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

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!)

^paper on new data for (parts of) Africa pre-1950

🎺📜 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

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)



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.


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…


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


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…



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

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

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.

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


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/

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

^more: article; prediction market on retraction; coauthor comments; more is out there

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).

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

Responses to this thread from older academics are GREAT

etienne toussaint ✊🏽 @EtienneT_Esq