Sophie Moullin

Why the Humanities and the Arts Still Matter in an Innovation Economy Across Aotearoa, the economic debate continues to circle a familiar theme: New Zealand must “lift its innovation game.” It’s a fair point — though often repeated as if innovation were a purely technic...

So grateful for this important piece, @markbregman.bsky.social 💯👏

Why the Humanities and the Arts Still Matter in an Innovation Economy open.substack.com/pub/markbreg...

Pay men women’s rates? Now there’s an idea Pay equity discussions involve raising women’s wages to men’s, but there’s an alternative.

I am VERY concerned about the idea of gender pay equity across occupations. It could tank #growth for years. 📉 ⚖️ 💵

My latest Apolitical Economic Analysis 👇
www.nzherald.co.nz/the-listener... #gender #work #payequity #fiscalpolicy

Congratulations Michelle 👏 🙌

Yes, my complexity / computational folks @tepunahamatatini.bsky.social there is also a maths joke: “Calculus tells us that even as we approach infinity, we approach limits.” Standard economic models will hit their limits long before networks of people do.

Page 2 with more niche jokes the econ soc folks might enjoy :) @sarahquinn.bsky.social @kjhealy.co @asociologist.bsky.social @epopppp.bsky.social @will-davies.bsky.social @econsociology.bsky.social @seanvanatta.bsky.social

The gov could have made the same fiscal savings by lowering men's wages down to women's rates. My piece imagines how an Apolitical Economic Analyst would respond to that idea

Opinion | ‘Women’s Work’ Can No Longer Be Taken for Granted (Published 2020)

Context:
From 2020, NZ's pay equity law allowed women in female-dominated jobs to bring pay equity claims by comparing their work to male-dominated occupations.
www.nytimes.com/2020/11/13/o...

This year, the NZ gov repealed those provisions without consultation, claiming it was a fiscal necessary.

My parody of the repeal of New Zealand’s pay equity legislation - Salary Sticks - is out in The Listener (print first). It was fun to write – but the point is serious.

Much economic reasoning in policy today still:
→ masks its politics
→ mocks its challengers
→ is gendered *all the way down*

Complexity theory is not actually complex.

Here, it’s just saying “we can’t undo your loss, but all is not lost”. Or, “that must have hit extra hard because of what happened to you before”. Surely that’s more intuitive than experimental causal models?

Open, agreeable New Zealanders less likely to be employed, study shows Being extroverted or emotionally stable doesn't help with employability as much in this country as it does in most others.

Finally, some comparative work on personality traits in economic outcomes. Culture + inequality matters:
“socio-economic background affected social and emotional skills though the effect was smaller in New Zealand than in most other countries.” www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines...

YouTube video by TEDx Talks How Glowing Bacteria Can Save The World | Siouxsie Wiles | TEDxChristchurch

Reminds me of @siouxsiew.bsky.social’s brilliant TedX on bioluminescence and future of the fight against infectious disease 🦠 🔦 youtu.be/TzuPDBOKPYQ?...

Beautiful bioluminescence down the local beach 🌊

I see. I also see a general, growing imbalance between the public funds going to actual science, and those going to university administration, despite the
posturing against bureaucratic bloat.

One problem is the admin overheads are real. About 4, quite senior, administrators had to be involved in a grant application for NZ$50k! And one question is why didn’t DOGE or ACT go for the administrators vs. the grant funded junior scientists, who are comparatively outstanding value for money?

Universities Have a Computer-Science Problem The case for teaching coders to speak French

“When they elevate computing to the status of a college, with departments and a budget, they are declaring it a higher-order domain of knowledge and practice, akin to law or engineering.”
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Should College Get Harder? A.I. is coming for knowledge work, and yet college seems to be getting easier. Does something need to change?

“the relaxification of college has stemmed, ultimately, from a centuries-old, studiously cultivated tradition of organizational disorganization “ www.newyorker.com/culture/open...

🙄

Why So Many People Still Don’t Understand Anti-Semitism Unlike many other bigotries, anti-Semitism is not merely a social prejudice; it is a conspiracy theory about how the world operates.

Sharing this as a gift article today. If you see this, please read it. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

FML.

A Revived Focus on an Unproven Link Between Tylenol and Autism www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/h...

Why Are Kids So Funny? The emergence of humor so early in life suggests something important about human nature.

I laugh, therefore I am.. love this happy idea. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/WlZaan?fbcli...

Yes, Cash Transfers Work A recent set of cash-transfer programs had lackluster results—but cash is still "near unmatched as a salve for poverty," @AnnieLowrey argues:

Money alleviates poverty. Its not complicated. Annie Lowery: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

most American political scientists making political maps of America have never even seen this map

RFK Jr. Vowed to Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying to Do Just That. from ProPublica - Listen on NYT Audio 25 min listen - While touting a $50 million initiative to identify the causes of autism, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is helping lead an administration that is rolling back protections against pollution and ...

Excellent listen on developments in the health sciences in general. They need a p.s.: that what causes #autism _to be a major disability_ is a closed-minded socio-political environment www.nytimes.com/audio/app/20...

Major autism study uncovers biologically distinct subtypes, paving the way for precision diagnosis and care The research is a transformative step toward understanding the condition's genetic underpinnings and potential for personalized care.

Very cool study, inductively showing important variations in *how* genetic and development factors interplay. I would love to see this for adhd too. www.princeton.edu/news/2025/07...

I’m thinking also something like BMI (the main non self-report measure) is hard to shift in short term through a small injection of cash. Esp in a trail when transfers not widespread enough to change local supply, e.g. of nutritious food (supply response was crucial in the LatAm UTCs and CCTs)

Yes, I think they found a small, lime 5% incr on child spending. But also have to look at transfers as % of income, probably not much more.

Yes, UK child-related tax credit expansions (partially refundable) showed up in consumption data - more fruit and vegetables, kids activities

Income and Maternal/Child Health—the Baby’s First Years Trial More than 1 in 10 children in the US live in a household experiencing poverty, with rates increasing in 20231 after the end of COVID-19–era policies that had temporarily slashed them in half.2 A large...

You’d better :) JAMA also ran a good, open-minded editorial on it that’s worth a read jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

This is also true. I keep thinking about this strange quote from one of the academics *who designed the RCT*: “Anyone who tries to tell you they know what the data mean is just speculating”.

Also, as Jane Waldfogel said: it wasn't enough money.

And also: treated and control groups both got a refundable child tax credit of up to $3,600, per child, over the study period.

And also: a cash transfer is pain relief, not an inoculation against ongoing socio-economic disadvantage.