Emma Rackstraw

August 1, 2025 AMERICAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION Committee on Economic Statistics and Committee on Government Relations Statement from the American Economic Association on the Dismissal of the BLS Commissioner Leaders of the American Economic Association express their grave concern over the dismissal of the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) earlier today. The independence of the federal statistical agencies is essential to the proper functioning of a modern economy. Accurate, timely, and impartial statistics are the foundation upon which households, businesses, and policymakers make critical decisions. Undermining the independence or credibility of these agencies threatens the integrity of the information that markets, institutions, and the public rely on every day. Measuring the vast and dynamic U.S. economy in real time is inherently challenging. It is standard practice for statistical estimates to be revised as more complete and higher-quality data become available. These revisions reflect the commitment of statistical agencies to accuracy, transparency, and methodological rigor-not failure or bias. The BLS has long had a well-deserved reputation for professional excellence and nonpartisan integrity. Safeguarding this tradition is vital for the continued health of the U.S. economy and public trust in our institutions. We call upon elected officials to respect and preserve the independence of the nation's statistical infrastructure. Lawrence Katz President, American Economic Association Katharine Abraham President-Elect, American Economic Association Karen Dynan Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Economic Statistics Kenneth Troske Chair, American Economic Association Committee on Government Relations

Statement from the largest economics association about the BLS firing

As context: AEA approximately never makes such public statements

This is a big deal

Aaaaand it turns out they sent an encrypted .accdb file that can’t be opened. Excellent.

What to make of POTUS's attempt to fire the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)?

Let's run down what knowledgable people are saying...

…and you realize it’s on a CD-ROM you’re going to have to take to your public library to use 😂

TFW your FOIA request from 9 months ago arrives in your mailbox…

It’s been such a privilege to learn from the amazing folks at @quattronecenter.org this year

ICE is nabbing far more noncriminals off the streets than people with criminal convictions: four times more. cato.org/blog/ice-arr...

New data show that ICE is pulling record numbers of people off the streets who have no criminal convictions of any kind. This is not just a change from the Biden admin. This is a radical tactical shift compared to Trump 1.0. These arrests are up over 1,000% from 2017.
www.cato.org/blog/ice-arr...

@harvard.edu what are you doing to protect and support your grad students whose NSF GRFP grants were terminated today?

I would argue you’re one now??? You wrote the damn thing already

Call for papers: NBER meeting on The Economics of Firearm Markets, Crime, and Gun Violence - October 10 in Cambridge, MA

Deadline: June 4

www.nber.org/calls-papers...

Police Across the U.S. Welcomed Cop Show “The First 48.” Then Relationships Soured. Partnerships between police and the popular reality show, once enthusiastic and mutually beneficial, have often turned into breakups. Here’s how that has played out in three cities.

Controversies have prompted at least a half-dozen cities to cancel their contracts or end their relationships with “The First 48.”

Here’s why Dallas, Memphis and Mobile have stopped working with the long-running cop reality show.

@marthagimbel.bsky.social read this and immediately thought “bet I know that Gimbel”

This investigation echoes the findings of QC Research Fellow @emmarackstraw.bsky.social, whose paper on "copaganda" found that arrests for low-level, victimless crimes increase by 20% while departments film with reality television shows.

Her 2023 paper is here:

🙏 We need your help 🙏

The government continues to cancel grants at both NIH and NSF to censor science it doesn't like.

We're tracking terminations to organize and advocate. Please report your terminated grants:

NIH:
forms.gle/J2znQ7y7YpeP...

NSF: airtable.com/appGKlSVeXni...

w/ @noamross.net

Econ of crime folks, what are your favorite books you’ve read on the criminal justice system? Not written by an economist, but something one could read through an economist’s lens. (I’m looking for book report project ideas for undergrads!)

JOE is still open for posting jobs! It's one of the things we, the AEA committee on the job market, would like to officially encourage especially given the current environment
@johncawley.bsky.social
@aeainformation.bsky.social

There are so many reasons I feel so privileged to work in education, but ordering instructor copies of books I’m thinking of assigning is up there. No one talks about the free book loophole!!!!! We are among the luckiest people alive!!

Very excited to have this paper with @franciscaantman.bsky.social Bruce Weinberg, and Sgeng Qu out on the (positive!) long run effects of the @aeainformation.bsky.social Mentoring program.

www.nber.org/papers/w33689

Linking to my work on this: bsky.app/profile/emma...

The inevitable result of the ways reality TV cameras supercharge the desire to make an arrest — ANY arrest.

A second new position at @capolicylab.bsky.social - this one for a research manager for our criminal justice work.

In honor of long COVID awareness day, I wanted to speak about what my experience is like, 25 months in.

I am much better but still only leave the house a couple times a week.

1/

Harvard just fired me and all of my colleagues. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

a great opportunity for grad students, postdocs, APs working on research in Econ of Crime field! 👇

📣 Submit your crime paper by Feb 14.

🔸 4th Workshop on the Economics of Crime for Junior Scholars
🔸 29-30 May, 2025
🔸 Quattrone Center, UPenn
🔸 Keynote: @amandayagan.bsky.social
🔹 Send your paper to:
WEC.Jr.Econ@gmail.com

@emmarackstraw.bsky.social

Hope to see folks at this great #ASSA2025 session now that the strike is over!

#AEA2025 participants please sign to encourage the AEA/ASSA to be reasonable and ethical approaching the hotel strikes

Please sign a petition, which I was proud to sign, asking the AEA to make reasonable adjustments to its plans to enable people to make their own decisions about how to handle the picket line.
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...