Riley Acton

Huge congrats to my @miamiecon.bsky.social colleague @jieezhong.bsky.social, whose JMP is now forthcoming at AEJ: Applied!

🥳🤩👏

I am very happy that my JMP found a sweet home!

Congratulations to our own Professor Jiee Zhong (@jieezhong.bsky.social) on her forthcoming work! Be sure to check it out.

Despite temporary test score gains, Jiee finds that “third grade retention significantly reduces annual earnings at age 26 by $3,477 (19%)” — driven by increased absenteeism, violent behavior, and juvenile crime, and reduced likelihood of H.S. graduation.

Super important findings for policymakers!

Huge congrats to my @miamiecon.bsky.social colleague @jieezhong.bsky.social, whose JMP is now forthcoming at AEJ: Applied!

🥳🤩👏

Just wait until you say something about the Great Recession and they’re like “yeah, I was in preschool then” 🙃

Q for the professors: I’m mentoring a few students on their (econ) honors theses. I’m used to giving feedback for grad students, but the objective function/expectations for undergrad work seems necessarily different

How do you differentiate advising research for grad students vs undergrads?

I focus way more on the learning process than on the final results (null effects, pre-trends that can’t be killed, bad first stage, etc. are all fine!).

I also don’t stress about a large or novel contribution to the literature. A minor tweak or new application of existing work is great!

I don’t have PhD students, so I advise undergrad and masters theses regularly!

To me, success looks like:
- Cleaned & appropriately structured data
- Appropriate, but often simple, methodology (descriptive regressions, diff in diff, maybe an IV)
- Clearly written/explained results

National Rural Higher Education Research Center | MDRC Funded by the U.S.

Please share this opportunity with any grad students or early-career scholars interested in rural higher education

The National Rural Higher Education Research Center at MDRC is now taking applications for the first cohort of the Rural Research Mentorship Network

www.mdrc.org/work/project...

We follow the university policy in our (public, undergrad-focused) b-school. One semester pre-tenure sabbatical and then can apply for one every 7ish years after.

But we’re typically teaching 2-3 classes every semester. I imagine it might be different in places with a built-in 0 load semester?

Yeah, it’s “assigned research appointment” here 😆

CSWEP strongly condemns Larry Summers’ behavior as revealed in the email correspondence with the late Jeffrey Epstein. While abuse of power in the economics profession is not new, rarely has the intent behind such abuse been so clearly stated.

I have been feeling depressed and discouraged that this man has the power and influence he does at my school and in my profession

And I am a tenured professor at Harvard! How much more protected can I be?

Imagine how STUDENTS feel. Junior faculty. This quote nails it

Only 52% of Ohioans think Michigan is the Midwest!? Wild.

2025 Miami University Survey of Ohio Voters Opinions about the Midwest – Kevin Reuning

For my polling class this semester we worked with the Humanities Center at Miami to ask questions about the Midwest. The students will be completing analysis for their final project but here are some results that I thought would be of interest, including which state Ohioans include in the Midwest.

The desire to lump institutions into “research schools” and “teaching schools” is one of my biggest pet peeves (not sure if it’s just an econ thing or more widespread)

And on the flip side, there’s the (also false) assumption that if you are at a place with more of an emphasis on teaching, you must not care about research. Drives me crazy!

I told profs at my phd program that I didn't want to work at an "R1" directly after grad because I cared deeply about teaching and was very concerned the incentives at certain institutions would push me to ignore my pedagogy practice in order to try and keep my job. Truly no regrets.

Feel this in my bones!

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.

"On average, Musk will make $3 billion more per year than the 1.4 million elementary school teachers in the U.S. combined. Together, they made $97 billion last year."

Come join us at Annenberg! I cannot speak highly enough of the community and this postdoc as a place to develop as a researcher.

📢 New postdoc opportunity at Annenberg!

The Annenberg Institute is seeking a postdoctoral research associate for a 2‐year appointment to join a diverse community of scholars committed to educational equity and improvement!

More info here: annenberg.brown.edu/opportunitie...

The further dismantling of the Department of Education is bad not only for impeding its Congressionally-approved functions but because of what it signals about how little we actually value education in this country.

From the team that brought you the "Too Big To Fail" financial institutions, it's the "Too Brilliant To Be Held Accountable" men

🤢

Will Studying Economics Make You Rich? A Regression Discontinuity Analysis of the Returns to College Major (April 2022) - We investigate the wage return to studying economics by leveraging a policy that prevented students with low introductory grades from declaring a major. Students who barely met the grad...

My favorite for teaching undergrad econ students ☺️ www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

A group of people clapping at an event. Text reads "2025 Highly Cited Researchers, Clarivate Analytics." Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, Ph.D., Walter Adams Endowed Chair, University Distinguished Professor, Department of Economics, MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY.

Congratulations to Professor @jmwooldridge.bsky.social on being recognized in the “2025 Highly Cited Researchers” list, a ranking organized annually by Clarivate Analytics: spr.ly/6332275Ags #MSUEconomics #MSUSocialScience

Elsevier has a 38% profit margin, and the other journal publishers aren't far behind.

I am not being hyperbolic when I say that how Harvard and the economics profession respond to Larry Summers will determine who makes up the next generation of economists.

#econsky #news #harvard