Carlo Prato

So six academics decided to read the same book together and did not realize how long the book was. Middlemarch took us almost a year and to discuss it we used slides.

Anyway, my one sentence summary of the discussion is that it's a book about self-deception.

How Google Maps quietly allocates survival across London’s restaurants - and how I built a dashboard to see through it I wanted a dinner recommendation and got a research agenda instead. Using 13000+ restaurants, I rebuild its ratings with machine learning and map how algorithmic visibility actually distributes power.

I wanted dinner recommendations so I scraped 13,000+ London restaurants and accidentally discovered Google Maps is running a shadow economy. Anyway here's a dashboard and a political economy thesis: open.substack.com/pub/laurenle...

🚨Job News: Postdoc positions in LSE Government Department 🚨

Apply to work with the brilliant and wonderful Carl Muller-Crepon @carlmc.bsky.social on his BORDERS ERC project at LSE @lsegovernment.bsky.social

jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/...

This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥

Where willpower fails, a rolling pin-brandishing grandmother may still succeed

Call for Submissions: Democratic Resilience and the Politics of Belonging

Columbia, June 4-5, 2026

Co-Organizers: @aalrababah.bsky.social (Bocconi), @gemmadipoppa.bsky.social (Columbia), Shigeo Hirano (Columbia), @ginvernizzi.bsky.social (Bocconi)

Submit: lnkd.in/eiPgt_w5

Details ⬇️

A prophecy from “The Makers of American Wine,” 2012.

Happy to chat more if you’d like. email/DM

EG: I mobilize to keep factory open, but globalization increases the cost of govt takeover and thus the level of mobilization above which govt intervenes. Anticipating this, I believe others will not show up and so I am less likely to show up myself. People here are strategic in the sense of Andy

I agree with Andy that the distinction between naive and strategic is a useful way to get at this. The starting point is a theory of political participation (with expressive and instrumental motivations) and a stance on what globalization does. 1/2

I've been working on a new tool, Refine, to make scholars more productive. If you're interested in being among the very first to try the beta, please read on.

Refine leverages the best current AI models to draw your attention to potential errors and clarity issues in research paper drafts.

1/

@wzb.bsky.social is searching for new director for the study of democracy

These are extraordinary senior positions; tenured wth funding to establish a new dept & pursue big agendas

www.wzb.eu/en/jobs/dire...

🚨Please share widely!

#Polisky @epssnet.bsky.social
@ecpr.bsky.social @apsa.bsky.social

Thank you Filipe :-)

@edogrillo.bsky.social have been exchanging screenshots on a weekly basis

April 25, 1945 marks the end of the Nazi occupation of Italy. We honor those who chose to resist and those who died fighting.

The Benedicta massacre occurred between April 6 and 11, 1944, a few miles from my hometown. It’s the largest mass killing of the Italian Resistance, taking over 150 lives.

As a group, I’d say we did pretty well

From a proud veteran of EITM 2011: do apply to this!

MoPED Workshop Berlin Meeting on the Political Economy of Development (MoPED) -- The MoPED workshop offers an opportunity for scholars who focus on the political economy of development, broadly defined, to build...

🚨 please share!

We will be running our annual workshop on the political economy of development in Berlin @wzb.bsky.social in June.

This is a really fun workshop doing deep reads of a small number of new papers.

Call for papers / participants below! ⬇️

www.wzb.eu/en/events/mo...

EPSA Pre-Conference on Culture We invite submissions for a pre-EPSA workshop on the topic of “Culture”. The event will take place on June 25th, 2025 at IE University Madrid. The study of culture has a long-standing tradition in pol...

Please spread the word:

Reminder that, together with @emmylindstam.bsky.social and Joan Ricart-Huguet, we are organising a pre-EPSA workshop on Culture on June 25th at IE University.

The deadline to submit papers is next week (Feb 15th).

More details here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Let’s just hope we were right about this one…

Phase behavior of Cacio and Pepe sauce "Pasta alla Cacio e pepe" is a traditional Italian dish made with pasta, pecorino cheese, and pepper. Despite its simple ingredient list, achieving the perfect texture and creaminess of the sauce can ...

Yes. arxiv.org/abs/2501.00536

From which we conclude that The Bayesian Persuasion Police™ is more zealous than The Italian Food Police

Unclear

It was in Brussels, so not an option

Early this morning I saw a pineapple liying on the sidewalk and the image has been haunting me since.

[CONFERENCE ALERT]

Political, Social, and Economic Inequality

Organizers: A. Alrababah and G. Invernizzi (Bocconi), S. Hirano and C. Prato (Columbia)

The conference will be held at Bocconi University on June 19-20, 2024. Submit here before 12/31: shorturl.at/fDyoD

Where Ian Turner and I argue that weakening congressional oversight may actually undermine presidential attempts to influence bureaucrats

With @ginvernizzi.bsky.social, @carloprato.bsky.social and Shigeo Hirano, we're thrilled to announce the inaugural Bocconi-Columbia Conference on Political, Social, and Economic Inequality. 📅 Mark your calendars: June 19-20, 2025 at Bocconi University!