Michael R Strain

Staffing shortages at the bureau are already fueling questions about the agency’s ability to accurately tabulate data on consumer prices. “The president is risking material economic harm through his politicization of the BLS and of official government data,” said Michael Strain, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, who worked with McEntarfer in the early 2010s at the U.S. Census Bureau. “It is imperative that businesses, households and investors believe that official government data are accurate and do not reflect any political bias,” Strain said. “Fortunately, that is true of the data, but by sewing doubt, President Trump is undermining the integrity of the information that businesses, investors and households rely on.”

Trump fired the official in charge of collecting basic statistics about the US economy.

He's risking material harm to the economy by politicizing routine data reports, @michaelrstrain.bsky.social tells me.

www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Dr. Erika McEntarfer has devoted her career to public service. She has conducted herself as BLS Commissioner with great integrity. There is no evidence whatsoever that BLS data are politically biased.

#econsky

Even if Donald Trump doesn’t make good on his threat to fire the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, his actions could significantly erode the central bank’s independence.

Read more in a new PS Big Picture, with @michaelrstrain.bsky.social, Harold James, and others. bit.ly/3U8OKmr

Federal data has been disappearing under Trump There’s been a “targeted, surgical removal of data sets, or elements of data sets, that are not aligned with the administration’s priorities,” said Denice Ross at the Federation of American Scientists...

Strain said maintaining the quality and integrity of federal economic data “is something that I am very concerned about. High-quality government data is extremely important to financial markets, business decisions, households’ decisions.”

www.marketplace.org/story/2025/0... #econsky

#econsky

The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It) (New Threats to Freedom Series) The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It) (New Threats to Freedom Series) [Strain, Michael R.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It) (New Threats to Freedom Series)

3/ My friends, the American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It)!

Read about why: www.amazon.com/American-Dre... #econsky

The American Dream is alive. But is it well? What the Future Editor Matt Carmichael explains Ipsos’ multimodal research on how the changing American Dream will shape consumer behavior and future market opportunities.

4/ Here's the full issue from Ipsos, with tons of great information, data, and analysis: www.ipsos.com/en-us/future...

The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It) (New Threats to Freedom Series) The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It) (New Threats to Freedom Series) [Strain, Michael R.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It) (New Threats to Freedom Series)

3/ My friends, the American Dream Is Not Dead: (But Populism Could Kill It)!

Read about why: www.amazon.com/American-Dre... #econsky

Why higher education remains a key driver of the American Dream Michael Strain, director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, explains why higher education and entrepreneurship will still drive upward mobility in the U.S.

2 Here's our full interview: www.ipsos.com/en-us/future...

Why higher education remains a key driver of the American Dream Michael Strain, director of Economic Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, explains why higher education and entrepreneurship will still drive upward mobility in the U.S.

1/ I really enjoyed this conversation with Ipsos Ipsos in US about the American Dream. As I told Mr. Carmichael, my belief in the health of the American Dream has only strengthened in recent years.

#econsky

"Why Is Fertility So Low in High Income Countries?"

Melissa Kearney and Phillip Levine present important evidence on their research question, but also on economic methodology. See below for issues all empirical economists should be thinking about. Link to paper: www.nber.org/papers/w33989 #econsky

👇

bsky.app/profile/mich... #econsky

Great @martinsandbu.ft.com column: "The economic consequences of Donald Trump’s second coming"

Link: www.ft.com/content/0892...

#econsky

Graph of the decline in the share of manufacturing employment in the US from 1939-2025.

@michaelrstrain.bsky.social argues that the #trade war will likely decrease the number of #manufacturing jobs in the US and that increasing US manufacturing employment is not even a particularly important or desirable goal to begin with.
cepr.org/publications...
#EconSky

Thank you Michael --- that's excellent!

#econsky

#econsky

13/ Autor, Dorn, and Hanson (2013) find an average reduction in manufacturing employment of 90,000 jobs per year from 1990 to 2007. But in a typical month, five million workers separate from their employers. In the manufacturing sector, typical monthly separations are 351,000.

#econsky

🚨🚨 My new paper, "The (non) effect of tariffs on manufacturing employment" is hot off the presses.

A 🧵

Link: www.aei.org/wp-content/u...

#econsky

15/ Check out the whole paper here: www.aei.org/wp-content/u...

14/ Moreover, Autor, Dorn, and Hanson and Acemoglu et al. focus on half the story of increased trade openness. Trade liberalization is associated with increased imports and exports. As I argue in the paper, the evidence suggests that the net effect of trade on employment is close to zero.

#econsky

13/ Autor, Dorn, and Hanson (2013) find an average reduction in manufacturing employment of 90,000 jobs per year from 1990 to 2007. But in a typical month, five million workers separate from their employers. In the manufacturing sector, typical monthly separations are 351,000.

#econsky

12/ Does it look to you like wages have stagnated for decades? Does it look to you like NAFTA (1994) or China entering the WTO (2001) led to stagnation?

11/ The first crack-ridden foundation of this trade war is the mistaken view that economic outcomes for typical workers and households have stagnated or deteriorated for the past several decades.

This is false.

#econsky www.amazon.com/American-Dre...

10/ ...the U.S.’s 2000 decision to grant China permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) and China’s 2001 accession to the WTO were major policy errors that devastated the working class. Both of these views are mistaken.

9/The twin foundations of today’s protectionist impulse seem to be the view that economic outcomes for typical workers and households have been stagnant or deteriorating for decades and, relatedly, that...

8/ The U.S. is not just producing more than ever before. Relative to other nations, the U.S. is a global manufacturing powerhouse.

7/ Some supporters of protectionism seem to think that because manufacturing employment has been declining for decades, the U.S.’s ability to produce has also been declining.

This is false.

#econsky

6/ And why should manufacturing employment receive so much attention?

5/ Another way to think about this: Trade obviously did not cause the big downward trend in manufacturing employment. Look at the chart below. Show me the effect of NAFTA or China entering the WTO? So if trade wasn't the cause, then trade wars are unlikely to be the solution.

#econsky