Best of #econtwitter - Week of November 21, 2021 [2/2]
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.
This is part two of two. Part one is here.
Paper summary threads
Erika McEntarfer@ErikaMcentarfer
For new followers who are curious, I will tease one more graph from our paper in progress, showing the enormous dispersion in earnings for graduates of top schools and the earnings gap between graduates of top 5/top 20/non-top 20 programs in academia (1/3)
8:33 PM · Nov 17, 2021
59 Reposts · 381 Likes
Erika McEntarfer@ErikaMcentarfer
This chart shows how non-academic placements for economists are distributed across sectors and how this has changed over time.
Tech has grown as a share of initial placements, but remains a small share (gov't and consulting share of placements are larger and increased by more)
12:06 AM · Nov 17, 2021
5 Reposts · 25 Likes
Erika McEntarfer@ErikaMcentarfer
So why does tech have such an outsized role in our conversations about economists?
There are likely lots of reasons for this, but one might be that tech placements have increased *a lot* at top programs, going from near zero 10-12 years ago to 9% of recent placements
12:06 AM · Nov 17, 2021
3 Reposts · 21 Likes
^navel-gazing, but based on (restricted!) data
Alex Holcombe@ceptional
New paper: "A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review" - by @BalazsAczel, @szaszibarnabas, & I. rdcu.be/cBmE0 🧵👇
rdcu.be
A billion-dollar donation: estimating the cost of researchers’ time spent on peer review
8:32 PM · Nov 15, 2021
308 Reposts · 615 Likes
Ben Golub@ben_golub
One of the first papers that I devoured because of a need to know a result in it was by John Conlisk. His writing made it clear why he is remembered for being a great teacher.
To honor his memory, this is a🧵about "Comparative statics for Markov chains"
1/
UCSDEcon @UCSDEcon
In Memoriam: Sad to report that John Conlisk (1939-2021) passed away last month. A true force in building @UCSDEcon into what is today during his three decades (1969-1999) here. More details on his achievements and life at https://t.co/8WUCakqIC0. https://t.co/MaOvPA6vsC
1:15 AM · Nov 22, 2021
16 Reposts · 119 Likes
Martin Beraja@MartinBeraja
🚨New paper🚨
AI innovation may both entrench modern autocracies and be promoted by them in a sustained manner.
Read on for evidence of such mutually reinforcing relationship in the context of facial recognition AI in China.
A thread 🧵 1/13 @MITEcon #EconTwitter
NBER @nberpubs
Study finds a mutually reinforcing relationship between frontier innovation and autocracy in the context of facial recognition AI in China, from @MartinBeraja, Andrew Kao, @david_yang, and Noam Yuchtman https://t.co/JyUbiCsiPS https://t.co/qDHvqz82Om
1:39 PM · Nov 19, 2021
21 Reposts · 89 Likes
More: UK coal phase out; college decision-making among low-income students; macroeconomics of CTC; Thinking Clearly With Data; standardized testing correlations; labor dynamics with endogenous growth; TLTRO stuff; capital controls
Public goods
Imran Rasul@ImranRasul3
**NEWS ALERT**
Think the world of academic economists can be organized better?
Have a concrete suggestion of how to do this?
Then read on: the @EEANews has launched a new initiative to fund research proposals on career incentives in economics
eeassoc.org/career-structu…
(1/2)
6:22 AM · Nov 17, 2021
44 Reposts · 92 Likes
Imran Rasul@ImranRasul3
We welcome proposals using applied theory/empirical analysis tackling issues (with concrete policy suggestions) including:
(i) recruitment, promotion & retention of talent
(ii) design of tenure systems
(iii) reforming publications process
(iv) response to rise of teamwork
(2/3)
6:22 AM · Nov 17, 2021
9 Likes
Matt Clancy@mattsclancy
If you’re an economics job market candidate who wants to introduce yourself and your work to the wider #EconTwitter community, consider tagging in @WelcomeEcon in a reply to your tweet to get retweeted!
Welcome Economists! @WelcomeEcon
This account retweets people who want to introduce themselves to the #EconTwitter community. That's all it does!
3:55 PM · Nov 16, 2021
9 Reposts · 20 Likes
Yannai A. Gonczarowski@YannaiGonch
Hi #EconTwitter! So great that many JMCs are sharing their JMPs online. And it's now easier than ever to keep track:
-Follow @EconJMP: bot that retweets tweets with #EconJMP or #EconJMC in them
-Follow @EconTheoryJMP: bot that retweets tweets with the above+#Theory in them
Enjoy!
7:52 PM · Nov 19, 2021
29 Reposts · 42 Likes
scott cunningham@causalinf
. @mattohom1 is an economist at Spotify and he sent me a great deck he made to help people learn more abt tech careers. dropbox.com/s/bmci0ffcfkhx…
11:03 PM · Nov 16, 2021
61 Reposts · 340 Likes
^see also: new blog post on “Consulting and Freelancing in Academia”
Interesting discussions
Fabian Lange@fabolange
#PSA #EconJobMarket Applying for Assistant Prof: think about your field. Most departments divide the files into 4 piles: Applied Micro, Theory, Econometrics, Macro. If your primary is "Microeconomics", your assignment will be more random and/or based on secondary field.
2:36 PM · Nov 21, 2021
26 Reposts · 134 Likes
Ben Golub@ben_golub
Formal proof verification is becoming a bigger deal in math. This is an idle thought about how this could play a role in changing the assignment of credit for mathematical advances.
Tl;dr: get paid for proving lemmas on the blockchain.
1/
6:29 PM · Nov 20, 2021
31 Reposts · 203 Likes
Alex John London@AlexJohnLondon
If you read a paper and you think, “man, this is a good paper” it costs you nothing to email the author and let them know that you appreciate their work. Compliments are rare in #academia but they needn’t be.
3:04 AM · Nov 20, 2021
124 Reposts · 1.07K Likes
^to American (and non-American) readers, have a good Thanksgiving