Best of #econtwitter - Week of September 20, 2020
Welcome readers old and new to this week’s (late!) edition of the Best of Econtwitter. Recommendations always welcome over email or on Twitter @just_economics.
New papers
How the 'China shock' saved American universities -- and Trump's trade war may cost them $1B in tuition
Paper: cgdev.org/sites/default/…
Join via Zoom, 2pm on Tue, with @econgaurav and @BilgeErten:
cgdev.org/event/trade-li…
New with @dev_a_patel:
A “Rosetta Stone” for Comparing Test Scores Around the World (and Across the Global Income Distribution)
Paper: cgdev.org/sites/default/…
Blog: cgdev.org/blog/rosetta-s…
1/
^US (and Russia?) look surprisingly good based on this?
So, what does all this mean for inequality?
85% of rise in the 1% share has gone to migrants. 2/3 to 1/2 of rise in top 0.1 and smaller shares. (UK is "importing" ineq)
⚠️this is NOT a claim that migrants *cause* inequality. just laying out where the money is going right now⚠️
Aggregate investment responds sluggishly to shocks or changes in policy. E.g., investment spending peaks with 8-quarter delay after Fed policy rate cut. Puzzling b/c returns higher at time of rate change.
Why? My paper Investment under Rational Inattention offers an explanation
New WP: “Non-Random Exposure to Exogenous Shocks” (w/ @autoregress). Summary 🧵:
Papers often estimate causal effects by leveraging exogenous shocks that affect many observations jointly, to different extents
We show problems w/this & offer new solutions
dropbox.com/s/brhuxe1b1k8x…
Drenik, @simon_jaeger, Plotkin and @Schoefer_B use Argentinian data to study the degree to which temp agency workers receive firm-specific pay premia. They find they receive on average *half* of the premia of full time/regular workers. [1/3]
Benjamin Schoefer @Schoefer_B
TL;DR: Control of the VC-backed startup board shifts from entrepreneur, to shared between VC and entrepreneur, to VC. VC control is sticky. The *independent director* plays a central role in this transition and acts as a mediator between the entrepreneur and VC. 2/13
Other paper summaries
Suppose you are a robust decision maker. You care about the highest and lowest estimate of an effect, across different model specifications.
The researcher has incentives to find an upper bound. The replicator, a lower bound. The real effect should be in between!
John B. Holbein @JohnHolbein1
The minimum wage reduces racial income inequality.
Important new work just out at @QJEHarvard.
academic.oup.com/qje/advance-ar…
Happy to presenting today for the last time my paper "Signaling to Experts" with @KurlatPablo at this exciting new online seminar series in economic theory: (1/9)
We are glad that our paper on Frontier Culture is receiving attention outside economics, but based on the comments here it is clear we need to make some clarifications. Thread [1/12]
econometrica @ecmaEditors
^history twitter got angsty
Public goods
^recommended
I recently put together a list of organizations where people interested in (non-academic) jobs in behavioral economics/applied microeconomics should look. I figured it would be worth sharing more broadly! (1/n)
🥕🥕Public resource announcement! 🥕🥕 With input from almost 40 folks in econ, @qlquanle, @mathematikai, @tsaocaro, and I have compiled a guide to econ RAships! raguide.github.io #econtwitter [1/5]
Hi #EconTwitter, #InnovTwitter, #InnovEcon and other patent geeks.
With @CyrilVerluise , we are thrilled to announce several new features regarding the #PatentCity project
See patentcity.xyz and thread below
⬇️⬇️
Antonin Bergeaud @a_bergeaud
Decided to put down on paper some of my thoughts on non-academic careers for those with a PhD: medium.com/@rebeccajaynew…. I describe the two main paths I see, plus some suggestions of the transferrable skills you develop in a PhD program.
Good discussion in the replies
Does anyone have an intuitive explainer for matrix completion? I read the Athey et al paper but could use an MC for Dummies companion piece.
^Athey replies here
