Esther Boler

1. In the wake on Mamdani’s win, we’ll see a lot more far right anti-urban sentiment. Here’s a thread on its roots and evolution.

The idea that the city is evil and corrupt, and the countryside innocent and pure, goes back a long way: to Theocritus in Alexandria, and to the Old Testament. 🧵

I’m beginning to think the passage of time has washed away that raw understanding of 1914-45 that protected us from lurching back to madness

Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.

Penn joins MIT and Brown in saying “no” to Trump extortion move.

Take a picture of yourself at the No Kings rally.

Print it.

Put it in a frame.

Your grandchildren will speak about you for generations to come. You took a stand against fascism. You stood up for democracy. 

Attention IO job market candidates:

Sometimes speakers in the CMA's external economics seminar series have to cancel at relatively short notice. We would love for these slots to go to JMCs to present their job market paper.

Drop me a message if you are interested or share with those who might be.

🎖️ The Prize in Economic Sciences is awarded to Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion and Peter Howitt!

Over the last two centuries the world has seen sustained economic growth. This year’s laureates explain how innovation provides the impetus for further progress.

#PrizeinEconomicSciences #NobelPrize

Dana Goodyear’s home burned in the L.A. fires. In a new essay, she writes about the disaster and its aftermath. nyer.cm/VNSpo99

To honour the memory of Ghazala Azmat, the Department of Economics of SciencesPo is creating an award in her name. Ghazala made important contributions in a large number of fields, spanning the economics of discrimination, gender, education and organizational economics. The award will promote work in those fields by young scholars. The first edition of this award will consist of a 5,000 euro prize for the best paper in this set of fields by junior researchers. The selection of the laureate will be carried out by a scientific committee composed of Pierre Cahuc, Alan Manning and Barbara Petrongolo. Eligibility for the prize requires that all authors have obtained their PhD after 1 September 2018. Papers written jointly with more senior researchers will not be considered. The prize will be awarded at SciencesPo during the event organised in memory of Ghazala on 10 December 2025. One of the authors of the prize winning paper will present the work at this event. Applications must be submitted by 31 August 2025.

📢 #CallForPapers To honour the memory of Ghazala Azmat, the Economics Department of SciencesPo is creating an award in her name. Junior researchers can submit a paper in economics of discrimination, gender, education & organizational #economics. Submit by 31 August.
cepr.org/events/ghaza...
#EconSky

How the Richest People in America Avoid Paying Taxes A clever new paper puts concrete numbers to the taxes paid by members of the Forbes 400.

A clever new study "confirms that the country’s tax code is regressive, not progressive, at the very top," @annielowrey.bsky.social reports. American billionaires "pay lower tax rates than many middle-class professionals":

When I got tenure, I decided to use it start a new research agenda, studying US science in the 20th century, how it became dominant, what held it back, and what we can do better. Here's the first pub (with Scott Kim).

EPI president Heidi Shierholz denounces passage of GOP budget bill Congress just passed one of the most destructive economic bills in generations. The Republican budget will gut Medicaid, slash food aid for families, and shutter rural hospitals—just to give tax break...

This is a low point for our country.

Congress just passed a bill that shreds the safety net, fuels mass deportations, and gives $100K+ annual tax breaks to the ultra-rich—while adding nearly $4 trillion to the debt.

My full statement: www.epi.org/press/epi-pr...

Congress is poised to pass one of the most destructive economic bills in generations. It will gut Medicaid, slash food aid for families, shutter rural hospitals—just to give tax breaks that will go overwhelmingly to the wealthy. It is a staggering upward redistribution of income. 1/

Fog nets turn Chile’s Atacama Desert into a salad bowl. In Chañaral, growers are using mesh 'fog catchers' to harvest up to 1,400 litres of water daily from coastal mist, enough to raise lettuce and lemon trees in the planet’s driest desert. buff.ly/gWc9srr
#ShareGoodNewsToo

I feel seen

The New Global Economy: Trade Wars and De-dollarisation?

Submissions deadline: 1 July 2025

Conference dates: 27-28 September 2025

Location: Cambridge UK

In a new @centreeuropeanref.bsky.social policy brief, @johnspringford.bsky.social‬ finds that many foreign workers needed for net zero will not meet the UK's new higher salary and skills thresholds for visas.

Read here: buff.ly/E9eFpiH

Could not disagree more with this conclusion. One retailer’s transport emission is hardly a comprehensive measure of the climate effect of trade (or lack thereof).

We're hiring a postdoc in labor economics at IAB Nuremberg! Join @ineshelmecon.bsky.social, @jnimczik.bsky.social & me on a project about gig work.

🗓️ Start: 1 Oct 25
💶 Salary ≥ €5200/month

🌱 Possibility to apply for tenure track program

Apply here until 17 June: econjobmarket.org/positions/11...

💥Research Assistant Positions💥

1. Ingvild Almås, Timo Boppart, Thor Berger, Hannes Malmberg, and I are looking for a research assistant to work on a project which investigates Sweden's spectacular economic growth during the late 19th century using establishment-level data.

Javier Flórez (@pseud0safari.bsky.social), Mario Larch, Sebastien Bradley, and I are very happy share the update of the most disaggregated dataset of consistently constructed international and domestic trade flows -- GRANTPA.

So, let’s estimate GRAVITY with GRANTPA.

ideas.repec.org/p/drx/wpaper...

Energy Dept. Cancels $3.7 Billion for New Technologies to Lower Emissions

DOE cancels $3.7 billion in demonstration projects aimed at cutting emissions — a couple big carbon capture demos, but also cement, glass, iron, chemicals projects.

Calpine and Exxon Mobil were hit, as were startups like Sublime and Brimstone. (Full list in story.) www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/c...

Imagine a world where governments believed universities, research and innovation were central, even vital, for growth?

I had to read this several times as “prioritise growth” and “hit universities over the head” are so mutually contradictory

60% of American households can’t afford a minimal quality of life.

Meanwhile, the 19 richest households saw their wealth increase by $1 trillion in 2024 — the biggest one-year increase ever.

Our problem isn't a lack of resources.

Our problem is ever-expanding inequality.

A long long time ago, in a far away galaxy... the US used to tax the rich

Chart showing change in real per-person RDEL between 2009-10 and 2025-26, sized by department: selected departments, UK

With the exception of the Department of Health and Social Care and the Home Office, departments already have smaller budgets than before austerity.

Read more ⤵️ buff.ly/RTk1uYz

how bleak that following most elections now is going WOOOOOOO fascists only on 47%!!!!!!!