Best of Econtwitter

Best of #econtwitter - Week of April 26, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 16:10:24 GMT

Welcome readers old and new to this week’s edition of the Best of Econtwitter newsletter. Please submit suggestions — very much including your own work! — over email or on Twitter @just_economics.

Good tweets

^excellent

^🤯

^it is 100% happening

^it is not yet happening

^😍

From the archives

Public goods

Charts

^every week the charts section of the newsletter contains the seed of like 3 semi-decent paper ideas [perhaps this paper has already been written for all I know]

Fin

^try to dox me i dare u

Best of #econtwitter - Week of April 26, 2026: paper summaries

An Economist — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 16:10:24 GMT

Idiosyncratic favorites

^rip

^big if true

^rip

^the lizardman constant… but make it raccoons

^commentary, commentary

More paper summaries

^reply

Best of #econtwitter - Week of April 19, 2026: paper summaries

An Economist — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:14:27 GMT

Idiosyncratic favorites

More paper summaries

^multi-paper thread

Best of #econtwitter - Week of April 19, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 20:14:24 GMT

Good tweets

^like and subscribe

^+1. undergrad intermediate textbooks… underrated…

Public goods

Charts

^measuring the relevant historical numbers is actually very hard, and I would be highly wary of these charts with beige backgrounds (i.e., generated by Claude)

^good discussion (Jess Riedel)

Fin

^Krugman is one of the GOATs

Best of #econtwitter - Week of April 12, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Mon, 25 May 2026 19:13:30 GMT

Good tweets

^especially good

^blog posts that could be papers

Public goods

^competition

Charts

Fin

Best of #econtwitter - Week of April 12, 2026: paper summaries

An Economist — Mon, 25 May 2026 19:13:24 GMT

Apologies for the two weeks of radio silence… we will eventually catch back up!

Idiosyncratic favorites

^big if true!

^💀

^!!

^what do we think chat

More paper summaries

Best of #econtwitter - Economist forecasts of AI impacts, special supplement

An Economist — Thu, 07 May 2026 15:40:38 GMT

Useful benchmarking for where folks are at on this — “what will the economic impacts of AI be?”:

[forgive the odd mix of screenshots and embeds; Substack has been tweaking out a bit]

Karger et al (2026)

^Phil Tetlock (fwiw): “this study is the most ambitious subjective-probability forecasting exercise I’ve ever seen”. It is indeed a very long survey!, the paper is 224 pages

explore.forecastingresearch.org/participate/ee…\n\nThough I emphasize it does not have all the details of the full survey given to participants -- see appendix H of the paper for in full","username":"BasilHalperin","name":"Basil Halperin","profile_image_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1905332522260856832/rdYkmXc9_normal.jpg","date":"2026-03-31T19:12:07.000Z","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{},"reply_count":1,"retweet_count":0,"like_count":11,"impression_count":1357,"expanded_url":null,"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}" data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM">

Discussion of the paper and results

@tamaybes on whether economic growth would shoot to 20%+ per year if we invented AI and robots that can cheaply do ~anything humans can do. I was the skeptic in that debate, putting the odds of explosive growth at 10% or so, compared to","username":"mattsclancy","name":"Matt Clancy","profile_image_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1927825441550635008/ck1TYMCO_normal.jpg","date":"2026-04-01T02:19:29.000Z","photos":[],"quoted_tweet":{"full_text":"We completed the most comprehensive study of how economists and AI experts think AI will affect the U.S. economy.\n\nThey predict major AI progress—but no dramatic break from economic trends: GDP growth rates similar to today's and a moderate decline in labor force participation.","username":"Research_FRI","name":"Forecasting Research Institute","profile_image_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/2051957833382461443/KVlVgRYp_normal.jpg"},"reply_count":4,"retweet_count":24,"like_count":157,"impression_count":41877,"expanded_url":null,"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}" data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM">

^long post with several points

^one really wonders about inattention, as described here, on a 5+ hour survey…

Related broader discussion of the economics of AI

^idk… MC going to *zero*?

Fin

(Tabarrok obviously was joking but)

Best of #econtwitter - Week of April 5, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Wed, 06 May 2026 13:25:21 GMT

AI and Your Research

^have i made this joke before [reference]

^link. Not necessarily fun reading?, and not just a worthwhile read for grad students

Good tweets

^gif

^wary of all new administrative bureaucracy proposals but

^usefully thought-provoking back-and-forth here on the use of AI in writing for non-native english speakers

Public goods

Charts

pewresearch.org/short-reads/20… ","username":"johngramlich","name":"John Gramlich","profile_image_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1589728873771683840/trbIA46K_normal.jpg","date":"2026-03-31T21:28:23.000Z","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/HExL6IkawAAmwfm.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/K6VS3s2Nxo","alt_text":"Line chart showing how the annual number of births to unauthorized immigrants in the United States has changed since 1990. The chart is based on a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the U.S. Census Bureau."}],"quoted_tweet":{},"reply_count":0,"retweet_count":0,"like_count":0,"impression_count":104,"expanded_url":null,"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}" data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM">

@rohindhar Rohin I don't understand, you seem certain a boom is underway and I take your view seriously, but Zillow data shows that SF house prices are still way down on their covid levels. See here for Pac Heights. What gives?? ","username":"econcallum","name":"Callum Williams","profile_image_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1218114839278686208/DLv8gqdi_normal.jpg","date":"2026-03-27T15:19:56.000Z","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/HEbVE56bMAAbrOn.png","link_url":"https://t.co/4LxeQ0Kl5J"}],"quoted_tweet":{},"reply_count":1,"retweet_count":0,"like_count":3,"impression_count":600,"expanded_url":null,"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}" data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM">

^good thread

@adam_tooze's post about Nigeria sparked some curiosity—had Claude scatter regional income dispersion vs GDP per capita.\n\nPoor countries tend to have more income inequality between regions, though the negative relationship isn't super strong. Nigeria is also far from the worst!","username":"oliverwkim","name":"Oliver Kim","profile_image_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1985381433058226176/-01DvCSt_normal.jpg","date":"2026-04-01T17:51:47.000Z","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/HE1nIzFXIAAKBAM.jpg","link_url":"https://t.co/JZSyZNgrgN"}],"quoted_tweet":{"full_text":"Nigeria is a country of truly extreme regional inequality. The ratio between per capita income in Lagos State and Kano is ten to one, however your measure it. More on today's Chartbook Top Links:","username":"adam_tooze","name":"Adam Tooze","profile_image_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1633229394922577922/LR4AwvPY_normal.jpg"},"reply_count":9,"retweet_count":18,"like_count":80,"impression_count":9340,"expanded_url":null,"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}" data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM">

@TimDuy @zeynep Yes, here it is backed up to 1990. ","username":"ernietedeschi","name":"Ernie Tedeschi","profile_image_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/profile_images/1481433697182261248/rhqOzq7z_normal.jpg","date":"2026-03-06T16:49:26.000Z","photos":[{"img_url":"https://pbs.substack.com/media/HCvgI6WaUAADZsP.png","link_url":"https://t.co/TzZPBnsbuA"}],"quoted_tweet":{},"reply_count":1,"retweet_count":0,"like_count":21,"impression_count":6095,"expanded_url":null,"video_url":null,"belowTheFold":true}" data-component-name="Twitter2ToDOM">

Fin

^truth nuke tweet

Best of #econtwitter - Week of April 5, 2026: paper summaries

An Economist — Wed, 06 May 2026 13:24:26 GMT

Idiosyncratic favorites

^related:

^how much do we think this cost, astounding

More paper summaries

^one comment

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 29, 2026: paper summaries

An Economist — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:01:42 GMT

Idiosyncratic favorites

More paper summaries

^“‘is X inflationary’ is determined by the monetary policy reaction function”, never forget it…

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 29, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 17:01:28 GMT

Good tweets

^link, recommended

^🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 what????????????? Related:

Also:

^friends don’t let friends use the implicit function theorem

^not culture war slop

Charts

^if you’re old enough to remember the Iraq War, you’re old enough to know better than to use the term “disinformation”

Fin

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 22, 2026: paper summaries

An Economist — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:53:39 GMT

Too many especially good ones this week!!

Idiosyncratic favorites

^“The effect per student is not very big by itself, but one teacher teaches a lot of students and so a teacher’s impact is large.”

^consumption smoothing works, man these charts never get old

^🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

^note data pre-ChatGPT

^but!:

^more discussion with details on the new ‘Swedish law’

Inflation & fiscal policy

^a little too suggestive of causality here to my taste… good points:

Meanwhile: ????

Also:

More paper summaries

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 22, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:53:38 GMT

AI & paper writing

^link

Good tweets

^hm…

^“We do not reward these activities [JEL-style review articles] nearly enough, and their supply is well below what any reasonable social planner would choose.” ← one of those things ~everyone agrees and yet…

(the ‘market’ for papers is not socially efficient, a continuing series)

^link

Public goods

Charts

Fin

real

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 15, 2026: paper summaries

An Economist — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:05:19 GMT

Idiosyncratic favorites

^Hall-Horton-Knoepfle wins again. Labor markets with ~free entry are really something else…

- Some discussion here about the role of tips, cf Chandar et al on Uber tipping

^excellent, though also this was (partially) “Scooped!” as some amazing researchers might say

More paper summaries

^replication is messy, is like my #2 takeaway from the growth of replication in econ

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 15, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:05:19 GMT

Good tweets

^I… don’t think this is representative?

^the first welfare theorem does not apply to the journalism sector

Public goods

Charts

^location openings are non-random of course but

^I learned a new word today

Fin

^me with yall

^many of yall with this newsletter be honest

^tweet more!!

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 8, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:37:43 GMT

AI and journal congestion

^a lot of discussion…

^jk… unless?

^plausible as a positive prediction, but commenting normatively: please please please please please please please please please please please please please not more of an oral culture

^my heart craves this system but I think abou this Jess Riedel tweet constantly

RELATED: new non-econ journal with an interesting structure,

In particular:

^🤔

^AI is ~magic but agree

Good tweets

^excellent pedagogical example, link

^(there was no “debate”, only ~one angsty person vs. a few dozen people with brains)

Public goods

Charts

^…

^file under: probably a claude code project that could have been a decent paper

^and they thought the same in 1995 🧐……………………………….

Fin

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 8, 2026: paper summaries

An Economist — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 16:34:46 GMT

Idiosyncratic favorites

^thread pls

^see also:

^would be very curious for any thoughts on this

More paper summaries

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 1, 2026: paper summaries

An Economist — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:38:00 GMT

Idiosyncratic favorites

^click

More paper summaries

Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 1, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 14:37:59 GMT

Special welcome to all the new readers joining thanks to Soumaya Keynes’ (excellent, as always) column. The newsletter operates on a few-week lag; you all will see a bunch of econtwitter discussion provoked by that column in your inbox in a few weeks…

Good tweets

^5%, 20%, 30%, 30%, 15% (assuming this is labor productivity and not TFP). “1990s on steroids” is my mental model of the modal outcome

^🤯, link

Public goods

Charts

^we’re so back

Fin

Best of #econtwitter - Week of February 22, 2026: good tweets

An Economist — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 17:01:53 GMT

Good tweets

^thread. Direct link to post… (“How is this economics” fine start your own newsletter then)

^long poast. Followed up by:

From the archives

^this tweet (from 2018 💀) absolutely haunts me

Public goods

Funding opportunity…

^not to make a habit of this (too many tweets to include!), but friend-of-the-newsletter & excellent program:

Charts

^🤯

^not causal identification of course

^link to underlying article

^“estimate”, of course