Best of #econtwitter - Week of August 22, 2021
Welcome readers old and new to this week’s edition of Best of Econtwitter. Thanks to those sharing suggestions, over email or on Twitter @just_economics.
Paper summary threads
Michiel de Haas@MichieldeHaas
This graph will probably surprise many: until the 1970s British Africa was significantly ahead of India/China in terms of GDP/cap. Data suggests that this divergence had its roots in the late colonial era (important to note that it happened when India was also still colonized!)
10:09 AM · Aug 20, 2021
15 Reposts · 39 Likes
^paper on new data for (parts of) Africa pre-1950
Ritam Chaurey@rchaurey
🎺📜 Paper Accepted! “Democracy and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Indonesia” (w/ Ama Baafra Abeberese @PrabhatBarnwal @p_mukherj) is now accepted at @restatjournal. We thank editor @rema_nadeem and the amazing referees.
🧵 summarizing the paper 👇🏽. (1/10) #econtwitter
The Review of Economics and Statistics (REStat) @restatjournal
How Does Democracy Cause Growth? Evidence from Firms During Indonesia's Democratic Transition. Just accepted new paper by Ama Baafra Abeberese, Prabhat Barnwal (@prabhatbarnwal), Ritam Chaurey (@rchaurey), and Priya Mukherjee (@p_mukherj).
https://t.co/EsWHZGDpHx https://t.co/9lAPkYJjm0
2:19 AM · Aug 19, 2021
44 Reposts · 161 Likes
Ethan Mollick@emollick
The link from Henry VIII to the Industrial Revolution. The monasteries dissolved in 1536 did not have feudal lords, so the farmers that occupied them became the gentry who led to innovation & reform. More monasteries in an area= more factories 3 centuries later (Tawney was right)
1:47 AM · Aug 22, 2021
65 Reposts · 250 Likes
Journal of Public Economics@JPubEcon
The 1966 abolition and 1989 legalization of abortion in Romania led to large shocks to population sizes. We find large and significant effects on the level of crime but insignificant effects on crime rates. Similar patterns are seen for alternative measures of risky-behavior.
4:58 PM · Aug 16, 2021
1 Repost · 4 Likes
Paul Novosad@paulnovosad
The Economist's daily chart is from our paper on mining and criminal politicians in India.
More mining rents — worse politicians, worse behavior in office.
economist.com/graphic-detail…
7:57 PM · Aug 17, 2021
106 Reposts · 366 Likes
Hannes Malmberg@HannesMalmberg1
Will population aging keep pushing down interest rates in the 21st century, or will everything reverse as baby boomers dissave in retirement?
New WP with @a_auclert, @FredMartenet & Matt Rognlie: the effects of aging will continue with a vengeance! 🧵👇
nber.org/papers/w29161
nber.org
Demographics, Wealth, and Global Imbalances in the Twenty-First Century
5:00 AM · Aug 19, 2021
27 Reposts · 92 Likes
Julia Rohrer@dingding_peng
New paper! What happens if you randomize the seating charts of classrooms? We find that sitting next to each other increases the probability of a friendship from 15% to 22%. But does that also work for pairs of students who are dissimilar?> journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
6:05 AM · Aug 12, 2021
77 Reposts · 324 Likes
Matt Grossmann@MattGrossmann
An increase in weekly NBER working papers reduces downloads, abstract views, & media attention for each paper. Subsequent publishing and citation outcomes are harmed as well. working papers also substitute for the dissemination function of publication
nber.org
Congestion on the Information Superhighway: Does Economics Have a Working Papers Problem?
1:30 AM · Aug 17, 2021
1 Repost · 1 Like
More: identification of incomplete preferences; more Wooldridge on DiD; state dependence in consumer choice; structural estimation; ZLB; imputation of consumption data; indigenous resource governance; heterogeneity in causal forest estimation; Secondary Banking Crisis; restorative justice for teens RCT; teacher wage negotiations effect by gender; LR effects of Spanish inquisition; where do aggregate increasing returns come from
Interesting discussions
Kathryn Paige Harden@kph3k
gave some advice to my first year PhD students today and am now repeating it here in case anyone else in transition finds it useful:
your first month is about establishing sustainable habits and routines. that’s it. that is your main job right now.
5:23 PM · Aug 20, 2021
690 Reposts · 3.66K Likes
Andrej Svorenčík@ASvorencik
Is experimental research declining in top econ journals? New evidence (2000-2020): ssrn.com/abstract=39075… Joint work with @ErnestoReuben, Sherry Xin Li, @SSuetens, @TheodoreTurocy &Vasileios Kotsidis #EconTwitter Committee report of the @EcScienceAssoc
12:13 PM · Aug 19, 2021
38 Reposts · 63 Likes
joe francis@joefrancis505
When did Americans begin to work so hard? When the first pilgrims arrived in 1620? No. In fact, Americans underwent an 'industrious revolution' in the 19th century, which was when they first became workaholics. A thread 🧵. 1/
9:56 PM · Aug 18, 2021
161 Reposts · 1.02K Likes
Joe Simmons@jpsimmon
I used to teach this finding to my MBA students. It has more than 400 citations on Google Scholar. It's about dishonesty. Turns out it's fraudulent. "Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Field Experiment About Dishonesty" datacolada.org/98
1:48 PM · Aug 17, 2021
332 Reposts · 1.14K Likes
^more: article; prediction market on retraction; coauthor comments; more is out there
Tatyana Deryugina@TDeryugina
Some miscellaneous writing advice, especially for those writing up their JMP right now.
1. Completing a solid draft will take a lot longer than you think. Plan accordingly (i.e., spend as much of your research time writing as possible).
1:49 PM · Aug 19, 2021
187 Reposts · 688 Likes
Andrea Matranga@andreamatranga
To the people going on the market. If you're thinking of having children during the tenure track, assume proximity to grandparents is worth $30k in salary and $30K in research support a year. It's actually much more, but if I said the real figure you wouldn't believe me
4:34 PM · Aug 20, 2021
27 Reposts · 320 Likes
Chris Blattman@cblatts
Responses to this thread from older academics are GREAT
etienne toussaint ✊🏽 @EtienneT_Esq
Academia before the internet must have been wild. No emails so you just go home and like read books and write and chill; no emails so your students have go to office hours to ask questions; no crazy publication expectations; no PowerPoints . . . what have we done
3:47 AM · Aug 21, 2021
37 Reposts · 144 Likes