Lukas Mergele

Screenshot from The Onion, originally published October 9, 2002. Headline: Frank Gehry No Longer Allowed To Make Sandwiches for Grandkids Below it, a photo of a plate with multiple deconstructed sandwiches balanced precariously, vaguely resembling a Frank Gehry building.

Frank Gehry, 1929–2025 www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/a...

New recycling tech recovers nearly pure nickel and cobalt from old EV batteries Researchers have developed an eco-friendly recycling tech that extracts 99 percent pure nickel and cobalt from waste batteries.

If anyone cares at all, EV battery recycling is now hitting 99% recovery for important metals

Please remind me again what the recycle rate for fossil fuels is

interestingengineering.com/energy/recyc...

Sorry, das ist so etwas wie "Clickbait", nur als Kunstaktion.

In a rare case of admitting that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was based on wrong data, Russian colonel general Chirkin commented as follows:

„There was an underestimation of the enemy and overestimation of their troops. Everyone began to say that the war would end in three days.

A book from the 19th century that depicts the Rhine Valley by creating an impression of three-dimensionality and spatial distance.
@MasayukiTsuda2 #globalmuseum #books #travel #19thcentury

A simple but solid econ perspective: try to predict worldwide supply and demand in 10 years.

Combustion engines will stand no chance against EVs. Makes you realize how useless and backward looking the German discussion of EU policies is.

PM Carney: “Do the Trump”
😅

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/22/business/laptops-not-during-lecture-or-meeting.html Laptops Are Great. But Not During a Lecture or a Meeting.

💻 Laptops are great, but not during class. 💻

Laptops are the standard in classrooms. This needs to change.

New meta-analysis of 24 experiments shows that handwriting will lead to higher grades for students.

So this 2017 NYTimes op-ed by @dynarski.bsky.social is even truer today.

In light of record submission rates and a large volume of AI-generated slop, SocArXiv recently implemented a policy requiring ORCIDs linked in the OSF profile of submitting authors, and narrowing our focus to social science subjects. Today we are taking two more steps:
/1

if you came of age in the 20th century then this really sits you down about how much the Worlds changed in 21st century. no going back…. @katemac.bsky.social

Germany was 4 times China's GDP in 1990
China is now 4 times Germany's GDP in 2025
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/bri...

When Tony Blair came to power in 1997, the UK economy was bigger than China and India combined.

Rarely do German economists agree across various party and ideological lines. On Merz' pension reform (more money for the old, basically) they do.

Voll gut. Gibts auch hier: bsky.app/profile/juer...

This is terrifying.

"[AI agents] can... infer a researcher's latent hypotheses and produce data that artificially confirms them."

...

"We can no longer trust that survey responses are coming from real people" -@seanjwestwood.bsky.social

Good Morning Zurich

When states like Colorado passed policies requiring employers to disclose salary information in job postings, what happened?

It increased competition, and raised wages, without harming employment or changing skill requirements.

Improved functioning of markets, helped workers.

Finde die Idee sinnvoll: Bei einem Eintritt geht es doch primär um die Verteilung zwischen denen, die das Badi nutzen und denen, die das nicht tun (Verursacherprinzip). Ausserdem wären Sozialtarife möglich, um das von Ihnen beschriebene Problem zu berücksichtigen.

"Wir haben praktisch alles geklärt", sagt Wirtschaftsminister Guy Parmelin in #Washington nach seinem Gespräch mit dem Handelsbeauftragten von US-Präsident Donald #Trump, Jamieson Greer, gegenüber #SRF: "Wir hatten ein sehr gutes Gespräch". (1/3)

We are not ready for what's coming...

29.8°C in France mid November! 😱

These heat levels are just insane...🥵

Map via @sergezaka.bsky.social

bsky.app/profile/joer...

Fahrt mit autonom steuerndem Auto durch Shenzhen (25 Mio Einwohner). Abbiegen, Überholen, Einparken, alles hands-off.
Unternehmensvertreter: „Ihr müsst euch klar machen, dass diese Technologie bereits voll entwickelt ist. Es fehlt nur noch die gesetzliche Regulierung.“
Die nächste Disruption kommt.

The rise of singlehood is reshaping the world In good ways and bad

"One obvious idea is for men to grow up, do more housework, behave more responsibly and so turn themselves into more desirable partners." www.economist.com/leaders/2025...

Ein funktionierender grenzüberschreitender Wettbewerb liegt im Interesse von Industrie, Fahrgästen und Steuerzahlenden.

Natürlich muss die Vergabe ordnungsgemäss ablaufen. Das prüfen im Zweifel die Gerichte. 3/3

3️⃣ Berliner S-Bahn vergab gerade 15 Mrd Euro-Auftrag an Stadler/Siemens/DB
4️⃣ S-Bahn Rhein-Ruhr bestellte im Oktober 36 Triebzüge

In solchen Fällen wird das gerne als Erfolg gefeiert. Wenn nun Siemens einen Auftrag von der SBB erhält, soll das plötzlich ein Problem sein? 2/3

Die Aufregung um den SBB-Auftrag an Siemens verstehe ich nicht.

Es ist umgekehrt völlig normal und erfreulich, dass Stadler in Deutschland Aufträge erhält:

1️⃣Aktuell liefert Stadler 44 Triebzüge an DB Regio Südwest
2️⃣ DB Regio Thüringen hat kürzlich 19 Triebzüge bestellt
1/3

🆕Working Paper🚨

Training or Retiring? How Labor Markets Adjust to Trade and Technology Shocks📒
w/ A.Bertermann, @dauthecon.bsky.social & @suedekum.bsky.social

🤖 Robots ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬆️early retirement
🌏 Imports ➡️ ⬇️training & ⬆️early r.
🌎 Exports ➡️ ⬆️training & ⬇️e.r.

www.ifo.de/DocDL/cesifo...

🧵1/9

🚨Postdoc position in public economics🚨

Four-year postdoc at @heclausanne.bsky.social, funded through @snsf.ch project "The Economics of Inheritance and Inter-Vivos Gifts".
Application deadline: 30 December.

#econsky @unil.bsky.social @eyquem2.bsky.social @izmartinez86.bsky.social

bit.ly/4qWyG6G

Extreme kicken am Besten 🫣

Switzerland 🇨🇭 is the most reputable country in 2025.
US 🇺🇸 in free fall.
Germany 🇩🇪 ranks 20th.

Source: Survey in G7 countries, N=62'000

A PhDcomics cartoon showing a phone screen displaying parody academic apps: Faculty Finder, Seminar Yelp, Postdoc Tinder, and Undergrad Translator.

I would install each and all of them #AcademicChatter