I wonder how much the Arsenal fan would swear if he was reshaping a large panel dataset in Stata

Let G be a set of items considered "good" according to a percentile-based criterion p(where ├ p∈(0,100]), such that G contains the top p% most expensive items in a given category. For whisky and wine, let Wand V denote the sets of "good" whiskies and "good" wines, respectively, under the same percentile criterion p. Then, for any w∈Wand any v∈V, "price"(w)<2×"price"(v).

Conjecture:

Whatever your definition of “good”, a good bottle of whisky is cheaper than two good bottles of wine

The USA might be an outlier. In a follow-up paper for 1950-2010, the unit cost of finance seems to fall over time for other countries (FR, DE, IT, JP) but not for US. USA: a relatively flat unit cost, for the other countries it falls. Finance Value Added divided by bank loans is a crude indicator of cost per unit; less sophisticated than the “Unit cost of finance” indicator from Philippon (2015). Bank loans (the denominator) do not include all financial outputs.

Yes, it's fascinating!

The USA might be an outlier. In a follow-up paper for 1950-2010, the unit cost of finance seems to fall over time for other countries (FR, DE, IT, JP) but not for US.

www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Philippon (2015, AER) shows how the unit cost of intermediation in the USA stays at 1.5-2% of intermediated assets, and hasn't decreased over the period 1886-2012

Relatedly, Philippon shows how the unit cost of intermediation in the USA stays at 1.5-2% of intermediated assets, and hasn't decreased over the period 1886-2012

dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer....

Europe just started building a ‘kill switch’ for U.S. tech — and the market isn’t priced for it, says this strategist Zoom and Microsoft are among those companies that could lose business as Europe seeks tech sovereignty, says Matthew Tuttle

“It’s digital sovereignty — and it’s quietly becoming the civilian version of rearmament.”

More on the shift away from US tech.

(HT @kentindell.bsky.social)

www.marketwatch.com/story/europe...

New: A Houston woman is suing Tesla in Harris County, alleging that her Cybertruck, while using Tesla's "Full Self-Driving mode" tried to drive the car off of a bridge. Here is the dashcam footage provided by her lawyers: www.chron.com/culture/arti...

📢 Reminder!!
RP ECR11 online conference

Submit a 3 page abstract by Sun 22nd March

#EconSky

Data Visualization A Practical Introduction

Here’s a full draft of the upcoming second edition of my “Data Visualization: A Practical Introduction”: socviz.co

Japanese hiragana characters, ko and go

Learning Japanese hurts my eyes: in my ~A4 textbook, you need to distinguish markings with a size of about a hundredth of a centimeter...

... and the SI is now published in Issue 1, Feb 2026:

link.springer.com/journal/1096...

SpaceX, for example, aims to use agile innovation to begin transporting people to Mars by 2024, with the goal of establishing a self-sustaining colony on the planet.

"Harvard Business Review" is a prestigious FT50 scientific journal, important for hiring, promotions, research funding, etc.

So why are they publishing this crap?

#EconSky #SpaceX

Rigby, D.K., Sutherland, J., Noble, A. (2018). Agile at scale. Harvard Business Review, 96(3), 88-96.

Id like to run a special issue of a social science journal on "Calling Bullshit" where people can just go on a full on rant (anonymously if they like) and rip well established ideas to shreds. Zero requirements to be balanced or polite or have any respect for pompous senior professors.

FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS
#druid26
Copenhagen, Denmark
June 8-10, 2026
Submission deadline: March 1
Web site: www.druid.dk

@mariasavona.bsky.social
@paulnightingale.bsky.social
@maryannfeldman.bsky.social
@karogge.bsky.social‬

Research Policy 11th online conference for Early Career Researchers! Mon 27th April 2026, 2-4pm (UK time) Submit a 3 page abstract by Sun 22nd March

📢📢Research Policy 11th online conference for Early Career Researchers!

Mon 27th April 2026, 2-4pm (UK time)

Submit a 3 page abstract by Sun 22nd March

Link for submitting:
forms.gle/bkMBQLia6Fhe...

Link to RP page:
www.sciencedirect.com/journal/rese...

#EconSky

Could be a useful way to publish on topics that you suspect might get unflattering results!

New submission format at SBE:
“Replications as Registered Reports”

link.springer.com/journal/1118...

You can get "in-principle acceptance" before data collection even begins; final paper gets published regardless the results, if the study is conducted rigorously.

#EconSky

I'm a few minutes behind the live call, but here's my Q4 Tesla earnings call "live thread"!

We start out with Elon announcing that Tesla's mission has changed to "Amazing Abundance," which represents a pivot from the "Sustainable Abundance" tagline he announced last year.

📣 Come join a top-5 strategy department in Europe and work with me on an exciting topic at the intersection of causal AI and strategy 🤖📈

I'm recruiting a PhD student as part of my Sapere Aude Research Leader Grant from the Independent Research Fund Denmark. (1/3)

It’s not that America elected a despot. Lots of countries have done that.

It’s that they RE-elected a despot. He showed them who he was during his first term. He showed them more of who he was during his time out of office. But they STILL voted him back in.

The one thing that is growing extremely fast is the wealth of the top billionaires:

The top 0.00001% used to own the equivalent of 3% of national income in wealth in 2010

Now they own the equivalent of 12% of national income!

Many self-employed are trapped in jobs paying way below minimum wage...

I'm extending research we have been doing on marginal undersized poor performance firms, looking at their labour productivity.

The length of the long tail of poor performance firms in the UK is well known but still striking.

But the depth of that tail is a real shocker. Their labour ....

Tesla drivers buying escape tools and new cars to avoid getting trapped inside Addressing Tesla's malfunctioning doors has gained urgency in the U.S. after numerous incidents in which people were severely injured or died after being unable to escape vehicles.

From buying glass breakers to opting for new cars, Tesla owners are having to go to great lengths to deal with a problem most had never imagined: being unable to open malfunctioning doors in the electric vehicle.

Data Science MBA: Big Data, Digitalization, and Strategy; With Applications in R

In the digital age, leadership matters more than ever. 'Data Science MBA'—by @coad.bsky.social—just published in @springer.springernature.com. Discusses the skills of a data scientist & how digital transformation leads to new concerns surrounding ethics. bit.ly/4s28asS #BookSky #AcademicSky #EduSky

Waseda Podcasts: Rigorous Research, Real Impact– “University vs. Corporate Startups: A Tale of Two Entrepreneurial Paths” Waseda University released episode seven, “University vs. Corporate Startups: A Tale of Two Entrepreneurial Paths”, of season two of its Eng...

Waseda Podcasts: Rigorous Research, Real Impact– “University vs. Corporate Startups: A Tale of Two Entrepreneurial Paths”

www.waseda.jp/top/en/news/...

Podcast where I discuss my recent paper in JTT:
"The company I keep is not corporate enough", on University startups.

doi.org/10.1007/s109...

The book is now online!

While logged in at your university, if you go here and click on "Download book PDF", you can freely download the book PDF:
link.springer.com/chapter/10.1...

Climate inaction is claiming millions of lives every year, warns new Lancet Countdown report WHO and global partners are calling for the protection of people’s health to be recognized as the most powerful driver of climate action, as a new global report released today warns that continued ove...

Governments spent US$956 billion on net fossil fuel subsidies in 2023, more than triple the annual amount pledged to support climate-vulnerable countries. Fifteen countries spent more subsidizing fossil fuels than on their entire national health budgets. @thelancet.com

www.who.int/news/item/29...

Book cover for my new book: for my new book: "Data Science MBA: Big Data, Digitalization, and Strategy; with applications in R" Published by Springer Coming out before the end of 2025

📖 Excited to be checking the proofs for my new book:

"Data Science MBA:
Big Data, Digitalization, and Strategy; with applications in R"

Published by Springer

Coming out before the end of 2025!

If your library has a deal with Springer, it will be free to download the PDF

Percent self-employed on the vertical axis, log of per capita income on the horizontal axis. There is clearly a negative relationship.

This is reminiscent of previous findings of a negative relationship between Self-Employment and GDP per capita:

Henrekson & Sanandaji:
doi.org/10.1073/pnas...