Best of #econtwitter - Week of June 7, 2020
Welcome to this week’s edition of the Best of Econtwitter. Recommendations always welcome over email or on Twitter @just_economics.
New papers
Barbara Biasi@BarbaraBiasi
🚨New working paper alert “Flexible Wages, Salaries, and The Gender Gap,“ with Heather Sarsons. A thread; comments welcome! 1/9 tinyurl.com/ybj4wtr6
6:31 PM · Jun 8, 2020
214 Reposts · 676 Likes
Michael Ewens@startupecon
The paper in one figure: compensation increases with firm size proxies only after a startup completes its first product.
NBER @nberpubs
Compensation for founder-CEOs of VC-backed startups increases significantly after the firm achieves product-market fit, marking the startup's transition from 'differentiation' to 'standardization', from @startupecon, Ramana Nanda, and Christopher Stanton https://t.co/o4vblh6dqT https://t.co/ZE85HPC6nO
10:01 PM · Jun 10, 2020
13 Reposts · 31 Likes
Arshia Hashemi@ArshiaHashemi
🚨 NEW PAPER 🚨 "Social Insurance in General Equilibrium".
Comments very welcome!
THREAD
Link: static1.squarespace.com/static/5e96d45…
1:01 PM · Jun 11, 2020
9 Likes
David Broockman@dbroockman
My work w/ @esoltas on discrimination in elections is out in the Journal of Public Economics @JPubEcon authors.elsevier.com/a/1bCZtAlw9itfn
It's in an econ journal, but the paper is about an idea I think poli sci should think about more: acting on racism can undermine one's own goals. (1/n)
2:00 AM · Jun 12, 2020
49 Reposts · 136 Likes
Ralph Lütticke@RalphLuet
Now out as @cepr_org working paper: The Liquidity Channel of Fiscal Policy (with @christianbaye13 and @bornecon). Gated:cepr.org/active/publica… Ungated: dropbox.com/s/yyzhz2zv487i…
Thread.
dropbox.com
BBL_Fiscal_Liquidity_June_2020.pdf
10:36 AM · Jun 13, 2020
16 Reposts · 49 Likes
Public goods
John Cawley@cawley_john
I'm happy to serve on the new AEA Ad Hoc Committee on the Job Market, with Matt Gentzkow, Brooke Helppie-McFall, Peter Rousseau & Wendy Stock. We'll be collecting & disseminating info on the job market for rookie Econ PhDs. #EconTwitter #EconJobMarket 1/5
aeaweb.org
American Economic Association
3:27 PM · Jun 8, 2020
58 Reposts · 201 Likes
Institutional reform proposals
Paul Novosad@paulnovosad
What if, effective immediately, we declare the next 10 journals to be just as good as top5s. AEJs, REStat, JEEA, you decide. This would have a whole lot of benefits. 1/N
2:13 PM · Jun 10, 2020
73 Reposts · 343 Likes
Ivan Werning@IvanWerning
I feel we need to talk about the QJE and JPE being department owned operations, Harvard* and JPE, with editors that stay on for decades (perhaps as a result of the small pool they draw on, or otherwise).
Is this the best for the profession?
(* don’t be confused, not MIT)
12:22 PM · Jun 10, 2020
74 Reposts · 469 Likes
Florin Bilbiie@FlorinBilbiie
STOP TOP5: a proposal to cure top5ism
An idea I've been toying with for long. Motivated to post here by recent posts. Sloppy, meant to launch a debate.
Most people agree that the obsession with top5, I call it top5ism (top5itis, tyranny, whatever you want to call it) is toxic1/n
3:29 PM · Jun 10, 2020
18 Reposts · 70 Likes
Matthias Doepke@mdoepke
Concentration of power is a problem in economics, and the top-5 journals are the prime example.
A realistic path for improvement is to massively increase the number of papers published in these journals. Top-5 publications are artificially scarce. Let's change that.
1/6
Ivan Werning @IvanWerning
I feel we need to talk about the QJE and JPE being department owned operations, Harvard* and JPE, with editors that stay on for decades (perhaps as a result of the small pool they draw on, or otherwise).
Is this the best for the profession?
(* don’t be confused, not MIT)
2:51 PM · Jun 10, 2020
73 Reposts · 302 Likes
Christian Zimmermann@CZimm_economist
I once floated a proposal that would put the journal hierarchy upside down.
Any manuscript submission would have to start at the lowest level, say at the "Journal of the Labor Income Share."
Once it passes that hurdle (which should be PLOS-like easy), then it can apply to
1/n
7:39 PM · Jun 10, 2020
2 Reposts · 18 Likes
Kurt MIT-shock-man@SorryToBeKurt
At face value, it sounds like a very simple proposal. Let me offer some thoughts being on the other side, as an. editor at a top-5 1/
Matthias Doepke @mdoepke
Concentration of power is a problem in economics, and the top-5 journals are the prime example.
A realistic path for improvement is to massively increase the number of papers published in these journals. Top-5 publications are artificially scarce. Let's change that.
1/6 https://t.co/fhNuqSFUEh
11:35 PM · Jun 10, 2020
14 Reposts · 62 Likes
Miscellaneous
Jason Abaluck@Jabaluck
It's time for normative economics Saturday wherein we discuss whether economic analysis reaches insane conclusions about racism. (Indirectly inspired by: )
Simon Mongey @Simon_Mongey
@haralduhlig @FedericoGanz You're putting preventing small amounts of looting ahead of everything else. That's a choice. I'm choosing to put the ability of people to choose where and when to protest first. It's a question of values.
8:55 PM · Jun 6, 2020
20 Reposts · 72 Likes
Ben Golub@ben_golub
Popular opinion: formalizing normative reasoning about big political questions is tricky.
But only a little thought is enough to see that the toolbox that most economists reflexively reach for (Pareto efficiency, planner weights, etc.) isn't so useful for these questions.
1/3
Jason Abaluck @Jabaluck
Suppose society is 75% white people who like being racist and are rich(er), so they are willing to pay $50,000 to preserve the racist status quo. It's 10% black people who are each willing to pay $50,000 to end the racist status quo. Does pareto efficiency say: let's be racist?
3:27 PM · Jun 7, 2020
21 Reposts · 124 Likes