Do you have kids? Might college be a part of their future?
As someone who tends to overthink and underact on parenting decisions, this write-up (and the underlying research) really hit home.
money.com/saving-for-c...
Providing the first large-scale analysis of College Saving Accounts participation and effectiveness, from Guglielmo Briscese, John A. List, and Sabrina Liu https://www.nber.org/papers/w34126
We find that financial literacy emerges as a key barrier: 61% of parents who could save enough to cover half of college costs still perceive potential savings as fruitless. Overall, targeted financial literacy interventions can expand CSA effectiveness considerably. ideas.repec.org/p/feb/artefa...
**NEW PAPER ALERT**
When you have kids or believe that higher education is a critical tool for social mobility, college affordability is top of mind. College Savings Accounts offer a promising tool for financing higher education. We combine several data sources to explore key issues.
We are excited to join Bluesky! J-PAL North America is a regional office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, based at MIT, seeking to reduce poverty by ensuring policy is informed by scientific evidence. www.povertyactionlab.org/na
Our next Chicago School in Experimental Economics summer programs are coming! One will take place at the University of Bonn on September 7-11, and the other will take place at the University of Chicago on September 13-17. For more details please see here: voices.uchicago.edu/jlist/the-ch...
"To enhance the employment potential of AI and minimize its negative effects on workers, broad-based access to high-quality education, together with training programs and active labor-market policies, will be crucial." www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...
Hope this ongoing work can contribute to the discussion on the demand and supply side of how Econ research can (and can't!) influence policymaking #Econsky @bencasselman.bsky.social
How policymakers and the US population update their beliefs on the use of science and the trust they have in government following a field experiment that demonstrated the ineffectiveness of a policy intervention, from Guglielmo Briscese and John A. List https://www.nber.org/papers/w33239
Great piece @bencasselman.bsky.social! I think another issue is irrelevance. Journal gatekeeping has made econ insular, pushing young economists toward 'what Editor X likes' instead of bold, innovative work policymakers value—leaving institutional Econ advisors with a limited set of ideas #EconSky
I think you just beat ChatGPT :)
Hi Tristan would love to chat, if you’re interested.
Highly relevant given this recent evidence about the political economy of experiments @gubri.bsky.social @johnlist.bsky.social: bsky.app/profile/john...
How do we overcome political hurdles to learning from experimentation #EconTwitter? The practice below from the private sector seems promising: pre-plan a positive course of action for each possible experimental result 👇
If you're at #ASSA2025 come see us present this paper at this great session: www.aeaweb.org/conference/2...
Key takeaway: Citizens often judge institutions via ideological shortcuts, not facts. Access to evidence-based gov info boosts trust & leads citizens to follow gov recommendations. Scalable interventions like ours show how govs can rebuild public trust (5/5)
In our second study, access to EPA air quality info during the 2024 election increased trust & support for the agency. But: trust gains relied on info relevance. Simply exposing people to the EPA (e.g., via office locations) didn’t yield similar results. (4/5)
In one study, linking participants to CDC data during COVID increased factual knowledge, trust, & compliance (e.g., swabs). Four months later, trust gains persisted and reflected a conscious shift in beliefs about the agency’s integrity. (3/5)
We ran two experiments, 4 years apart (2020 & 2024), to test if reducing search costs for institution-sourced info improves trust & compliance. Results: Yes! Accessing evidence-based advice boosts trust and willingness to follow Gov recommended pro-social behaviors. (2/5)
Why do people distrust government agencies, even when they provide vital info (e.g., health, environment)? Can low-cost interventions restore trust & promote welfare-enhancing behaviors? Our study provides novel experimental evidence on these key questions (1/5) 👇 #EconSky
Happy to participate to this very timely session at #ASSA2025 on political polarisation and trust #econsky
ChatGPT 4o didn't know how to solve this puzzle. Can you? #EconSky
Excited for #ASSA2025! Don’t miss our panel on the growing experimental work at the intersection of political economy and behavioral economics: www.aeaweb.org/conference/2... #econsky
Firms investments in R&D and labor force.
🤣 only 4?!
I did, and didn't find much. It'd be interesting to see if parents invest money and time on their children's human capital formation for different reasons (e.g., cognitive abilities vs status vs upward mobility etc.) across income groups. Maybe someone should write a paper about this... ;) ?
#EconSky where can I find publicly available longitudinal survey data on US firms? Any sample or industry is fine.
This is an interesting point. Is there any research documenting how parents value educ and higher educ for their children across income groups?
Our political economy of field experiments study has just been released by the @nberpubs.bsky.social!
Written with @gubri.bsky.social, who is brilliant and on the market this year!