Ben Lockwood

What’s hot in public econ?

Here are some of the most popular @jpube.bsky.social papers from the past 90 days.

Free to read: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/jour...

25 First Dates

Slumdog Half-millionaire

Three-and-a-half Pounds

Vicky or Cristina Barcelona

That really does ruin it. Especially the 0.5.

What do you think of this exercise as a commentary on whether the methods are trustworthy, rather than on the truth of the implied conclusion? (This reminds me a bit of the height tax paper and its authors’ differing interpretations of it.)

Watching March Madness, it sure feels like this would be a good venue for an ad campaign from universities about how America’s higher ed system is one of its greatest strengths.

Ever start taking a screenshot on Mac (Cmd-Shift-4), then panic because you anchored in the wrong place? Hit Spacebar—you can reposition the selection anywhere.

I repost this every now and then to pay it forward. Changed my life when I found out 😄

Glad to see this getting some attention! (gift article) #EconSky

You shouldn’t finish every book you start.

Abandoning a book is not an admission of failure—it’s a sign of wisdom. You’ve decided to let go of sunk costs.

The purpose of reading is to be entertained and informed. If a book doesn't bring joy or insight, it’s time to move on.

Direct File’s future is in doubt as this administration evaluates whether the renew it. I hope they do. Taxpayers say it makes filing easier and more efficient. If the administration allows the program to scale up, it will get credit for that improvement. (Not to mention the boost to GDP.)

Some say that the free filing options from private sources, like TurboTax, are enough. But this is one area where government is well placed to be more efficient—it has the information necessary to pre-fill tax returns. There’s a reason other countries do this in-house.

Direct File: IRS Successfully Piloted Online Tax Filing but Opportunities Exist to Expand Access IRS is offering a new, free service to help taxpayers prepare and file tax returns electronically. It piloted Direct File in 2024 for taxpayers with...

Direct File has been a big step toward making tax filing easier and more efficient. It has started small, with 12 states in 2024, and has expanded in scale (up to 25 states this year) and scope (supporting more tax situations, with plans to have more pre-filled information).

Table showing the time and money burden of tax filing for Americans

In contrast, the average American spends an estimated $210 and 11 hours to file their 1040 personal income tax return. Those are real costs—that time could be spent producing real goods and contributing to GDP. www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prio...

What are prepopulated tax returns?

Americans are often jealous (or incredulous) to find out that in many other countries it is trivially easy to file taxes—you receive a form pre-filled with info the government already knows about your tax situation. Denmark adopted this in the 1980s, and by 2020 most OECD countries had as well.

A government program made tax filing free and more efficient. Musk and DOGE may get rid of it anyway The fate of the IRS Direct File program is unclear as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency cleave their way through the federal bureaucracy. Republicans and commercial tax preparation...

A bright spot in recent tax policy has been the success of the IRS's in-house Direct File program, which allows many taxpayers to file taxes for free online through a simple interface, even on their phones. Let me tell you why I think so, and why Direct File’s future is at a crossroads. #EconSky

Congestion pricing targets even more externalities than I realized.

From the Jan. 5 start of congestion pricing to March 6, complaints about honking were down 69% relative to last year (via NYC's 311 portal).

Great piece on the mechanics of achieving PA’s recent success in promoting reform.

“The visibility of the initiative also encouraged a sense of competition among cabinet officials. The mantra of “moving at the speed of business” was widely adopted among those working with the governor.”

Update 👀 tapbots.com/phoenix/

Ok, following on that last thread, here are my suggestions about how to be a good mentor (though this is still a work in progress!)

(And others should feel free to add to my list!)

A🧵

A six-panel cartoon titled "real and implied birds". In the two panels in the top row, there's a rough legged-hawk sailing through the sky, next to a smooth legged hawk, which has smooth human legs. In the second row, there's a great-crested flycatcher looking dapper, next to an ok-crested flycatcher that has just a slightly less nice crest. In the third row, there's a mountain chickadee standing up on stones, next to a valley chickadee peeking out from a dip between stones. In the fourth row, there's a least bittern standing in some reeds, next to a most bittern that is enormous and stomping through a city, with people running in fear, helicopters overhead, and an overturned car on fire.

Another thing I made this year: Real and implied birds.

Zero-sum thinking is a key mindset that shapes how we view the world. A little thread to highlight our work on its roots with @sahilchinoy.bsky.social,
@nathannunn.bsky.social, Sandra Sequeira.🧵1/23 scholar.harvard.edu/files/stantc...

Hundreds of workers, some in high viz vests, cover the floor of Notre Dame cathedral with a photo taken from above, looking down the length of the restored building.

An incredible photo posted today by French President Emmanuel Macron.

The floor of Notre Dame Cathedral is filled with the workers involved in the 5 year project to restore the building following the devastating fire in 2019.

1/2

Submit your papers to the next @cepr.org Public Economics Annual Symposium, taking place in Cologne on June 5-6, 2025. Co-organized with @sigginho.bsky.social and Johannes Spinnewijn, keynotes by Cecile Gaubert and @omzidar.bsky.social!

cepr.org/events/cepr-...

Am I the only one longingly googling “bluesky app tapbots” [date filter = last 2 weeks] on a regular basis?

Why 🦃s are named after 🇹🇷. Fascinating!

www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/whe...

I like the urgency and thrill story. Not sure I believe discounts are simpler than stable prices. I can also believe this is highly heterogeneous—Johnson’s strategy came from his success at Apple retail, which has stable prices, but it fared terribly at JCP.

Could be, but my understanding of the JC Penney experience was that Johnson replaced time-varying prices and coupons with stable prices, and they lost market share overall. If people hate complexity, that might predict market share would have increased?

A Strategic Mistake That Still Haunts JC Penney A strategic mistake made six years ago by celebrity CEO Ron Johnson continues to haunt popular retailer JC Penney, as evidenced by the ongoing sluggish sales growth and store closings that have made t...

This seems plausible, but it’s interesting that in some settings people seem to like the way price fluctuations give them a chance to find a good deal.

drive.google.com/file/d/160X0...

Love this agenda. @ivanwerning.bsky.social: re discounting, Ryan has another paper suggesting hyperbolic discounting arises even without temporal delays. Here too, I’m interested in what hinges on whether it “looks” blue or is “actually” blue.

Agree, fantastic paper. I strongly agree with point (2) here—if it looks like risk from a distance, it might induce behavior evolved to handle risk. Relatedly…