A surge in SNAP retailer participation during the Great Recession boosted adopters’ food sales and product variety while improving access, but welfare gains were modest, from Anne T. Byrne, Xiao Dong, Jessie Handbury, Erik James, Katherine Meckel, and Andrés C. Rovira www.nber.org/papers/w34467

In a new AEI Economic Perspectives paper, Tobias Peter and I propose that DC legalize redevelopment of large single-family lots into duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes. We also analyze the consequences of making such a change in terms of new housing production etc.

www.aei.org/research-pro...

Jeffrey P. Clemens on X: "An underrated mistake in US policy in Afghanistan was its long-running effort to suppress the cultivation of opium poppy and, in turn, the production of heroin and other opiates. A thread. 1/19" / X An underrated mistake in US policy in Afghanistan was its long-running effort to suppress the cultivation of opium poppy and, in turn, the production of heroin and other opiates. A thread. 1/19

I read this article with great interest, as the unsuccessful US effort to suppress Afghan opium production was the subject of some of my earliest research.

Readers of this article might be interested in the thread below:
x.com/jeffreypclem...

I read this article with great interest, as the unsuccessful US effort to suppress Afghan opium production was the subject of some of my earliest research.

Readers of this article might be interested in the Twitter thread below:
x.com/jeffreypclem...

Timely research on the SNAP program

Low-income households denied SNAP due to administrative barriers suffer downstream consequences. Process-related denials increase debt, delinquencies, and decrease credit scores, from Tatiana Homonoff, Min S. Lee, and Katherine Meckel www.nber.org/papers/w34434

This is painstakingly done, comprehensive work on the earnings of individuals who make minimum wage at some point in their careers (typically, though not always, at career onset). Recommended reading for anyone interested in how minimum wages fit into the big picture.

Careers of Minimum Wage Workers 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...

Through administrative data linkages, this new work on minimum wages and careers provides a more comprehensive picture:
www.nber.org/papers/w34405

@michaelrstrain.bsky.social and I recently published a narrower paper using CPS data to understand the role of minimum wages in shaping wage gains over 12-month intervals (reflecting the limits of what one can do in CPS data):
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

This is painstakingly done, comprehensive work on the earnings of individuals who make minimum wage at some point in their careers (typically, though not always, at career onset). Recommended reading for anyone interested in how minimum wages fit into the big picture.

Workers earning minimum wages typically show stronger future careers, and state minimum wage policies do not significantly alter these relative trajectories, from Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr, and Louis J. Maiden www.nber.org/papers/w34405

Excited to receive our new 536 page book on tax competition and coordination in the mail today:

"Policy Responses to Tax Competition" (w/ Poterba &
@omzidar.bsky.social)

I know everyone is looking forward to order it here:
amazon.com/-/es/Respons...

Thanks to our editor at @uchicagopress.bsky.social
and all the authors who contributed @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social @stanveuger.bsky.social @s-stantcheva.bsky.social @mariusbrulhart.bsky.social @kurtschmidheiny.bsky.social & many others not on here!

links.springernature.com/f/a/zVudtQTb...

Featured in the latest Digest: Federal Fiscal Aid to State and Local Governments and COVID-19 Mortality

https://www.nber.org/digest/202507/federal-fiscal-aid-state-and-local-governments-reduced-covid-19-mortality

Many thanks to the economists who signed on, including @dacemoglumit.bsky.social, @kylepomerleau.bsky.social, @michaelrstrain.bsky.social, @danieldbunn.bsky.social‬, @kclausing.bsky.social, and @jasonfurman.bsky.social, and to our magnificent counsel.

Full brief here: www.aei.org/articles/ami...

I organized an economist amicus brief in V.O.S. Selections Inc. v. Trump, the "Liberation Day" tariffs case in which the government's appeal will soon be considered by the Federal Circuit Appeal Court.

Business Leaders Call Trump Attacks on Universities a Competitive Threat More than 200 business leaders signed an open letter calling on the Trump administration to reverse its moves against colleges and universities, arguing that funding cuts and restrictions on [student

Thank you to the hundreds of business leaders who are standing against the unconscionable attacks on our university system.

They know that was is being destroyed is future American innovation and prosperity.

An unpopular view: new diff-in-diff methods have been a setback for empirical work. I see an increased flow of papers that do 5 variants of them plus extensive torturing of parallel trends robustness to "prove" that a weak research design is solid. That effort could've been spent more productively

Spirits: "US tariff uncertainty takes its toll" www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/05/us-t...
"The problem with this administration is that you have to have a really loud voice in the ear of the White House to get anything done"

Can Europe Evolve? The European Union is rethinking its fiscal institutions and defense capabilities in a bid for strategic autonomy.

Here is the full essay: theamericanenterprise.com/can-europe-e...

In the new issue of The American Enterprise, @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social and I have an article comparing the evolution of America’s system of fiscal federalism to Europe’s.

Graph of COVID-19 mortality vs congressional representation. The greater the number of representatives per million residents, the lower the COVID-19 death rate per 100,000 residents. As governments around the world combatted COVID-19, the US witnessed unprecedented levels of funding transfers from the federal government to state and local municipalities. This column examines how the influx of federal aid affected the population’s health. Leveraging the fact that states with excess representation in Congress received more assistance than underrepresented states, the authors show that federal subsidies significantly improved individual health outcomes. At the same time, aid to state and local governments evinced fewer economic benefits, suggesting that federal subsidies are more constructively channelled toward critical health care inputs.

Federal subsidies to state and local municipalities in the US during COVID-19 significantly improved individual #health outcomes as subsidies were channelled toward critical health care inputs.
Jeffrey Clemens & Anwita Mahajan @ucsandiego.bsky.social
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky

I'm happy to report receiving the green light for promotion to full professor at UCSD economics effective July 1st! I'm feeling grateful to my family, mentors, co-authors, colleagues and many others who have helped to push and pull me along the way.

"US consumer confidence plunges in April" www.reuters.com/business/us-...

When is tinkering with safety net programs harmful to beneficiaries? Interactions between redistributive policies can confront low-income households with complicated choices. We study one such interaction, namely the relationship between Medicaid eligibility threshold...

. @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social of
@ucsandiego.bsky.social and Michael Wither of Powerlytics Inc investigate when tinkering with safety net programs is harmful to beneficiaries.
#HealthInsurance #LaborMarkets #SafetyNet

Very happy to have this paper out in broad circulation.

Melinda Pitts, research center director, Center for Human Capital Studies @atlantafed.bsky.social estimates that the potential reduction in the full federal workforce, including contract and grant employees, could be as high as 1.2 million

www.atlantafed.org/blogs/macrob...

Very happy to have this paper out in broad circulation.

Michelle White was a wonderful friend, colleague, role model, and mentor to many of us at UCSD and beyond. She will be greatly missed.