriminatory practices, including those lab...

www.dailytarheel.com/article/e9c7...

**always follow the money**
PE firm behind for-profit universities using its WH influence to handwrite terms that will eviscerate, hamstring and control its own competitors in higher ed…and NY Times giving space to the CEO to come out and admit this influence in a pro-Compact piece

Private equity gets its toothhold into firms through economic squeezing, devalues them, then breaks them into parts to sell off. This compact is the squeeze that will simultaneously advantage for-profit ed *and* make it easier to PE-ify non-profit ed. The ideological component is a means to an end.

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Memorandum & Order – #90 in Association of American Universities v. Department of Defense (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-11740) – CourtListener.com Memorandum & Order

New: Judge Murphy vacates DoD's 15% indirect cost plan, adding to court losses for DOE, NSF, and NIH.

www.courtlistener.com/docket/70552...

Here's a snippet from the MIT president's letter to ED

The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

More of this. Signing this authoritarian devil’s bargain would betray higher education’s independence and the pursuit of knowledge.

'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

Journals and publishers crack down on research from open health data sets PLOS, Frontiers, and others announce policies trying to stem the tide of suspect research

"Frontiers has announced a similar change, requiring editors to automatically reject papers that use public health data sets without some kind of “external validation.” www.science.org/content/arti...

UNC schools of data science and information science to merge, forming unnamed ‘School of AI’ SDSS Dean Stanley Ahalt will be made dean of the new school while SILS Dean Jeffrey Bardzell will stand as the University’s Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer and Vice Provost for AI.

Hey, this sucks. Like... a lot. 📚

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UNC schools of data science and information science to merge, forming unnamed ‘School of AI’

www.dailytarheel.com/article/univ...

The Edge of Space-Time by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein: 9780593701683 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books A fresh, charming, socially conscious tour of the mysteries of space-time, from the award-winning author of The Disordered Cosmos In her highly acclaimed debut, distinguished cosmologist and particle...

Drake lost that rap battle so badly that I wrote about it in my book about SPACE-TIME

A rap battle loss of literally cosmological proportions

Find out how by preordering a copy!!

Indicting political opponents & critics because they are political opponents & critics is terrifying.

It's completely inconsistent with the rule of law & democracy.

It should scare everyone - and (hopefully) will get people to realize that we all need to stand against this.

Trump Fires Black Officials From an Overwhelmingly White Administration

It is simply accurate to call this regime segregationist.

Job posting! OU Sociology is looking to hire a TT Assistant Professor or an accelerated TT or tenured Associate Professor, teaching criminology, criminal justice, & race/ethnicity courses. OU is OK's flagship R1, PhD program, 2-2 load with TA help. Please share!

Details: apply.interfolio.com/174925

A fragmented legal system and threat of deportation are pushing higher education out of reach for many undocumented students While some students living in the US without legal authorization can apply for private scholarships or state-based financial aid, a growing number of states are changing the rules.

ASA member Vanessa Delgado @vanessadelgado.bsky.social (Washington State University) was interviewed about higher education pathways for students living in the U.S. without legal authorization & the ways the administration is affecting their options. @us.theconversation.com

Super excited for this discussion on the structural determinants of health, moderated by Paula Braveman. A powerhouse panel - @tyson-brown.bsky.social @povertyscholar.bsky.social and Jonathan Heller

The government has long researched high school experiences. Then DOGE cut the effort The federal government has long surveyed high schoolers to help track how their academic choices may have influenced the course of their lives. The Trump administration put an end to that effort.

The government has long researched high school experiences. Then DOGE cut the effort