What often gets missed in stories about declining birth rates is that they're due to declines specifically among young women. Young women are exercising reproductive autonomy and are making considered decisions about whether and when to have children.
This is a good thing.
Even though I'm an economist, I wish there was more focus on the human suffering from this war and less focus on the economic consequences. Hundreds of little girls are dead, and we're worried about oil prices.
I think @lavaredmonds.bsky.social is tongue in cheek here, but I honestly love this. Easiest way to screw up as a grad student or especially junior faculty is to not submit any papers.
In an effort to make bsky a place where people come to read dunks based on substance rather than scolds for not adhering to some liberal orthodoxy:
This is pretty dumb.
67% of Gen Z are struggling to afford their housing costs according to a recent Redfin report. 🏠📉
Between high rents, and a weak labor market, the struggle is real.
Rents are coming down in the places that built the most during the pandemic: the solution is to build housing! 🏗️
New books day! (Ok, one is just a revised version of a classic.) All coincidentally by some BA female economists. Congrats on the book @mlheggeness.bsky.social - I can’t wait to dive in!
I should add that economic development at Lewis & Clark is taught at the 200-level (post econ 100, but does not have micro theory or econometrics as prereqs)
Teaching econ dev this term? Feeling depressed about teaching it? Me too. #econtwitter #econsky
I always love getting syllabus additions from others, so I'll throw out that I'm adding these new (sad) readings this semester:
www.thisamericanlife.org/862/some-thi...
www.cgdev.org/blog/update-...
In North Carolina, a state that had legislated its commitment to life, Ciji Graham spent her final days struggling to find anyone to save hers.
www.propublica.org/article/nort...
Some of the stories in here are absolutely chilling. One US citizen of Somali descent was just riding an elevator with ICE agents and then they detained him for almost half an hour in the freezing cold despite him showing agents his passport card. They only let him go once protestors showed up.
🆕 Women’s power at home
In today's podcast, @seema.bsky.social @princetondevo.bsky.social & Alessandra Voena discuss what economic research has taught us about women’s power in the household: voxdev.org/topic/instit...
I argue in this piece that the nonprofit sector should be thinking more about the counterfactual when assessing fundraising success: winning a $2M competitive bid over capable peers advances the cause less than convincing someone to donate $1M they'd have spent on a yacht.
1. Less skilled labor is abundant. 2. Skilled emigration is a brain drain. 3. Development substitutes for migration. 4. Migration substitutes for failing development, but doesn't cause development.
The International Monetary Fund asked me to review the literature on migration economics to draw lessons for low-income countries.
In a new @iza.org paper, I argue that policy for the 21st century must discard four outdated ideas.
www.iza.org/publications...
🧵 thread—>
“On June 15, 1992, [Dan] Quayle altered 12-year-old student William Figueroa's correct spelling of "potato" to "potatoe" at the Muñoz Rivera Elementary School spelling bee in Trenton, New Jersey. He was the subject of widespread ridicule for his error.” — @wikipedia.org
A life skills / soccer playing intervention among boys and a goal setting intervention among girls each reduce girls' reports of intimate partner violence. manishashah.net/wp-content/u... Shah presenting evidence from Tanzania at #LACDEV2025
In a world where the number of children under 5 that will die this year is greater than last year… It does feel like problem of sharing health data is a bit to the right of the decimal point
Amy Damon presenting her work on time use in Indonesia during our fantastic session on households and gender at @weai.bsky.social. Thanks to @lindseynovak.bsky.social for presenting a real fun topic and to @econprachi.bsky.social for organizing!
“Paid parental leave and public child care would indeed increase the birth rate, but by small amounts. These policies are needed because American parents (especially mothers) are screaming for help.”
#econsky
My op-ed in the @latimes.com on the insufficient and ineffective baby bonus idea for Mother’s Day (come on, we need some actual help here)
t.co/AR7IPWJxM4
"You’d think the admin would want to focus on increasing- not cutting- funding to maternal and child health, repairing its self-inflicted econ wounds, and lowering the cost of living ... before asking young people to bring children into the world"
Turns our left & right are not far apart on this.
And Klas from @bloomberg.com "the choice to create a new life isn’t only a financial calculation. It’s also a profound act of hope…
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
"Doom-mongering about economic downturns and impending social collapse is unlikely to inspire anyone to have more children, a decision that normally signals confidence in the future”
Ok, this is actually a great point from Kristina Murkett in the @thespectator1828.bsky.social :
“We have removed the... community networks that make parenting more manageable, and no subsidy can compensate for these huge social and cultural changes"
www.spectator.co.uk/article/how-...
This was a really good summary for people not in the field to understand what’s at stake. The part I’m so glad he drew attention to is the dignity shown by the public servants affected, unlike those destroying our health and science infrastructure
Lindsey Novak and I are hosting LACDEV in Portland this year- waterfalls and breweries may be on the agenda. August 1-2.
Come talk RCTs and DID estimators with us for a couple days, and bring your family to experience the joy of Oregon in August!
#econsky
Last day to submit your papers to LACDEV (Liberal Arts College Development Economics Conference- the nerdiest and chattiest dev conference out there)
sites.google.com/site/lacdevc...
Interesting new research suggesting one reason women are less likely to major in STEM, economics, and business is that they expect to face labor market discrimination later in those fields (so that the return to such majors is lower).
www.nber.org/papers/w33680
Who doesn’t love moss?? LC’s moss appreciation week on Morning Edition this week:
www.npr.org/2025/02/14/n...
"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
"Then they came for the trade unionists
…
"Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."
—Martin Niemöller
#econsky #academicsky
marketdesigner.blogspot.com/2025/01/pres...
