🚨🚨Revised paper 🚨🚨
The Balance of Power in Franchising
w/@ulrichatz.org, Blake Eliason, @mikelipsitz.bsky.social, @pnorlander.bsky.social, & @stpinto.bsky.social. We built the 1st comprehensive panel dataset of franchise contract terms: 46,000 documents, 4,500 chains, 20+ provisions, 2009-2024.
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By the way: the ban is retroactive and has penalties built in for violators. It goes into effect June 2027, when WA will join CA, OK, MN, and ND as states that prohibit more or less all noncompetes.
Noncompetes are a bit less in the news than a year or two ago. But WA just quietly banned ALL employee noncompetes. Previously, they had been banned for relatively low paid workers only
governor.wa.gov/news/2026/go...
When firms take political stances, workers sort accordingly. Firm announcements post Dobbs reshaped who applies and quits, and how politics increasingly organize the labor market, from Pawel Adrjan, Svenja Gudell, Emily Nix, Allison Shrivastava, Jason Sockin and Evan Starr www.nber.org/papers/w34948
Screenshot of X post by NewsForce: Pokemon Go players trained 30 billion image AI map.
They used to say "you either die a consumer goods company or live long enough to enter consumer finance."
The 2026 version is: "you either die a user experience company, or live long enough to become a data broker."
Exhibit A:
Katabasis came through and I just finished it. Great book (though I'd imagine people with no history of being academics might feel differently). Just started Poppy Wars. Thanks for the rec!
Many workers have missed shifts without jobs being destroyed making it challenging to measure labor impacts with conventional sources.
We use real-time daily data from Homebase to measure impacts. Thanks to UChicago and Homebase for making the data available.
#EconSky #NumbersDay
Nice! I'll let you know what I think..... In about 12 years.....
For a second I thought it was multiple choice
What do you think of Noriega?
(a) Naruto
(b) Maduro
Sounds awesome. I'm here for the commitment so maybe I'll try Poppy Wars, though Babel sounds great, too. Thanks!
Love ken liu but haven't read rf kuang. Rec for a first timer?
Coercion and Monopsony in Modern American Manufacturing: Evidence from Alabama Prison Labor Susan Helper Suresh Naidu Akseli Palomaki Adam Reich Aaron Sojourner We study coercion and monopsony in contemporary U.S. manufacturing labor markets. We combine administrative data from the Alabama Department of Corrections work release program with a unique survey of workers in the Alabama auto supply chain where workers report their work-release status. We first present descriptive patterns of work-release labor, finding that the use of incarcerated (i.e., work-release) labor is concentrated in the auto supply industry, especially in the Montgomery area, where Hyundai’s assembly plant is located. In the survey, the share of plant-level workers who are incarcerated is negatively correlated with non-incarcerated wages. The survey also enables estimation of hypothetical quit elasticities separately among incarcerated and non-incarcerated workers. Incarcerated workers are estimated to have quit elasticities less than half that of non-incarcerated workers. Because Alabama law requires employers to pay the same wage to incarcerated and non-incarcerated workers in the same jobs, the additional monopsony power introduced by employer access to incarcerated workers creates an incentive and ability for employers to reduce plant-level wages to, and employment of, non-incarcerated workers. We build a quantitative model of firm-specific labor supply that, for incarcerated workers, distinguishes the roles of coercion (the risk of physical harm in prison from not working), wage garnishment that blunts the consumption effect of higher wages, and monopsony (limited mobility across employers). Using it, we estimate effects on free and incarcerated workers’ welfare from i) reforming prison conditions to eliminate violence, ii) eliminating prison labor wage garnishment, iii) imposing a $15 minimum wage, &iv) abolishing prison labor. Free worker welfare goes up in all scenarios...
How does employer access to prisoners’ labor through work release impact the well-being of those workers & of free workers?
New working paper by Sue Helper, Suresh Naidu, Akseli Palomaki, Adam Reich, + me provides evidence, focus on auto manufacturing in AL
#EconSky
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
ICYMI given today's focus on the budget: the UK government has today also published a working paper on options for reform of non-compete agreements.
Responses to the specific options set out therein (statutory limits, size cutoffs and an outright ban), can be submitted until 18 February.
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Excited to dig in! Congrats!
Come work with me, and more importantly with all the much smarter and cooler people than I am, at the @innovateeconomy.bsky.social:
Full-time, entry-level research role for someone who wants to work directly with data, policy ideas, all while building strong quantitative and writing skills.
I've been interested in this question for a while now. It's really one that could go either way: does the increase in competition or the greater ability to tacitly collude dominate? Great to see strong evidence. I'm sure this is a topic we'll learn a lot more about in coming years
Understanding how Black Americans got to where they are today, requires understanding Black history. The Green Book Project is a place to share the rich historical journey of Black Americans finding dignity during the Jim Crow era:
greenbookproject.osu.edu #GreenBookProject
#CommunityMap #EconSky
Come work with us at CMU Heinz! We have a great applied microeconomics group and we’re looking for an economist to join us. Please reach out if you have any questions!
www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
Applications are now OPEN for the Master of Applied Economics and Data Science program, @upenn.edu econ's newest degree!
You can get lots more info (and apply!!) here:
www.lps.upenn.edu/degree-progr...
The inaugural cohort will start in Fall 2026. It's a three semester program designed to emphasize the intersection between economic theory and data-driven analysis.
As the executive director of the program, I'd be very happy to answer any questions you or your students have!
Applications are now OPEN for the Master of Applied Economics and Data Science program, @upenn.edu econ's newest degree!
You can get lots more info (and apply!!) here:
www.lps.upenn.edu/degree-progr...
AI Acquihires: Competition Risks, Talent Battles and Economic Spillovers Webinar - 8 October @ 17:00 CEST
🗣️Jonathan Kanter @lugaricano.bsky.social @imarinescu.bsky.social @igorletina.bsky.social Hans Zenger
Moderator: @florianederer.bsky.social
Register: cepr.org/events/ai-ac...
#EconSky
My coauthors and I are hiring a project coordinator for new research on an innovative jail-based rehabilitation paper (IGNITE), building on our recent QJE
Apply at careersearch.stanford.edu/jobs/project...
The Research Associate is a position on IWPR’s Research Team conducting research, including quantitative and qualitative empirical analysis, on issues related to IWPR’s core topics of Equitable Work and Wages, Caregiving and Families, Education and Career Advancement, and Reproductive Justice and Health Equity. The goal of our research is better inform partners and policymakers on ways to advance the economic security and well-being of women, their families, and communities. For this position, candidates must have demonstrated working experience with statistical programs such as STATA, R or SPSS, major national public health and/or economic databases, and be able to interpret data, analyze results, acquire data from primary or secondary sources, and filter and clean data. This role is expected to be able to produce high quality research products for public audiences with independent initiative and minimal oversight. Duties and Responsibilities Research: Conduct and draft literature reviews and collaborate on research proposals that identify novel and impactful research activities on issues related to IWPR core research areas: Equitable Work and Wages, Caregiving and Families, Education and Career Advancement, and Reproductive Justice and Health Equity. Perform advanced, complex quantitative data analysis of large datasets and trends, utilizing network science and/or other statistical methods, including creating data visuals. Perform advanced qualitative data analysis, including developing and fielding online surveys; and conducting interviews and focus groups. Write high quality blog posts, briefs, fact sheets, reports and presentations based on the data work and analysis and accessible to broad audiences including policymakers, advocates, and the media. Use and integrate racial equity and intersectional frameworks and analysis in research study designs, written reports, and briefs. Assist with proposal and grant report drafting.
Who wants to work with Kate Bahn at the Institute for Women's Policy Research?
#econ_ra
iwpr.applytojob.com/apply/ACdbXf...
More on the new job to come next week!
Mike in front of the FTC statue
Today is my last day working for the FTC. I'm very excited to start a new job next week in the @upenn.edu economics department!
The Bureau of Economics was a fantastic place to work with great colleagues, and being able to put my noncompete research into practice was the opportunity of a lifetime.
The FTC is hiring Statisticians in the Bureau of Economics!
This is a great opportunity for seniors or recent grads interested in antitrust and consumer protection economics, and applied microeconomics research.
Come work with me! Happy to answer any questions.
www.usajobs.gov/job/845835200
📣 Columbia’s Center for Political Economy searching for post docs for next academic year working on labor, firms and markets, and climate change!
Applications due 11/3, and I’m happy to talk to folks interested in working with the Labor Lab team! apply.interfolio.com/173083 📣
📢Nina Roussille and I are hiring a full-time predoctoral researcher to work with us at MIT on labor economics research projects.
IMPORTANT: this vacancy is open right now, so we are particularly interested in people who could start soon.
Link to apply: careers.peopleclick.com/careerscp/cl...
