The Economic Journal

Tickets open next month for the RES 2026 Annual Conference, taking place at the University of Newcastle, 6–8 July. This year, the @theeconjournal.bsky.social Lecture will be given by Prof Ekaterina Zhuravskaya on how the internet & social media have reshaped political equilibria worldwide.

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🏅Congratulations to Benjamin Milner, winner of the 2025 Austin Robinson Memorial Prize for ‘The Impact of State-Provided Education: Evidence from the 1870 Education Act.’
Read more👉 bit.ly/4aPOPDo
#EconSky @ualberta.bsky.social @uaeuofa.bsky.social @resmedia.bsky.social @academic.oup.com

The Economic Journal Editorial Board and Royal Economic Society are delighted to welcome Jin Li who joins the Journal as Editor this month.
👉 bit.ly/3OvtoA4
@resmedia.bsky.social
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The Economic Journal Editorial Board and Royal Economic Society thank Heski as he completes his term next month. Heski has been an excellent editor and colleague and provided an outstanding service to the Journal for the past six years.
@profeski.bsky.social @resmedia.bsky.social
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Labour Market Power and the Effects of Fiscal Policy* Abstract. We propose a new fiscal transmission channel based on countercyclical monopsony power in the labour market. We develop a New Keynesian model inco

1/ 🎉 Happy to share: our paper “Labour Market Power and the Effects of Fiscal Policy” (Christian Bredemeier, @uni-wuppertal.bsky.social & @iza.org; Babette Jansen, @uantwerpen.be ; and @rwinkler.bsky.social, @uni-jena.de ) has been accepted at @theeconjournal.bsky.social

#Economics #EconSky

Employers reward completed master’s degrees as it signals strong cognitive & non-cognitive traits, not just expertise. Master’s dropouts are rated below bachelor’s, mainly due to negative signals about non-cognitive skills. See figure below on employer beliefs by education level.

In this month’s EJ: ‘The Impact of Higher Education on Employer Perceptions’ by Renske Stans, Laura Ehrmantraut, Malin Siemers, Pia Pinger doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueaf061
@resmedia.bsky.social @academic.oup.com #Economics #EconSky

NEW: The Psychoactive Substances Act successfully reduced access to synthetic drugs in UK prisons, but also triggered a short-lived yet significant rise in interpersonal violence and self-harm.

📗 Rocco d'Este and Magdalena Domínguez's comment summarises new @theeconjournal.bsky.social research:

Hot off the press! The February 2026 issue featuring Editor’s Choice ‘Beliefs about Maternal Labour Supply’ by Teodora Boneva, Marta Golin, Katja Kaufmann, Christopher Rauh @resmedia.bsky.social @academic.oup.com @teodoraboneva.bsky.social @martagolin.bsky.social #Economics #EconSky👉bit.ly/4cjWUCC

Brazil’s randomized audits don’t just reduce corruption — they also undermine clientelism. Campaign handouts are only half as prevalent in audited municipalities, where citizens request far fewer private benefits from candidates.

Forthcoming in EJ: ‘Does Combating Corruption Reduce Clientelism?’ by Gustavo J Bobonis, Paul J Gertler, Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, Simeon Nichter doi.org/10.1093/ej/u... @resmedia.bsky.social @marcogn.bsky.social

Congratulations to our @EJ_RES 2025 Referee Prize winners! 🎉

These prizes recognise the outstanding contribution of referees and the vital role they play in supporting authors and the Journal.

Read more: bit.ly/3NQoMnY

📣Hot off the press! 🆕 @EJ_RES virtual issue – Lab Experiments – out now. Featuring a foreword by Steffen Huck. Learn more and read the issue👉 bit.ly/4rb6uMy
@resmedia.bsky.social @academic.oup.com
@steffenhuck.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/acad...

🆕Hot off the press!
The January 2026 issue featuring Editor’s Choice ‘When Information is Not Enough: Evidence from a Centralised School Choice System’ by Kehinde F Ajayi, @willafriedman.bsky.social, @profalucas.bsky.social @resmedia.bsky.social @academic.oup.com
👉https://bit.ly/4ql3cGD

Using rich administrative and survey data, the authors show that Belgium’s 2007 progressive divorce reform increased arranged marriages among women—but not men.
Liberalizing divorce may end up reinforcing (at least temporarily) a traditional institution.

Legal reforms aimed at easing divorce can change marriage dynamics in migrant communities—differently for men and women.

Forthcoming in EJ: ‘Behind the Veil of Cultural Persistence: Marriage and Divorce in a Migrant Community’ by Catherine Guirkinger, Jean-Philippe Platteau, Zaki Wahhaj doi.org/10.1093/ej/u... @resmedia.bsky.social

An increase in homelessness is found to be the main mechanism behind the results.

Using Ohio data from 2000 to 2014, this study finds that nuisance ordinances – a third-party policy targeting non-offending parties to address misconduct- backfired, as they produced a 18% increase in burglaries and a 28% rise in vehicle thefts.

Forthcoming in EJ: ‘Does Third-Party Policing Increase Crime? Evidence from Nuisance Ordinances’ by Stefano Falcone doi.org/10.1093/ej/u...

Using tax returns data, I study what happens in married couples when mothers’ benefits are capped at €1,800/month. I find that mothers take shorter leave and earn more for several years after the birth, while their partners take longer leave and earn less.

Forthcoming in EJ: ‘Parental Leave Benefits and Gender Inequality: Evidence from a Benefits Cap for High-Earning Mothers’ by Sevrin Waights doi.org/10.1093/ej/u... @waights.bsky.social @resmedia.bsky.social

📣The Call for Papers for EJ special issue ‘AI Measurement in Applied Economics’ is now open.

⏰Deadline: 15 January 2026

More info here 👉 bit.ly/47sNmS7
@albertobisin.bsky.social
@elliottash.bsky.social

This study analyzes evacuation messaging in a survey of Ukrainians in war-torn regions. The main finding is that providing actionable evacuation information (for example, about organized buses) is crucial for message effectiveness.

Forthcoming in EJ: ‘Civilian Evacuation During War: Evidence from Ukraine’ by Seung-Keun Martinez, Monika Pompeo, Roman M Sheremeta, Volodymyr Vakhitov, Matthias Weber, Nataliia Zaika doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueaf075 @rshereme.bsky.social

Participants who received daily air pollution forecasts adjusted their outdoor activities in response to high pollution levels.

Air pollution causes seven million deaths each year. New evidence from Pakistan shows that improving individuals’ ability to forecast air pollution allows them to adapt better.

Expectations and Adaptation to Environmental Threats Abstract. Scarce information and human capital may make it difficult to form accurate expectations, limiting responses to uncertain environmental threats l

Forthcoming in EJ: ‘Expectations and Adaptation to Environmental Threats’ by Husnain F Ahmad, Matthew Gibson, Fatiq Nadeem, Sanval Nasim, Arman Rezaee doi.org/10.1093/ej/ueaf071