Best of #econtwitter - Week of August 16, 2020
Welcome readers old and new to this week’s edition of the Best of Econtwitter. Recommendations always welcome over email or on Twitter @just_economics.
New papers
This new working paper calls into question whether RDDs based on close elections--which have been used a lot in political science/political economy--really approximate as-if-random assignment.
#RDDers
dropbox.com/s/ycql1s4wfc29…
🚨NEW WORKING PAPER🚨@sherryhe0919 @dade_us and I document the problem of fake reviews on Amazon. There is a thriving market where sellers buy fake reviews in private Facebook groups.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
This paper looks *fascinating*.
1. Predict which papers should be cited based on NLP.
2. Which predicted cites get omitted?
Answer: papers by women, by authors at mid-tier unis, papers not in top journals.
Female authors/eds omit fewer references.
dropbox.com/s/n8h9c9m0y7ae…
🚨New Working paper🚨 with @Econ_Sandy @lisajdettling @sarena_goodman and Lesley Turner
What happens when students have access to more student loans?
They borrow more, complete more degrees, earn more later in life, and repay their loans more
nber.org/papers/w27658
🚨New paper🚨 Workers' wages are taxed by employers who violate their rights, & this tax is regressive. A 10% wage increase is associated with a 4% decrease in labor violation fines per $ of pay. With @aaronsojourner @qiuyueruc. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf… 1/7 Violation intensity map
Other paper summaries
one 3-hr car race with leaded fuel uses as much lead as an airport in a year, and car races raised blood lead rates for kids until lead fuel was banned. Implies v high social cost of leaded fuel, which is still used in planes.
Alex Hollingsworth @ajhollingsworth
I'm still on leave, but I wanted to point everyone to
@salma_mousa_ cover story on building social cohesion between Christians and Muslims out today. Its a fantastic paper on intergroup contact and model for social science work. Just a couple thoughts 1/
science.sciencemag.org/content/369/65…
With redistricting shenanigans in full swing, this seemed a good time to tweet about our forthcoming paper in J of Politics. We find that ruling parties systematically win a slender majority of seats in close state house elections where control of redistricting is at stake. (1/N)
My paper "Gross Worker Flows and Fluctuations in the Aggregate Labor Market" (joint with @KrusellPer, Richard Rogerson, and Aysegul Sahin) is forthcoming at RED. Here is the "Share Link" (free download until October 2, 2020): authors.elsevier.com/c/1bZV6_OuHZGE…
Thread.
1/n
Q: What preference relations can we reliably infer from school choice data?
While Gale-Shapley Deferred Acceptance has been popular for school assignment for its strategyproofness, there's huge evidence that students make "mistakes" (playing dominated strategies) in practice
This is a useful thread which happens very kind toward my own research. Thanks @Simon_Mongey and @adam_tooze. Let me take the opportunity to articulate one thought and I apologize in advance because I will oversimplify it.
Simon Mongey @Simon_Mongey
^nearly a decade since publication, but an important paper
Good discussion in the replies
Is there a good layman’s explanation/analogy of the envelope theorem? I feel like there is some everyday or physics example where the result would strike people as “obvious,” but I can’t come up with a good one
^best answer: from Paul Novosad
Public goods
Covid, etc.
In thinking about this year's #EconJobMarket, one analogue is what happened during the 2008-09 financial crisis. A new memo by our AEA committee on the job market explores this: 1/7
Data from econ-adjacent fields:
I knew the academic job market was bad, but didn't think it was that bad! Current data from @AOMConnect. 😬 @AcademicChatter #AcademicChatter #AcademicTwitter #PhDchat #PhDlife
Woah... what will econ job market look like in a few months?
Jeff Lockhart @jw_lockhart
Ever wonder how great a meteorologist must feel with their weather visuals behind them as they present?
Navigate to the advanced tab when you select 'Share Screen' to have slides as your background and add that “wow” factor to your own presentations on Zoom! #ZoomProTip
Here goes my rant about online education - i feel it is important because many courses will be in an online format come this fall
^the good and the bad