Very proud of all the U.S. economists who signed this open letter to Trump: "Infrastructure strikes would impose enormous economic and strategic costs on America and humanitarian costs on the people of Iran, while strengthening the IRGC.

I hope the excellent Iranian students we accepted into our PhD program survive. I don't know how supportive they are of the regime change attempts, but I doubt they are supportive of a mad man destroying the country's infrastructure because of his own strategic mistakes.

Found this old map of the Otaniemi area where my university, Aalto, is now located.

News organizations have been trained in recent years to try to appear unbiased by including partisan, low quality polls in their averages. That's how the NY Times ends up with 41% avg. support for the Iran war today. Editorial decisions about how much to bow to dictators' will end up costing lives.

I honestly don't know who makes up stuff more: Chatgpt or Trump. But the combination of dishonest politicians and AI who will make up any answer to look polished is such a crappy zeitgeist for 2026.

Reading some referee reports clearly done with chatgpt, I fear it won’t be long until I’ll get reports where the referee left ”Adult mode” on.

By firing an opponent of chatgpt becoming smut and accusing her of sexual discrimination, Altman’s company emulates the ”accussation in a mirror” tactics of totalitarian regimes- portraying your opponent as morally corrupt to confuse public perception and delegitimize genuine criticism.

So many middle class people, including many academics, have been taught to avoid talking politics. I think just getting some people to publicly say ”That’s not right” is a win.

It’s ok to go back now, Roseanne Barr, the president of the United States posted a video of Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys.

Turns out, DOGE did put Social Security data at risk. Here’s what lawmakers are doing about it. Trump administration admits to security breaches that had been outlined in a whistleblower complaint

www.marketwatch.com/story/turns-...

DOGE appears to have had an immediate use for social security data as it sought to influence elections.

Submit a paper to this year's meeting of the European Society for Population Economics in Helsinki (many labor/education submissions as well). I happen to be one of the organizers, so reach out if you have questions.

European Winter Meeting of the Econometric Society in Nicosia- the University cats getting some warm glow.

New in print: In MS counties w/ higher % Black students, white policymakers were less likely to access Equalization funds. Exploiting variation in school spending induced by this so-called equalization policy, we document a tragedy in racist public policy. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

It's really not for Zelensky to rise to the occasion, NY Times. He has, countless times. It's for Republican senators to remember US used to defend democratic countries attacked by Russia. Why would the US do that? Otherwise Russia takes over, which is seems to have done at the CIA and White House.

"Either the loss of dignity, or the risk of losing a key partner."- such a diplomatic way for Zelensky to say the US is abdicating from defending freedom and democracy.

I was led to believe US professors should be approachable and go by their first name, which seems like a breath of fresh air from the formality in many countries. And then there’s the Dr. Jill Biden prescription, which suggests female professors should be addressed as formal as possible.

Can people switching from X to Bluesky please leave humblebrags behind?

They’re probably intimidated by trying to spell your last name.

I learned today that a Carnegie Mellon Fulbright student from Pakistan was detained by ICE in Pittsburgh. The charges are unclear, and there’s no public news—unlike earlier student arrests. This is how fascism normalizes. It all happens in a camp somewhere far away.

Went to the office and found out Uni was closed today for Reformation day. In my simple Weberian logic, I mistakenly imagined protestants didn’t have religious holidays.

Can researchers start suing AI companies for all the made up articles and citations?

Thank you Kamila, very excited to be working with you and Andreas Leibing. Such a nice time to be in Dresden !

Norway preparing for Trump's wrath if he doesn't get the Nobel prize is the next best thing after "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

This doesn’t bode well for my talk tomorrow, but this is why we have universities. Maybe the next generation of leaders won’t allow a genocide to happen under their eyes.

So much for "don't be evil" ...sickening how these corporations keep paying Trump.

Thanks for the warm welcome and looking forward to meeting many of you. I'm here all week :)

Jimmy Kimmel’s cancellation is the latest sign we’re witnessing the end of US democracy Under the Trump administration, the widespread, coordinated suppression of dissent is are ripping apart the fabric of American political life.

The FCC's intervention is not just about curbing freedom of speech. Every federal institution has political appointees who are strongarming and blackmailing private businesses into donating to the Trump Cosa Nostra.

IS selvitti: Nämä kieliryhmät saavat eniten Kelan toimeentulotukea – kolme ryhmää ylikorostuu Ilta-Sanomat selvitti Kelasta toimeentulotuen saajia äidinkielten perusteella ja vertasi lukuja kieliryhmien kokoon.

"The starting point should be that the employment rates and share of benefit recipients of immigrants would be roughly the same as those of Finns." I'll be sure to ask this economist what was the last war or genocide he escaped from.