Best of #econtwitter - Week of March 14, 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

Noam Angrist @angrist_noam

📣Excited to share our paper is now *published* in @nature "Measuring human capital using global learning data" w/ Djankov @PennyG_Yale @hpatrinos nature.com/articles/s4158… We present learning data in 164 countries from 2000-2017 + explore key Qs in the human capital literature👇

nature.comMeasuring human capital using global learning dataAnalyses of a global database reveal that in many developing countries progress in learning remains limited despite increasing enrolment in primary and secondary education, and uncover links between human capital and economic development.

Arpit Gupta @arpitrage

🎉 Paper with @SVNieuwerburgh now forthcoming at JF. We develop a new methodology for asset pricing on unlisted assets, and find private equity has less alpha than you may think. code: github.com/arpitrage/Divi… substack: arpitrage.substack.com/p/valuing-priv…

Matthias Doepke @mdoepke

And now for something different: A paper on how to think about the optimal size of world population from the perspective of souls who go through multiple incarnations. Sounds crazy, you say? Hear me out. (thread)

Nathan Wilmers @natewilmers

After 5 years of work, @AeppliClem and I finally have a working paper on our inequality project, using restricted-use BLS data. Originally, we wanted to see whether it's really occupation or really workplace that explains rising inequality. Turns out, it's neither. (1/10)

Francisco Roldán @fqroldan

🚨🚨NEW PAPER ALERT🚨🚨 Why do countries finance themselves by issuing debt without indexation? Joint work with @francisco_roch fresh out of the oven. IMF Working Paper: imf.org/en/Publication… Ungated: fqroldan.github.io/resources/SCI_…

Francisco Roch @francisco_roch

Just released. Our new IMF working paper on Uncertainty Premia, Sovereign Default Risk, and State-Contingent Debt. Joint with @fqroldan Check it out! https://t.co/dkwdmK1uM3

Nageeb Ali @SNageebAli

Many of us are struck by polarization + distrust today. Lots of great angles to this being studied in econ + poli sci. Chloe, Lucas, Max, & I ask a basic question: Do people know to trust others when prefs are aligned + not to do so when they are not?

Brian Albrecht @BrianCAlbrecht

Excited to post a working paper with @omareconomics and @PeterBoettke on the Hayek Hypothesis (a favorite topic of mine!) We show how recent theoretical work and field experiments shed new light on the hypothesis, often (but not always) supporting Hayek briancalbrecht.com/Al-Ubaydli_Boe…

Michael Eddy @MichaelEddy

. @m_sendhil @supKaur @suannaoh @FrankSchilbach finds more evidence that poverty hurts job performance. Large effects (6% productivity ↗️!) just from paying wage more regularly in Odisha, India. #pacdev @BeckerFriedman repec.bfi.uchicago.edu/RePEc/pdfs/BFI…

Anna Stansbury @annastansbury

ATTN faculty: How you perceive your relationship with your PhD advisees is often *not* how they perceive it.

AEA Journals @AEAjournals

Forthcoming in the JEL: "Graduate Student Mental Health: Lessons from American Economics Departments" by Valentin Bolotnyy, Matthew Basilico, and Paul Barreira. https://t.co/oQO3jx3G2c

^see also

Laurent Bouton @laurent_bouton

NEW: paper w/ @MicaelCastanhe1 & @GGenicot (bit.ly/3chEDp2) accepted at JEEA. Quite timely for the debate about reforming the Electoral College. Ttime for a thread! 👉

bit.lyBCG_PR_vs_MAJ_JEEA_2021_02_01.pdf

Michael Rubens @MichRubens

I examine how consolidation in the Chinese tobacco industry affected cigarette price markups, input price markdowns, and TFP. This setting is interesting bc consolidation was the result of a policy that forced firms to exit based on size, which creates a natural experiment. 2/8

More: barriers to female entrepreneurship in India, US voting rights, more US voting rights, micromobility

Public goods

Alex Albright @AllbriteAllday

💻 Just updated the "Resources" page on my website! 💻 Need some toy data and/or R code examples? I gotchu. thelittledataset.com/data_code/ Also included: links to online resources on finding data, data visualization, using R, and some random econ topics too #EconTwitter #Rstats

Simon Mongey @Simon_Mongey

Fwiw, I put slides of my honors undergraduate macroeconomics class online here: simonmongey.com/teaching--note…. Similar level as @KurlatPablo's book, with pre-reqs in calculus and algebra and two courses in micro. Syllabus and key ideas below:

Rashad Ahmed @RashadAhmed334

Hi #EconTwitter particularly macro-finance & int'l macro folks: Data for the global flight-to-safety (FTS) index series is now available on my website - daily and monthly frequency indices, 2000-2019: sites.google.com/view/rashad-ah…. 1/n

sites.google.comRashad Ahmed - DataGlobal Flight-to-Safety Index, 2000-2019 Daily index (vintage 3/2021) ; Monthly index (vintage 3/2021) When using these indices, please acknowledge the following paper as the data source: Ahmed (2021). “Global Flights-to-Safety and Macroeconomic Adjustment in Emerging Markets.”

Interesting discussions

Michael Clemens @m_clem

A thread of remarkable research on the economics of international migration that I've discovered recently. I'll add to this regularly in the days ahead, in no particular order. I'm summarizing frontier findings, not presenting unquestionable truths. Pour a ☕ and join me—>

Ricardo Dahis @rdahis

My two cents on the academic job market after going through it. 🧵 Usual caveats apply: my own personal experience, and it may be suffering from recency bias. Lots of people have written about it so I'll try not to be repetitive. #EconTwitter

Shengwu Li @ShengwuLi

@harry_toulouse @ash_craig This article convinced me that we should welcome PhD admits who are mean-preserving spreads of the usual file. Even in top programs, having all the ‘technical’ credentials is far from a sufficient condition for graduates to produce research.

aeaweb.orgThe Research Productivity of New PhDs in Economics: The Surprisingly High Non-success of the Successful(Summer 2014) - We study the research productivity of new graduates from North American PhD programs in economics from 1986 to 2000. We find that research productivity drops off very quickly with class rank at all departments, and that the rank of the graduate departments themselves provides a surpr…

^paper is based on data from graduates up through 2000 — needs an update, given the rise of coauthoring

Arindrajit Dube @arindube

I think it's really unfortunate that applied researchers feel paralyzed to use difference-in-differences method. It's by far the most useful tool in the applied toolkit. And recent methodological developments do not change that fact. 1/

Lindsey Bullinger @lindsbullinger

Anyone else feel this way? Working on lots of DD papers these days. And each time I sit down to work on them, I feel paralyzed bc I feel like I’m doing it all wrong. 1/5

Chris Blattman @cblatts

Academics: What are the best sabbatical ideas you’ve had or seen colleagues do?