Best of #econtwitter - Week of July 19, 2020

Welcome to this week’s edition of the Best of Econtwitter. Recommendations always welcome over email or on Twitter @just_economics.

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New papers

Martin Beraja @MartinBeraja

🚨New paper🚨 States play an important role in the age of data-intensive innovation. Evidence from AI firms in China + Macro implications of government data provision to firms. See it Thursday July 16th, 11ET, @ NBER Income Distribution and Macro: nber.org/si2020livestre… (1/18)

nber.orgNBER Summer Institute Live

Jason Abaluck @Jabaluck

NEW PAPER: Some insurance plans increase beneficiary mortality, but consumers (mostly) can’t tell which ones. Getting rid of the worst 5% of Medicare Advantage plans could save 10,000 lives/year …d1a-wp-offload-media.s3.amazonaws.com/faculty/wp-con… (w/ @autoregress, @AmandaStarc1, and @mmcaceresb

Johannes Stroebel @stroebel_econ

🚨New working paper with @michaelcbailey, Kuchler, @DomRussel and State. We explore the determinants and effects of social connectedness across European NUTS2 regions, using a European version of the Social Connectedness Index (SCI) from Facebook. (1/N)

CESifo @CESifoGroup

The Determinants and Effects of Social Connectedness in Europe | Bailey, Michael / Kuchler, Theresa / Russel, Dominic / State, Bogdan / @stroebel_econ | https://t.co/mI5rwQLllL https://t.co/f6GdDGFVpM

Kyle Myers @KRoyMyers

New paper thread time! Here's an overview of a paper I presented yesterday at NBER SI Productivity, with some bonus results I didn't have time for tl;dr -- public research grants have effects all over the place, and we can finally start to quantify these spillovers!

Joe Vavra @JoeVavra

In new #JPMCInstitute research institute.jpmorganchase.com/institute/rese… we look at spending responses to $600 UI Supplement. BOTTOM LINE: UI is providing crucial spending support for the economy, and if we cut to zero on July 31, expect bad effects. Details in Thread:

institute.jpmorganchase.comConsumption Effects of Unemployment Insurance during the Covid-19 PandemicAbout one in five U.S. workers received unemployment insurance benefits in June 2020, which is five times greater than the highest UI recipiency rate previously recorded. Yet little is known about how unemployment benefits are affecting the economy today. To fill this gap, we study the consumption o…

Philip Roessler @philip_roessler

New working paper on the origins of spatial inequality in Africa with @YannickPengl, Robert Marty, Kyle Sorlie Titlow & Nicolas van de Walle up @Oxford_CSAE Short thread for those interested

csae.ox.ac.ukthe-cash-crop-revolution-colonialism-and-legacies-of-spatial-inequality-evidence-from-africa | PapersThe Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE), University of Oxford

Newly-published papers

Lindsey Novak @LindseyKNovak

My paper, Persistent Norms and Tipping Points: The Case of Female Genital Cutting, is out in JEBO! CliffsNotes version in thread. Ungated for the next 30 days: authors.elsevier.com/a/1bOnNc24av91… #EconTwitter #AcademicTwitter

Andy Guess @andyguess

My paper "(Almost) Everything in Moderation: New Evidence on Americans' Online Media Diets" is forthcoming at AJPS🥳. I use surveys and web visit data + a machine classifier to study online news consumption in 2015-2016. Get ready for a THREAD! Preprint: dropbox.com/s/3rjsnp8k3im7…

Ben Golub @ben_golub

I have a popular joke tweet but no soundcloud to promote. I DO have a nerdy paper that I've long wanted to tweet. It's about how a group negotiates to trade favors (e.g., disease mitigation), and how this is ultimately a problem in network theory. bengolub.net/papers/jmp-4pg… 1/

Public goods

Cyril Verluise @CyrilVerluise

🙀 New dataset on Wiki citations from patents 💬 100k+ citations to Wiki coming from worldwide patents. Includes a large majority of Wikipedia pages 📢 Wikipedia researchers, we are looking for your ideas/feedback 🛢️ tinyurl.com/ya6cenkr 📝 tinyurl.com/y96o9de5

tinyurl.comPatCit_wikiPatCit Wiki POC

Nick HK @nickchk

I've been working on an intuitive and accessible intro textbook on causality and research design. It's going pretty well, Volume 1 almost done. I'll be posting chapters from the book, one per week. Link here, and I'll update this thread with chapters

nickchk.comThe Effect: An Introduction to Causal Inference and Research Design

Announcements

Ben Golub @ben_golub

🚨 Please RT! 🚨 One of the best events of the year in economic theory is online, open to all this year: The Stony Brook International Conference on Game Theory. There’s an amazing lineup of talks covering a broad range of areas in theory. gtcenter.org/?page=Conferen… 1/

Matt Notowidigdo @ProfNoto

New advice on "Papers Previously Submitted to the American Economic Review and AER: Insights" [for AEJ-Policy & rest of the AEJs] aeaweb.org/journals/pol/a… [Also, re-tweeting my earlier thread on AEJ-Policy & AEJ-Applied below]

Matt Notowidigdo @ProfNoto

Alright, let’s do this! QUESTION: “What is the difference between AEJ-Policy and AEJ-Applied?” Warning, WARNING(!), yawn-inducing inside baseball thread to follow... 1/ https://t.co/3dCCYjoRHP

Discussion of the week: effects of the pandemic on the profession

Susan Athey @Susan_Athey

Academic twitter--will there be a job market at all this year for assistant profs at top 25 U.S. research uni's? Are there *any* that have not announced hiring freezes? It makes a difference for student planning if the U.S. market will be "just dismal," or entirely dead

^discussion in the replies

John Cawley @cawley_john

Our AEA committee on the #EconJobMarket has released some new data. YTD, the # of new jobs on JOE is down 24.0% relative to the previous 3 years. More info here:

Catherine Rampell @crampell

The enrollment of new international students at U.S. universities in the fall 2020-21 academic year is projected to decline 63% to 98% from the 2018-19 level, per @NFAPResearch, possibly to lowest level since WW2. Plummeting for several reasons... /thread

forbes.comNew International Students To U.S. May Hit Post-WW2 LowFew new international students may enroll at universities this fall due to closed consulates, travel bans and Trump immigration policies.

Diana Van Patten @DianaVanPatten

Interesting new optional requirement. “Recruiters can now request that an applicant submit a link to a video presentation of their job market paper, or a general video presentation of themselves, as part of their application.” https://t.co/RPCiDo3XLe

Econ Job Market @EconJobMarket

Applicant, Recruiter: Video presentations added to list of possible documents https://t.co/3DVQHHaXfo

Jennifer Doleac @jenniferdoleac

Ugh, there it is. #ASSA2021 will be virtual. Not surprising, but still sad.

^RIP 2021 AEAs