Wayne Sandholtz

Local tax compliance is a key challenge for revenues & governance.

🎙️ Join Prof. @wsandholtz.bsky.social @NovaSBE for the next NOVAFRICA – IGC @theigc.bsky.social at Quelimane 2025 Webinar on:

Willingness to Pay Local Taxes

📅 Mon, Sep 15 | 1pm PT / 2pm Moz
📍 Online via Teams: bit.ly/48awYHy

Sounds cool, I wish you well. Thanks for trying this

You have to bring the teachers along when you implement educational reform! waynesandholtz.com/pdfs/PSL_PE_... by @wsandholtz.bsky.social

Thanks for the shout-out Dave! Political constraints matter in designing optimal policy

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Visit Lisbon afterward :)

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📌 bookmarking this to come back to again and again

A 2011 Wisconsin reform weakened teachers' unions, raised test scores, and was a political win for its main proponent, from Barbara Biasi and Wayne Aaron Sandholtz https://www.nber.org/papers/w33666

.@barbarabiasi.com
and I show that Scott Walker's teacher pay reform worked on 2 levels: it improved student performance, and it won votes.

Big implications for current policy debates -- and, I promise, something to cheese people off from every part of the political spectrum. 🧵:

At least in this context, the gamble paid off. A version enacted by Dems would of course look different, but basically Act 10 embodied the @mattyglesias.bsky.social
manifesto point that "Public services are for users, not providers." Our paper shows there's electoral juice here.

Democrats, take note too. The @ezraklein.bsky.social/ @dkthomp.bsky.social Abundance agenda requires politicians to take on special interests to make government work better. It's scary; politicians are guaranteed to take heat for it, & nobody knows if voters will reward or even notice improvements.

The law's rhetoric and substance were focused on cutting public spending - a perennial Republican priority. By doing so in a way that improved the experience for service users, Republicans achieved their policy aim while building up political capital rather than spending it down.

Don't be fooled. We show that even at the height of the Tea Party's performative grandstanding, it was (checks notes) the **GOP** which won votes by (checks notes again) making **public school** students learn more. 👀

First, the paper shows that regular voters really do reward governments that make services work better. This might seem obvious, but it's hard to pin down causally. And lately this idea has become quaint as political discourse is increasingly dominated by vibes and trolling. 🤡

.@barbarabiasi.com
and I show that Scott Walker's teacher pay reform worked on 2 levels: it improved student performance, and it won votes.

Big implications for current policy debates -- and, I promise, something to cheese people off from every part of the political spectrum. 🧵:

🚨🆕 In a new NBER working paper out today (tinyurl.com/2vv3vnhf), with
@wsandholtz.bsky.social we ask a 🔥question: Can controversial public policies end up being political successes even when they cause lots of backlash? And if the answer is yes, what drives pol success? A thread 👇

📢 New NOVAFRICA Working Paper!

"Urbanization, Political Interests, and Electoral Mobilization in Mozambique"

by NOVAFRICA @NovaSBE Professors #AlexArmand, @wsandholtz.bsky.social, #PedroCVicente & PhD candidate @fredam22.bsky.social.

🔗Full paper: bit.ly/4j8dFB9
🔗 Read more: bit.ly/4hW8J27

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Mississippi State Univ. is hiring a tenure-track Econ Assistant Prof w/ August start!

Open field; pref. for applied micro & teaching PhD Micro I & II (Micro II this fall).

Apply: MSU site & www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing.php?JOE_ID=2025-01_111475768

Please repost—it's an off-cycle search. Thanks!

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Centre for the Study of African Economies at University of Oxford will automatically consider all applicants from Africa for full funding for the MPhil in Economics - we have new scholarships for eligible students.

How? Just apply asap: deadline 4th March (extended deadline): see below