Eric Melander

Until the 18th century, navigation across the open seas was perilous. Sailors could travel long distances but faced an impossible task determining their position.🧭

Martina Miotto offers a new perspective for #Advantage on the way an advanced clock transformed global trade. 📰
buff.ly/ghuvypN

VoxEU column now up for my paper on "Wars, Taxation and Representation" with @essobecker.bsky.social, @andyferrara.bsky.social and @luigipascali.bsky.social.

Full paper available here:
doi.org/10.1093/jeea...

Great discussion on latest figures of people crossing the Channel in small boats, & how hostility towards them has us caught in a doom-loop that prevents the sane, humane management of immigration #r4today

Thank you @bylinetimespod.bsky.social 😊

The impact of welfare reforms - lessons from history Many in opposition to the government's proposed welfare cuts describe the bill as 'Dickensian' and 'from another era'. While the debate continues, we highlight the work of CAGE Research Associates Eri...

“.. welfare cuts are felt most strongly by those who are already economically vulnerable and can therefore exacerbate existing inequalities.” Research by @ericmelander.bsky.social and Martina Miotto analyses the impact of the 1834 reforms – the largest welfare cut in British history. buff.ly/5CdCJWw

Wars, Taxation and Representation: Evidence from Five Centuries of German History Abstract. We provide causal evidence for the role of warfare in the development of medieval constitutionalism. Using novel data on the universe of German c

Forthcoming article by @essobecker.bsky.social @andyferrara.bsky.social @ericmelander.bsky.social @luigipascali.bsky.social "Wars, Taxation and Representation: Evidence from Five Centuries of German History" @eeanews.bsky.social

doi.org/10.1093/jeea...

Excited for Volume 2 of the Second City History and Economics Meeting (SCHEMe), taking place over the next two days at @unibirmingham.bsky.social!

Malthusian Migrations 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...

My new paper with @guillaumeblanc.bsky.social is out as an NBER Working Paper. Demographic pressures have had lasting effects on the spread of diasporas. Malthusian migrations contributed to sustained improvements in living standards in Europe in the 19th century. www.nber.org/papers/w33542

🚨 New Working Paper 🚨

w/ @pdavidboll.bsky.social and @jvoth.bsky.social

Do you run regressions on spatial data? Then keep reading!

We present a guide and Stata package for methods by Müller and Watson (2024 ECTA) to deal with Spatial Unit Roots in Regressions.

Link in 🧵 (1/n)

Move over WORMS, there is a new contender for SHORTEST ECON PAPER TITLE OF ALL TIME.

📣FOUR WEEKS LEFT - Don't miss the deadline for the #RES2025 Annual Conference Call for Submissions!

⏰Deadline 13 January 2025
👉 bit.ly/4hku5q7

#EconSky #EconEvents #RESEvents #RESConference #EconPhD

Last, this is why descriptive work is underrated.

No preposterous IV, no incomprehensible structural black box, there is just a new fact about the world.

If the descriptive work is done well — and it is not easy — the fact permanently enters everyone's headspace and must be contended with.

Hi Bluesky! 👋
You can connect with colleagues at my dept (Economics @unibirmingham.bsky.social) here: go.bsky.app/8UwyriL

Today and tomorrow we will celebrate the life and work of the late Nick Crafts ❤️

Nick was a fantastic colleague, friend, and founding director of @cagewarwick.bsky.social

Today's Crafts Lecture will be given by the wonderful Leah Boustan.

Full program 👇

warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ...

Going to give this website a try - with a new profile picture! Definitely feels like an econ bubble, but I guess that’s the point.

Expect a thread on my newest work, Malthusian Migrations (with @romainwacziarg.bsky.social), soon! 🚨

www.guillaumeblanc.com/files/theme/...

Re-sharing the #econhist Starter Pack for new arrivals:

go.bsky.app/U6KyhNv

The G.I. Bill, Standardized Testing, and Socioeconomic Origins of the U.S. Educational Elite Over a Century Ran Abramitzky, Jennifer K. Kowalski, Santiago Pérez, and Joseph Price NBER Working Paper No. 33164 November 2024 JEL No. 123, 124, N32 ABSTRACT We compile, transcribe, and standardize historical records for 2.5 million students at 65 elite (private and public) U.S. colleges. By combining these data with more recent survey and administrative data, we assemble the largest dataset on the socioeconomic backgrounds of students at American colleges spanning the last 100 years. We document the following: First, despite a large increase in the share of lower-income students in the overall college-going population, the representation of these students at elite private or public colleges has remained at similarly low levels throughout the last century. Second, the representation of upper-income students at elite colleges decreased after World War II, but this group has regained its high representation since the 1980s. Third, while there has been no increase in the economic diversity of elite private and public colleges, these colleges have become more racially and geographically diverse. Fourth, two major policy changes in the history of American higher education, namely the G.I. Bill after World War II and the introduction of standardized tests for admissions, had little success in increasing the representation of lower- and middle-income students at elite colleges.

Holy crap this is an astounding piece of historical research

Will post ungated link later today unless someone beats me to it

www.nber.org/system/files...