Best of #econtwitter - Week of January 10, 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
The paper uses survey data we collected, linked to tax returns & a panel of credit reports to document that 1) low-income households have substantial uncertainty regarding their annual refund and 2) this meaningfully impacts the welfare associated with tax-linked transfers. 2/10
Incapable national leaders strongly reduce countries' performance, but not in states with strong parliaments.
Evidence from quasi-random variation in ruler ability in Europe 990-1800: anderson.ucla.edu/faculty_pages/… by Sebastian Ottinger and Nico Voigtländer
Cool writeup on an RCT on merit scholarships to state schools in Nebraska funded by the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation: nber.org/digest-202101/…
Hope they go back and track subsequent earnings!
^more discussion: “full scholarships for any state university found very large increases in degree completion, but only for four year colleges instead of two-year colleges, with benefits concentrated among students with relatively low ACT scores and GPAs”
2/9. What about wage dynamics? In the UK, the persistence of wages and the distribution of wage shocks depends on age and on the position of a worker in the wage distribution. This holds for both administrative (NESPD) and survey (BHPS) data.
We use TX linked administrative data and study the universe of public schools that experienced shootings over 2 decades. We find that shooting-exposed students are more likely to be chronically absent and repeat a grade in the following 2 years.
When earnings unambiguously unethical, people are more likely to donate portion to charity than ethically-earned cash
But if ill-gotten gains entered into lottery that returns *same* amount but new bills, people spend as if ethically earned. As if 2nd source 'launders' cash 2/3
More: JMP on bunching estimators; empirical lit review on monopsony; on preference elicitation tasks; on intergenerational equity; on “neuroeconomics of habit”
Public goods
Causal Inference: The Mixtape is forthcoming from @yalepress for a physical delivery date of January 26th 2021. But the online version is available now. The online version is free and tries to enhance the experience of the paperback. Here's the site:
AEAs wrap-up
Advice from Nancy Rose at @AEACSWEP: 1) "Sometimes work-life balance is best achieved intertemporarily" 2) "Appreciate the help and do your best to pay it forward" 3) "Persist" 4) "Find your Jim Poterba and keep him or her close" 5) "Ask for what you need to do your job"
Was grateful to share at an #ASSA2021 session today a bit on what I've learned in teaching an undergraduate course on the Economics of Networks.
A short thread to serve as a focal point for any follow-up conversation.
1/
What do new research papers on innovation and entrepreneurship say on questions of inclusion & diversity?
* who becomes an entrepreneur
* access to knowledge/liquidity
* direction of innovation etc
A thread on what I've learned & what I missed from #ASSA2021 paper sessions 1/10
Eszter Czibor @ECzibor
I got to be a part of two really excellent gender sessions @ASSAMeeting today and want to highlight the awesome papers I saw presented (in no particular order) below. If you haven't seen them yet, highly recommend taking a look! Linking the papers when they are available.👇
I'm sitting out #ASSA2021 this year, but hope attendees will pay attention to the AEA business meeting coming up at 6:30 PM EST today.
Here's a preview of what you're likely to see, and the critical issues that won't be on the agenda but should be discussed.
1/Ex-post summary of the #ASSA2021 History of Economics session on race (from how Adam Smith’s view of natural equals dissolved in economics, to the quiet yet revolutionary strategy of Phyllis Wallace & Galton’s failed quest for scientific “natural groups” sorting)
-errors mine
Interesting discussions
Bill Schwert, the long-time editor of the Journal of Financial Economics who is retiring from his position, has posted a new paper that includes a complete list of ...
... ALL 1,941 REFEREES AND ALL THEIR ACCEPT/REJECT DECISIONS FROM 1994 TO 2020.
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cf…
^followup from finance journal editors here
What is the point of peer review when there are such stark apparent referee fixed effects? Especially when just sending out to one referee only?
Florian Ederer @florianederer
^as noted in replies, there are potential selection issues (…but)
One piece of advice I got from the junior mentoring session yesterday was every table and figure in the paper must be self-contained, although the information there may be redundant. Referees like to go through tables and figures first before reading the text.
Participated in this mentoring event today, and I was pretty satisfied w/ my answers to the many thoughtful questions I was asked, except for this one: "How do I know when to submit my paper?"
So, interested in reading other people's answers...
Sandy Black @Econ_Sandy
