Best of #econtwitter - Week of January 3, 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
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
^(part of a) huge field experiment on the spillover effects of early childhood programs. Very good discussion from Johannes Stroebel here on significance
Inequality in Life and Death, a new paper with @EichMartin and Mathias Trabandt. #COVID19 kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/rebelo…
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…
PSA: Your IV estimate is not "ATE on compliers" but some weird weighted average. Read this paper to learn more:
Nick HK @nickchk
^Meme’d: “Wait, it’s all weird weighted averages? / Always has been”
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" ↘️
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
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#…
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
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/
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
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]
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
#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
Inspired by @paulgp, I created an Overleaf / LaTeX template for economics papers. You can download it here.
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
Interesting discussions
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
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
Year in review
Just under the wire again, but I continue my annual tradition -- my 10 favorite economics papers published in 2020, ordered alphabetically
[Was pretty tough this year; might have to do an "honorable mention" list in January...]
No one asked, but here are my Top 5 articles "published" in 2020. They are theory-centric but not pure theory 😱
What were your favorite behavioral/experimental economics papers published this year?
I'll put together a thread in the next few days. Self-nominations are welcome!
Fun
^recommended