Michael Clemens
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Michael Clemens
@mclem.org
20K followers 3K following 3.2K posts

Professor of economics at George Mason University, fellow at the Peterson Institute of International Economics, IZA, CReAM/UCL, CEPR, CGD. Associate Editor JEP. USAID 2021–2024. Personal views exclusively.

Web: http://mclem.org
ORCID: 0000-0003-1354-0965 .. more

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Michael Andrew Clemens is an American economist who studies international migration and global economic development.

Source: Wikipedia
Economics 40%
Sociology 24%
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mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Feb 21
Migration does not have to be what it is now

Innovation can change what migration *is*—more orderly, skilled, integrated, & tangibly beneficial to everyone affected

In 2012 I proposed one way: Global Skill Partnerships

The World Bank just released a major GSP roadmap—> hdl.handle.net/10986/42780

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 3h
We Americans, Conservative and Liberal, reject reckless and inflammatory language from the people elected to serve us. We’re sick of it.
conradhackett.bsky.social Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 8h
NEW: The share of Republicans who say politicians should avoid heated language that might encourage violence rose from 56% in early 2024 to 75% in mid-2025.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
Image that reads, "83% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say such language should be avoided. That is unchanged since we first asked the question in 2019. 75% of Republicans and Republican leaners also say this, up from 56% in early 2024."

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4h
Accountability. Justice. They’re possible.
Bolsonaro to Start Serving 27-Year Sentence Over Coup Plot
www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Kori Schake, Michael A. Clemens

conradhackett.bsky.social
Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 8h
NEW: The share of Republicans who say politicians should avoid heated language that might encourage violence rose from 56% in early 2024 to 75% in mid-2025.
www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...
Image that reads, "83% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say such language should be avoided. That is unchanged since we first asked the question in 2019. 75% of Republicans and Republican leaners also say this, up from 56% in early 2024."

Reposted by Michael A. Clemens, Henry Jones

samwang.bsky.social
Sam Wang @samwang.bsky.social · 8h
West Point plaque: "Our code of military obedience requires that, should orders and the law ever conflict, our officers must obey the law."

Reposted by Kori Schake, Jacob T. Levy

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 1d
The ongoing, behind-the-scenes evisceration of our apolitical public service will ultimately harm all Conservative and Liberal Americans. Institutions that defend all of us from extremists on the Left and Right, once shattered, do not return soon and may not return ever.

Reposted by Michael A. Clemens

steadystatevets.bsky.social
The Steady State @steadystatevets.bsky.social · 1d
“The Justice Department purge has now eclipsed 5,000 employees since January, including resignations, firings and retirements.”
www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-j...
"Quite frankly I was pissed off!" Growing online page chronicles Trump Justice Dept. resignation letters
Amid a wave of departures from the Justice Department, some of its former officials are curating a public online display of the farewell messages of ousted employees.
www.cbsnews.com

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 1d
Will do, thanks very much Joël

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Dorothy Bishop, Simon Burgess , and 14 more

davidrvetter.bsky.social
Dave Vetter @davidrvetter.bsky.social · 1d
Still reeling from the Stanford report on Brexit. Reduced GDP by up to 8% and investment by as much as 18%. The UK Treasury would have £40 billion more each year if Britain had remained in the EU. Devastating self-immolation.
The Economic Impact of Brexit
Other
siepr.stanford.edu

Reposted by Michael A. Clemens, Mathieu Lefèbvre, Cátia Batista , and 2 more

joelmachado.eu
Joël Machado @joelmachado.eu · 1d
‪
With @jeromevalette.bsky.social & Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga, we are happy to announce the CfPapers for the

4th edition of the Junior Workshop on the Economics of Migration

on May 26-27, 2026 @uc3meconomics.bsky.social, Spain.

Submit until February 1, 2026 on economig2026.sciencesconf.org

Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Aaron Sojourner

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 2d
The sharp decline in US teenagers’ aspiration to get married and have kids…

…is happening almost entirely among girls, not boys.

At some point maybe men will start trying harder to understand that.

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/... | HT @conradhackett.bsky.social @pewresearch.org

Reposted by Michael A. Clemens, Valerie Mueller, Aaron Sojourner , and 4 more

susanathey.bsky.social
Susan Athey @susanathey.bsky.social · 2d
ICYMI: New paper for causal effects with panel data, subsuming other approaches. We generate realistic synthetic data based on commonly studied datasets, showing our method substantially outperforms others and providing insight about what in the data-generating process corresponds to gains.

Reposted by Lawrence F. Katz, Dan Goldhaber, Will Jennings , and 12 more

qjeharvard.bsky.social
The Quarterly Journal of Economics @qjeharvard.bsky.social · 2d
Recently accepted by #QJE, “Republican Support and Economic Hardship: The Enduring Effects of the Opioid Epidemic,” by Arteaga (@caroartc.bsky.social) and Barone (@vickybarone.bsky.social): doi.org/10.1093/qje/...
Republican Support and Economic Hardship: The Enduring Effects Of the Opioid Epidemic
Abstract. In this paper, we establish a causal connection between two of the most salient social developments in the United States over the past decades: t
doi.org

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 3d
Let the record show that both you and Mushfiq have mountains of knowledge I do not and will never have, and I'm jealous of both of you!

Reposted by David R. Miller

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
The US President demanded that this person be killed. Yesterday.

Reckless, filthy perversion of public office is not Conservative. It is not Liberal. It is poison to all Americans.
slotkin.senate.gov Senator Elissa Slotkin @slotkin.senate.gov · 4d
From a spokesperson for U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin:

Reposted by Michael A. Clemens, John Palfrey, Scott A. Imberman , and 1 more

slotkin.senate.gov
Senator Elissa Slotkin @slotkin.senate.gov · 4d
From a spokesperson for U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin:

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
I'm so sick of this garbage. Nonstop poison spit into our veins.

Americans demand leadership and honor in public service. We demand people in positions of public trust who uphold our laws, with minimal wisdom & humanity.

Nothing partisan. Conservative & Liberal Americans reject authoritarian rule.

Reposted by John McLaren, Aaron Sojourner

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
Soldiers in the United States military have a right to refuse unlawful orders.

nlgmltf.org/military-law...

When this fact was stated by a group of public servants (+veterans), the US President promised to EXECUTE them. By hanging.

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/u...

Americans reject dictatorship.
FAQ on Refusing Illegal Orders - Military Law Task Force
This FAQ (drafted by members of the MLTF) can also be found in printable PDF format here: Illegal Orders FAQ – 11NOV2025  DoD Instruction 1325.06 permits a servicemember to possess a single copy of th...
nlgmltf.org

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
Source for TR's 1918 speech: www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/quotes/
Quotes Archive - Theodore Roosevelt Center
www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org

Reposted by David R. Miller

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
This is what the US Dept of Labor looked like last night.

In 1918, Teddy Roosevelt said:

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

Reposted by Aaron Sojourner, Maria Abreu

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
The potential benefits of migration are not identical everywhere.

This remarkable new resource from @niskanencenter.bsky.social maps the US counties where the economic benefits of immigration might be highest —>

www.niskanencenter.org/mapping-amer...

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
Nazism and all its fetid cousins have no place among our public servants and among the men and women entrusted with the powers and duties of the uniform.

This is not difficult, and Conservative and Liberal Americans overwhelmingly agree on it. We are sick of extremists and their cowardly lies.

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
Under a massive bipartisan backlash, they reversed course.

But ask yourself why even attempting to do this was a policy priority, at the highest levels of Homeland Security, in the first place.
Coast Guard reverses course on policy to call swastikas and nooses 'potentially divisive'
The U.S. Coast Guard has released a new, firmer policy addressing the display of hate symbols like swastikas and nooses just hours after it was publicly revealed that it made plans to describe them as...
apnews.com

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
The US Administration moved to allow members of our armed forces to display the Nazi swastika, at supervisors' discretion.

Nazism is not Conservative. It's poison for all of us.

Yet the Administration kneecaps university after university under the tissue-thin pretext of rooting out 'antisemitism'.
Coast Guard Reverses Noem's Embrace of Swastikas and Nooses
The embattled Homeland Security secretary’s plan to ease hate symbol rules totally backfired, prompting swift reversal to prohibit divisive symbols in all Coast Guard facilities.
migrantinsider.com

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
Latest developments

apnews.com/article/supr...
Supreme Court meets to weigh Trump's birthright citizenship restrictions, blocked by lower courts
The Supreme Court is meeting in private with a key issue on its agenda — President Donald Trump’s birthright citizenship order declaring that children born to parents who are in the United States ille...
apnews.com

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
The language of the Constitution is as plain on this point as any constitutional language *could* be.

Lower courts already ruled unequivocally on this point and there is no need for SCOTUS to be debating this at all.

Presidents who do not like what the Constitution says can propose amending it.
mclem.org Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Sep 27
If unauthorized immigrants were not "subject to the jurisdiction of the United States", there would be no legal basis to seize and remove them.

The extremists twisting this very plain language in knots could instead simply amend the Constitution.

They're doing this because they know they'd fail.

Reposted by Maria Abreu

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 4d
The Supreme Court meets today to consider the President's wish to suspend part of our Constitution: the 14th Amendment securing citizenship for US natives.

I joined with 95 other social scientists to document the costs of this act for the United States.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Reposted by Christian Odendahl, Will Jennings, Richard Betts , and 16 more

bloomberg.com
Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 4d
Brexit has caused almost twice as much damage to the UK economy than estimated by official forecasts, according to new paper from a group of experts including a senior Bank of England economist
Brexit Hit to UK Economy Double Official Estimate, Study Finds
Brexit has caused almost twice as much damage to the UK economy than estimated by official forecasts, according to new paper from a group of experts including a senior Bank of England economist.
bloom.bg

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 5d
Economist Troup Howard et al. have shown that prior mass deportation under the Obama administration drove *up* housing prices, against by cutting supply without much reducing demand.

In other words, the Dept. of Homeland Security is fabricating economic claims flatly contradicted by econ research.
www.trouphoward.com

Reposted by Tomasz Mickiewicz

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 5d
By the way, mass deportation causes rising prices in the United States.

This is because it removes a crucial ingredient of production in key sectors like food and construction, without reducing demand much.

Sane demand chasing reduced supply —> higher prices. @piie.com analysis here:
Trump’s deportation plans would cause lower US employment and GDP than otherwise
Former president Donald Trump has promised to carry out the "largest deportation program in American history," a step targeting unauthorized immigrants and endorsed in the Republican Party's 2024 plat...
www.piie.com

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 5d
Oh yes. Immigrants.