Aine Seitz McCarthy

“On June 15, 1992, [Dan] Quayle altered 12-year-old student William Figueroa's correct spelling of "potato" to "potatoe" at the Muñoz Rivera Elementary School spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey. He was the subject of widespread ridicule for his error.” — @wikipedia.org

A life skills / soccer playing intervention among boys and a goal setting intervention among girls each reduce girls' reports of intimate partner violence. manishashah.net/wp-content/u... Shah presenting evidence from Tanzania at #LACDEV2025

In a world where the number of children under 5 that will die this year is greater than last year… It does feel like problem of sharing health data is a bit to the right of the decimal point

Amy Damon presenting her work on time use in Indonesia during our fantastic session on households and gender at @weai.bsky.social. Thanks to @lindseynovak.bsky.social for presenting a real fun topic and to @econprachi.bsky.social for organizing!

“Paid parental leave and public child care would indeed increase the birth rate, but by small amounts. These policies are needed because American parents (especially mothers) are screaming for help.”

#econsky

Contributor: What to give Americans for Mother's Day? More than a baby bonus Other policies would do more to make parents' lives manageable. But a check is a good start toward fighting child poverty.

www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

My op-ed in the @latimes.com on the insufficient and ineffective baby bonus idea for Mother’s Day (come on, we need some actual help here)

t.co/AR7IPWJxM4

"You’d think the admin would want to focus on increasing- not cutting- funding to maternal and child health, repairing its self-inflicted econ wounds, and lowering the cost of living ... before asking young people to bring children into the world"

Turns our left & right are not far apart on this.

A Baby Boom? In This Economy? The White House is full of pronatalist rhetoric — and anti-baby policies.

And Klas from @bloomberg.com "the choice to create a new life isn’t only a financial calculation. It’s also a profound act of hope…

www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...

"Doom-mongering about economic downturns and impending social collapse is unlikely to inspire anyone to have more children, a decision that normally signals confidence in the future”

How Trump could reverse America's baby bust Government interventions do not work because they do not compensate for the opportunity cost of having children.

Ok, this is actually a great point from Kristina Murkett in the @thespectator1828.bsky.social :

“We have removed the... community networks that make parenting more manageable, and no subsidy can compensate for these huge social and cultural changes"

www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...

This was a really good summary for people not in the field to understand what’s at stake. The part I’m so glad he drew attention to is the dignity shown by the public servants affected, unlike those destroying our health and science infrastructure

Lindsey Novak and I are hosting LACDEV in Portland this year- waterfalls and breweries may be on the agenda. August 1-2.

Come talk RCTs and DID estimators with us for a couple days, and bring your family to experience the joy of Oregon in August!

#econsky

Home Mission Statement This annual conference brings together faculty working in Development Economics at Liberal Arts Colleges. The intention of the conference is to provide a forum to discuss recent research and teaching in development economics. The conference takes place annually and rotates among

Last day to submit your papers to LACDEV (Liberal Arts College Development Economics Conference- the nerdiest and chattiest dev conference out there)

sites.google.com/site/lacdevc...

Interesting new research suggesting one reason women are less likely to major in STEM, economics, and business is that they expect to face labor market discrimination later in those fields (so that the return to such majors is lower).

www.nber.org/papers/w33680

'Moss Appreciation Week': a lot of celebration for a very little plant Moss Appreciation Week is packed with events both scientific... and also silly. Moss walks, moss talks, moss movies, crafting moss-themed Valentines, and a "gastropod derby" with snails and slugs (for...

Who doesn’t love moss?? LC’s moss appreciation week on Morning Edition this week:

www.npr.org/2025/02/14/n...

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
"Then they came for the trade unionists
…
"Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

—Martin Niemöller
#econsky #academicsky

marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2025/01/pres...

A chart in three parts showing data on child mortality to make the points that "The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better. All three statements are true at the same time."

The world is awful. The world is much better. The world can be much better.

All three statements are true at the same time. Understanding this is key to solving big global problems.

We believe data & research can help us understand both the problems we face & the progress that’s possible. 🧵

Opinion: America needs to retake Econ 101 If we're going to vote based on concerns about cost of living, we need to know what levers government can pull and which promises are plausible.

My op-ed on economic policies and the election was published today in the Los Angeles Times:

www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

#econsky

States that criminalize abortion are losing obstetricians.
#econsky

marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-...

🙋🏼‍♀️ I swear I am fun, for an economist

"We Will Pass Those Tariff Costs Back To The Consumer," Says CEO Of AutoZone. Here's A Look At Other Companies Raising Prices President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs have already begun to upend businesses in several industries and many are taking action to safeguard their profits. The tariffs, which include a 10-20% ...

📉📈 insights into how tariff taxes would raise consumer prices.
finance.yahoo.com/news/pass-th...

Nice 🧵 on @fkamal.bsky.social’s super insightful blog about how broad-based import tariffs can harm the U.S. economy by reducing competitiveness, disrupting supply chains, hitting at job growth, and provoking retaliation. 📉📈 #econsky #exportersareimporters

Age and Agency: Evidence from a Women’s Empowerment Program in Tanzania Understanding the effectiveness of programs designed to empower women is important for development policy, and critically important in places with his…

Thanks to partners: Enabel, Trias, SFTZ, and to support from
@agnesq.bsky.social, IFPRI, Gates Foundation.

The pdf is available to download for FREE EVERYWHERE because the wonderful @melindagates foundation covered our open access fees!

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

a cartoon of people holding signs that say we are the future ALT: a cartoon of people holding signs that say we are the future

Takeaway: Age matters for efforts to empower. It’s hard to change deeply established patriarchal marital or market norms… but the revolution has always been in the hands of the young.

Maisha Bora targeted food-insecure villages, so no randomization. Method of choice is a DID estimation with inverse probability treatment weighting (aka doubly robust weighting), although we throw a bunch of methodological spaghetti at the wall in the appendix.

The increase in overall emp score (Pro-WEAI) was driven by improved control over income (🤑!), group membership and access to credit. Unfortunately, attitudes towards IPV did not change (the stickiest). But perhaps no surprise: empowered women generally experience less IPV.

three young people holding a sign that says save the world ALT: three young people holding a sign that says save the world

Gender norms are super sticky. No overall effect for full sample of women (aged 15-80, avg age of 37). However! Substantial improvement in women’s emp for young women (under 35).

Most women’s emp programs can be divided into 1) financial, 2) educational, 3) intrinsic (try to reshape norms). Ours had all 3: microcredit groups, biz skills training, nutrition education, livestock extension, women’s rights groups, and water access improvements.

Context here is super important: Maasai ethnic group in East Africa is historically quite patriarchal and is also pastoralist (migration is common⏭️enumeration is hard ⏭️Maasai are often missing from surveys)