Best of #econtwitter - Week of January 3, 2021

Jan 03, 2021

Welcome readers old and new to this week’s (special, pre-AEA) edition of Best of Econtwitter. Thanks to those sharing suggestions, over email or on Twitter @just_economics.

Scroll to the bottom for a thread on econ memes + a few ‘favorite papers of the year’ threads!

Paper summary threads

Fatemeh Momeni@Fatemeh_Momeni

A new draft of our paper (with John List and @yveszenou1) is out! We exploit variations in spatial exposure to treated neighbors induced by a large-scale field experiment to show how one's neighbors can impact the development of cognitive and non-cognitive skills!

NBER @nberpubs

Human-capital accumulation is a social activity involving interactions of people that has no counterpart in the accumulation of physical capital, from John A. List, @Fatemeh_Momeni, and @yveszenou1 https://t.co/W1kHpPRiwB https://t.co/V0kyPtUgRM

7:42 PM · Jan 2, 2021

6 Reposts · 44 Likes

^(part of a) huge field experiment on the spillover effects of early childhood programs. Very good discussion from Johannes Stroebel here on significance

Sergio Rebelo@SergioRebelo6

Inequality in Life and Death, a new paper with @EichMartin and Mathias Trabandt. #COVID19 kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/rebelo…

3:02 AM · Dec 30, 2020

11 Reposts · 40 Likes

Tamay@tamaybes

This article uses NIH data to find that scientists are quite unwilling to switch direction in exchange for $ (one s.d. of redirection would take a total of $3.7m-$6.8m in expectation). It does find that those who do switch tend to publish more. aeaweb.org/articles?id=10…

4:09 PM · Dec 30, 2020

21 Likes

Maxim Ananyev@maximananyev

PSA: Your IV estimate is not "ATE on compliers" but some weird weighted average. Read this paper to learn more:

Nick HK @nickchk

I have a new paper in the Journal of Causal Inference about IVs! You can greatly improve the finite-sample performance of your IV by simply modeling first-stage effect heterogeneity. Super easy! Even if you do a bad job, it helps! Big error reductions. https://t.co/DOSsE6uVfz

1:25 AM · Dec 29, 2020

5 Reposts · 28 Likes

^Meme’d: “Wait, it’s all weird weighted averages? / Always has been”

Robert Dur@DurRobert

Why Does the U.S. Have the Best Research Universities? Incentives, Resources, and Virtuous Circles nber.org/system/files/w… by W. Bentley MacLeod and @m_urquiola "The American system is well suited to producing top schools, although at the cost of inequality" ↘️

7:24 AM · Dec 28, 2020

95 Reposts · 303 Likes

Erik Brynjolfsson@erikbryn

Our new @nberpubs paper: "Digital Capital and Superstar Firms" with @sonnytambe, Lorin Hitt and @danielrock: We measure IT-related intangibles aka "Digital Capital" and find they're concentrated in superstar firms & predict productivity. @DigEconLab nber.org/papers/w28285

3:44 PM · Dec 28, 2020

47 Reposts · 113 Likes

Dr. Lauren Bauer@laurenlbauer

New evidence to add to the #HeadStartAdvantage canon: @martha_j_bailey @bdtimpe @Sun_Shuqiao find that Head Start generated...a 2.7% increase in high-school completion, an 8.5% increase in college enrollment, and a 39% increase in college completion" nber.org/papers/w28268#…

2:01 PM · Dec 28, 2020

5 Reposts · 11 Likes

Diego Känzig@drkaenzig

Very interesting paper by @ProfALanger and Derek Lemoine on how to use financial options data to gauge the probability of events priced-in by the market!

Ashley Langer @ProfALanger

Snuck a working paper out at the deadline for a 2020 date 😀 This is a bit different from my normal work, but we’re excited about these new approaches to measuring the ex ante probability financial markets placed on events. Free version on my website! https://t.co/ZYWvn3DxtB

11:05 PM · Dec 29, 2020

3 Likes

Gregor Schubert@gregorschub

What are we doing when we argue about financial market patterns? Why do lawyers try to appeal to a jury's prejudice? A thread on the recently-published "Models to Persuade" by Schwartzstein & Sunderam. bit.ly/3rHNWWk 1/

8:47 PM · Dec 30, 2020

21 Reposts · 84 Likes

Alexander Berger@albrgr

Another paper finding huge negative effects of lead on kids, this time based on exposure to highly-polluting NASCAR races in Florida, before they phased out leaded gas in 2007: nber.org/papers/w28250

6:24 PM · Jan 2, 2021

1 Repost · 9 Likes

Daniel Oto-Peralías@OtoPeralias

We overlap the territory surrounding the Mediterranean and Black Sea with a grid of 10x10km cell size. Then, we focus on coastal cells and compare those with ancient colonies with similar counterparts where no colonization took place [3/12]

10:07 AM · Dec 28, 2020

1 Repost · 4 Likes

More paper threads: on OSHA enforcement; on asset-backed security design; on households choosing schools with low value-added; on a theory of gender and self-image bias; on temporal mismatch in city infrastructure due to innovation

Public goods

Melissa Spencer@MelissaK_Moore

#EconTwitter I've been collecting info on how depts structure PhD prelims. Please feel free to add your dept or updated info (including COVID-related changes). Links to form and collected responses in thread. My goal with this is to encourage depts to rethink their qual process.

Melissa Spencer @MelissaK_Moore

#EconTwitter Looking for people to help me compile info on how different departments structure qualifying exams! You can add your institution/department here: https://t.co/0N03ZcExsj

1:38 PM · Dec 29, 2020

13 Reposts · 44 Likes

Tal Gross@talgross

Inspired by @paulgp, I created an Overleaf / LaTeX template for economics papers. You can download it here.

github.com

talgross-bu/Template-for-Overleaf

6:15 PM · Dec 27, 2020

66 Reposts · 386 Likes

⑆Luke Stein⑈@lukestein

As I review a (weird, tough) year, my proudest professional accomplishment is having hopefully helped students and audiences get a bit more out of your classes and presentations Eventually hope to synthesize but for now just links:

⑆Luke Stein⑈ @lukestein

OK folks. Here’s my thread on technology for teaching online.🦠 I’m not an expert, but I’ve got some thoughts. My goal is to cover a few things you might consider if you’re trying to quickly get an existing course online. And my focus is on technology, not pedagogy. 1/ https://t.co/NUUygg0jCi

8:56 PM · Dec 23, 2020

7 Reposts · 57 Likes

Interesting discussions

Beatrice Cherrier@Undercoverhist

1/Since 2008, calling out use of (some) econ models by central banks has become as steady as Big-Ben chime But what do we know about import, production & use of econ research in policy institutions? Christmas thread on excavating academia-policy pipeline at the Bank of England

2:41 AM · Dec 31, 2020

100 Reposts · 280 Likes

Gary Hoover@GaryAHoover

I argue that it's the place that you can successfully get out of that matters. Not the highest you can get into. You get no job, elite or not, if you don't complete the program. Read my prelim horror story. drive.google.com/file/d/1Tm50KT…

Robert Dur @DurRobert

The Ph.D. Origins of Economics Faculty: https://t.co/StcmfyP0K8 by @ToddRJones and Arielle Sloan Least diverse: Harvard and MIT, where 60% of faculty holds a PhD from Harvard or MIT More diverse: Yale and Chicago, where more than a third comes from programs outside of the top https://t.co/2I0eSeE9NR

11:47 PM · Dec 28, 2020

47 Reposts · 308 Likes