Here's why Team Trump is suddenly talking about rejiggering the way GDP is calculated. This is just a projection, based on other recent economic data, and there will be a new estimate available tomorrow.
Newsletter is out (and free, as always). This week has some Super Bowl leftovers, some transit stuff and a conversation with people in the suddenly uncertain business of making government data more accessible.
It's been a while since I've watched something that had me literally laugh out loud several times in 5 minutes, but this artisanal data collector did it www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDr6...
We'll be covering:
🔍 How to define your audience
📚 The research behind effective data visualizations
📈 How to make better decisions to take your charts from good to great
✍ How to write about numbers and analysis using plain language
🗣️ The elements of a compelling data story
So excited to be teaching a new data visualization course at UNC’s Department of City & Regional Planning next month.
I’ll be posting all the course materials here frank-muraca.com/communicatin...
In every New York City neighborhood, Kamala Harris received markedly fewer votes than President Biden did in 2020, while in most neighborhoods, Donald Trump notched modest increases compared with his last run. nyti.ms/490k4KT
Oh so it’s over
Anyone writing about the impact of losing the CRA?
New Research Thread🧵:
We examine the spatial patterns and eviction rates of single-family landlords in the Twin Cities. We find Private Equity firms and REITs each have their own distinct geographies and evict tenants at higher rates than smaller landlords. 1/
It’s hard to overstate how much people hate inflation—and the lasting scars this recent surge caused. People across the board, even Democrats, mainly blamed the government (see the figure👇). Check the summary 🧵for "Why do we dislike inflation?" here: x.com/S_Stantcheva...
What a cool chart
New:
Hours after Trump won, ICE asked companies to submit plans for how they’d expand ICE’s system of GPS trackers + databases surveilling “noncitizens” awaiting trial or deportation.
Gov contractors said ICE’s timing was probably not a coincidence:
www.wired.com/story/ice-su...
Oh dang! No I didn’t
(Sheepishly raises hand) 👋
I made a starter pack for public interest technology, critical data studies, and related fields. LMK who else I should add, please. #PublicInterestTech #PublicInterestTechnology #DataforSocialGood go.bsky.app/He8HTaC
真的！ 我住过两年在江苏
🫡
Great visuals here
Back to work
A new study estimates that 65% of people who had to travel for abortion care *before Dobbs* incurred a “catastrophic health expense”—defined as 40% or more of their ability to pay—compared to 32% of those who were able to access care in their home states jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
One of the side effects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was reduced demand for Low Income Housing Tax Credits by investors. Reduced corporate tax rate = less need for tax credits.
The result was a drop in subsidy for AH projects and drove up the financial gap thats often filled by local govs
Abstract: We study the impact of neighborhoods’ race composition on appraisers’ valuation decisions in home purchase appraisals. Controlling for many appraisal inputs, including the appraiser themselves, we find that low appraisals (below the contract price) are at least 23 percent more likely in majority African American neighborhoods relative to neighborhoods with no African American residents. Instrumental variable estimates, based on historical race shares, indicate an impact of at least 13 percent. However, this effect dissipates when appraisers work in neighborhoods in which they have appraised before or in which many appraisals were recently completed, facts consistent with information based models of discrimination.
From FHFA (regulators of Fannie and Freddie):
Home Purchase Appraisals in Minority Neighborhoods
www.fhfa.gov/sites/defaul...
As expected, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point. No clear signal on where rates go from here. #EconSky #NumbersDay
Statement: www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/p...
Live coverage: www.nytimes.com/live/2024/11...
One of the biggest challenges identified was the need for professional autonomy among statistical agencies.
The report reviewed notable examples of how this autonomy was compromised under the first Trump administration (and other points in history)
Just this summer, the American Statistical Association released a thorough report about the fragile state of the country's public data systems www.amstat.org/policy-and-a...
Which is all to say - another drop in tax credit pricing would put more financial strain on these projects. And the communities most hurt will be those without financial resources to meet the gap
Since 2022, state and local governments have had to provide more subsidy for fewer units ced.sog.unc.edu/2024/09/2024...
LIHTC projects are already strained by historically high construction and capital costs - last year, local governments in North Carolina spent *at least* $28 million to fill the gap for 9% projects alone