Kelly Jones

How is it that in perhaps the richest country in the history of the world such a large number of people struggle to acquire the basic necessities of life? Clearly, merely increasing the total quantity of goods and services produced in the market does not address this core problem. I review new work both inside and outside of economics that seeks to understand the persistence of poverty in the United States. With a particular focus on Desmond (2023) and Kearney (2023), I draw out the hypotheses in this work, suggest interesting avenues for future research, and discuss potential policy implications. (JEL I26, I32, I38, J12, J13, J24)

Loved new piece by @lizananat.bsky.social‬ with critique of two-parent privilege hypothesis pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/...

"Asian example suggests...insistence [that childbearing be marital only] may not move us back to a world flush with married parents but to a future of few parents at all"

Boosting Health Through Economic Policy: Tax and Labor Policies to Improve Population Health Join Penn LDI to explore evidence-based economic policies that foster healthier, more equitable communities.

How can tax credits, paid leave, and other policies improve population health?

Join us on March 28 for our virtual seminar featuring experts Elizabeth Ananat, Bradley Hardy, Aparna Mathur, and LDI Fellow @atheendar.bsky.social.
ldi.upenn.edu/events/boost...

Please repost to get the word out! @nkgarg.bsky.social and I are excited to present a personalized feed for academics! It shows posts about papers from accounts you’re following bsky.app/profile/pape...

Very cool! Also pinning!

👋

NBER The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is a private, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that facilitates cutting-edge investigation and analysis of major economic issues. It disseminates res...

NBER Immigrants and the Economy meeting is this Friday and will be live-streamed here!

www.youtube.com/channel/UC79...

Program here with an excellent lineup of papers: www.nber.org/conferences/...

NEW: Senator Marshall (R-KS) RUNS AWAY, fleeing his own town hall after being asked about DOGE firing Veterans. MAKE HIM GO VIRAL.

I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F.

18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it.

We made this website to tell our story:
18f.org

You don’t have to have kids to have a family. You don’t have to have a family to have a personal life. You don’t have to have much of a personal life to need work-life balance.

Does ignoring work-life balance give a leg up in publishing? Maybe. But that doesn’t mean we should be encouraging it.

Been chatting with some juniors lately who were surprised to hear me recommend not working more than 40 hours a week or nights/weekends. Even during grad school.

I was appalled to hear them recount some of the advice they are getting from others.

So here is my PSA:

PSA to fellow economists- if African countries are the preferred sites for randomized experiments to place papers in top 5 economics journals, then the history, institutions, and people/scholars of African countries are more than good enough to study as "general interest" and co-authors 1/n #Econsky

Fatal Errors: The Mortality Value of Accurate Weather Forecasts Accurate weather forecasts save thousands of lives. Accounting for benefits and costs, forecasts create billions of dollars of value for Americans every year.

Census working paper showing that more accurate weather predictions save lives www.census.gov/library/work...

And in another 10 we will have been removed from the electorate

#changebackyourname

If you are a liberal in deep blue territory, one thing you could try doing right now is figuring out how to replace your Democratic member of Congress next year. With very few exceptions, the typical safe seat Dem is not meeting the moment. Find someone who will and help them.

FAA implements new airspace rules at Reagan Airport during presidential flights The FAA will now bring air traffic at Reagan Washington National Airport to a complete stop whenever the president flies nearby on Marine One.

If you are thinking of flying in or out of Reagan, just don’t. Currently trapped on a plane in ATL due to multiple consecutive groundstops at DCA. SO many recent cases where 90min flights turn in to 8hr ordeals. Trump’s grip on FAA has made DCA unusable

Excited to hear about @kaseybuckles.bsky.social work on intergenerational connections in census data at PPCW at Georgia Tech

Five alarm fire.

www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

Amazon=Temu
WF=Costco
WaPo=NYT+local (e.g. ARLnow)
Kindle=Kobo

Montana Bill Would Charge Women for 'Trafficking' Their Own Fetus The legislation, House Bill 609, is the first of its kind in the country

Coming to a dictatorship near you: restrictions on women voting or even traveling

jessica.substack.com/p/montana-bi...

Having served as a Moscow correspondent in the early days of Putin's reign, this reminds me of how the Kremlin took over its own press pool and made sure that only compliant journalists were given access.

Republicans just dropped their first open attack on women's right to travel. jessica.substack.com/p/montana-bi...

The insatiable lust for more money and more power. That explains all of their actions perfectly.

If you can no longer stand doing nothing, consider placing these flyers on select windshields near you (because defacing private property, while tempting, is clearly wrong)

www.teslatakedown.com

What a devastating and incredibly inefficient loss

Favorite Recommendations A1: Reviewer transfer mechanism A2: “Essential” vs. “optional” reviewer comments A5: Statement of author ordering method A6: Use of ⓡ symbol A9: “All names, then all initials” citation style B1 to B4: Creation of Journal Information Center for harmonized performance & decision metrics, editorial policies, and author surveys B8: Communication of conflict-of-interest policies B9: Communication of appeals policy C5: Diversity of institution, background & geography in editorial team C6: Prohibit simultaneous positions to limit concentration of influence C11: Awards for excellence in reviewing PLUS 20 MORE!

Very happy to see the recommendations from the joint AEA-EEA-ES-RES committee on improving publishing in economics. Many good, long-overdue recommendations. I hope they are are all implemented widely by @aeajournals.bsky.social & others
www.econometricsociety.org/uploads/docu...

Some highlights...

Defending Transgender Women On January 30th at 5pm Census.gov went down, so that the Census Bureau could review the website for materials that did not comply with one of the anti-trans executive orders. It is being called the “d...

😭
So well written.

www.kshb.com/news/local-n...

📢 I am looking for a new PhD student (Research Associate)📢

🔹 4 year position at FU Berlin (66% TV-L E13)
🔹 Research on causal effects in education, health, labour & family economics
🔹 2 hours teaching/week & statistical consulting

#EconSky

www.fu-berlin.de/universitaet...

🚀 Exciting Opportunity! 🚀
#AI keeps me up at night. What will happen to work & workers? 🤔
I'm partnering with Schmidt Sciences to offer up to $200,000 in funding for early-career researchers! 💡
🗓️ Apply by March 31 2025
🙏 spread the word!
🔗 Learn more & apply schmidtsciences.org/ai-at-work
#EconSky