Keith Head

What Trump is threatening to do on tariffs -- what he has already done! -- is completely illegal under the GATT/WTO. By signing the disgraceful Turnberry deal which was also illegal, the EU was helping to destroy the rule-based order. For that reason alone it should not be allowed to resurface.

and yet some escalation would actually be positive, or else the threats (and actions) will get worse. That's how bullies operate.

We (@julianhi.nz @ckhead.bsky.social @schularick.bsky.social & I. Méjean) made this point in July, and it only got worse since then:
www.kielinstitut.de/publications...

This is so depressing

The war will end when Russia stops fighting. Therefore, pressure has to be put on Russia, so that they stop believing that they will win. Why is that so hard to understand?

the way we think about is that historical borders limited mobility and this generated social networks with relatively few cross-border links. but all the legal/frontier barriers are gone in EU. so we want to est. a partial effect of borders conditional on the social network legacies. open to ideas.

These are good points to keep in mind. What would you suggest? The thing we want to estimate is the part of the border effect that government policy can reduce. There are no current regulations that limit cross-border friendship in Schengen EU.

cepr.org/voxeu/column...

I have a very bad feeling about this...

MIT holds the line bsky.app/profile/dyna...

M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment

This Beaver is super proud of her alma mater

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

MIT refuses to accept White House terms for funding, other schools still mulling Massachusetts Institute of Technology President Sally Kornbluth on Friday said she "cannot support" a memo that the White House sent to nine elite U.S. universities last week detailing policies they should follow to get preferential consideration for federal funding.

MIT refuses to accept White House terms for funding, other schools still mulling reut.rs/471tkNZ

RFK Jr. says vaccines don’t save lives. He’s wrong Now RFK Jr. is claiming vaccines don’t actually save lives. Here’s the math to show what he gets wrong.

RFK Jr.'s claim that vaccines didn't save lives, sanitation did, is half right—and dangerously wrong.

While sanitation helped in the early 20th century, vaccines saved millions of lives in the later 20th century and reduced severe impairments like brain damage. More in @statnews.com

Posted a short blog post with updated data (and public repo with data) of current state of Econ job market:

paulgp.com/2025/10/08/j...

The official website of the Nobel Prize - NobelPrize.org The Nobel Prize rewards science, humanism and peace efforts. This is one of the central concepts in the will of Alfred Nobel, and it also permeates the outreach activities that have been developed for...

Six of the nine Nobel Prize winners this year work in the U.S.
Three of the six were born outside the U.S., which is the pattern most years. No country has benefited more from welcoming immigrants from around the world.
www.nobelprize.org

I would go back to X more often if you guaranteed lots of yelling at Matt Stoller.

Kennedy’s Vaccine Panel Votes to Limit Access to Covid Shots

I cannot overstate how remarkable it is that under GOP rule, US federal health regulations have been captured by fringe crackpots who espouse views that the vast majority of the US public—and nearly 100% of health professionals—reject.

Gift link:

Beauman is the son of Persephone Books founder Nicola Beauman and economist Christopher Beauman

A picture of the Canadian embassy ad saying “we make great burgers together!” with a picture of a burger and an ad saying “we make great planes together!” with a picture of a F-35 c

Trying to explain why international trade is good to an American: okay so imagine a burger

(yes this is a real ad on the Canadian embassy in DC)

DeSantis and Ladapo to ‘end all vaccine mandates in Florida law’ Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced the move in Hillsborough County on Wednesday.

Florida moves to end vaccine mandates to attend school, the first state to do so.
So many own goals across America right now.

www.miamiherald.com/news/politic...

Florida will work to eliminate all childhood vaccine mandates in the state, officials say Florida will work to phase out all childhood vaccine mandates in the state, building on the effort by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis to curb vaccine requirements and other health mandates during the Cov...

Because of Florida's decision to phase out childhood vaccine mandates, many will die of preventable diseases like measles, chickenpox, tetanus, and diphtheria. This is regressive, bringing us back to the early 1950s when parents had to worry that their kids might die from diseases like polio.

The study does not randomize birth control method. So I think it’s rather hard to control for selection effects.

Who’s Pickle?

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

Nine former CDC directors, from Bill Foege onward, speak out about the incalculable harm that RFK, Jr. is doing to public health in the US and around the world.

Gift link.

Football pundits agree! The only thing worse than VAR is not having VAR. ( see Rayo Vallecano vs Barcelona)

Why is everything on the 45 line? Ostensibly 2 dimensions but de facto only one?

Back-to-school reminder: The market rewards education

Average earnings:
High school dropout | ### ($35k)
High school grad | ##### ($47k)
College degree | ######### ($87k)
Masters degree | ########### ($106k)
Professional degree | ##################($184k)

Doesn't everyone feel overburdened with mitochondrial challenges at the airport though? Those TSA procedures are tough these days.

it's not for me to say what others should do with their careers, but economists thinking of quitting the Trump admin might want to time their departures to reinforce this collapse narrative.

Waning days of a dying empire Is this what collapse looks like from the inside?

www.slowboring.com/p/waning-day...

Firing RFK Jr would unburden a lot of overworked mitochondria in this country