Claudia Persico
@claudiapersico.bsky.social
Associate Prof at American University SPA (formerly UW-Madison), NBER & IZA studying environmental, health & ed policy. PhD from Northwestern U. Thoughts are my own.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Amazing study showing that deactivating social media improved mental health.
[It has so many coauthors that the sample size was sufficient to run the RCT on themselves.]
[It has so many coauthors that the sample size was sufficient to run the RCT on themselves.]
Forthcoming in AEJ: Economic Policy: "The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users’ Emotional State" by Hunt Allcott, Matthew Gentzkow, Benjamin Wittenbrink, et al. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...
The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users’ Emotional State
(Forthcoming Article) - We estimate the effect of social media deactivation on users’ emotional state in
two large randomized experiments before the 2020 U.S. election. People who
deactivated Facebook...
www.aeaweb.org
November 20, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Amazing study showing that deactivating social media improved mental health.
[It has so many coauthors that the sample size was sufficient to run the RCT on themselves.]
[It has so many coauthors that the sample size was sufficient to run the RCT on themselves.]
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Dept. of Ed is reclassifying all the female dominated professions (nurse, therapist, speech pathologist, PA) as not having “professional” degrees, which makes it harder for them to get educational loans.
Another FUCKED UP thing this admin is doing to attack women’s power.
Take that shit to court!
Another FUCKED UP thing this admin is doing to attack women’s power.
Take that shit to court!
November 20, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Dept. of Ed is reclassifying all the female dominated professions (nurse, therapist, speech pathologist, PA) as not having “professional” degrees, which makes it harder for them to get educational loans.
Another FUCKED UP thing this admin is doing to attack women’s power.
Take that shit to court!
Another FUCKED UP thing this admin is doing to attack women’s power.
Take that shit to court!
Reposted by Claudia Persico
How awful. This is outright health disinformation, lying to the American people. Not only is there massive evidence showing no link between vaccines & autism, there’s not even a plausible mechanism based on what we’ve learned about the genetics of autism, some environmental exposures in pregnancy
HEADS UP: CDC website now officially asserts that vaccines may cause autism.“Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.” Also says the “vaccines do not cause autism” header remains b/c of an agreement with Cassidy.
November 20, 2025 at 3:18 AM
How awful. This is outright health disinformation, lying to the American people. Not only is there massive evidence showing no link between vaccines & autism, there’s not even a plausible mechanism based on what we’ve learned about the genetics of autism, some environmental exposures in pregnancy
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Every month for the last 77 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated Americans' unemployment rate
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
Here's the planned BLS data release schedule for Nov 2025.
On Tues, it couldn't release Sept job openings, hires, layoffs and firings data.
This morning, it couldn't release 2025Q3 business Productivity and Costs data.
Tomorrow, it can't release Oct 2025 #JobsReport
www.bls.gov/schedule/202...
On Tues, it couldn't release Sept job openings, hires, layoffs and firings data.
This morning, it couldn't release 2025Q3 business Productivity and Costs data.
Tomorrow, it can't release Oct 2025 #JobsReport
www.bls.gov/schedule/202...
November 6, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Every month for the last 77 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has estimated Americans' unemployment rate
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
This streak dies tomorrow
Govt staff could not survey Americans about whether they're working or looking for work in Oct, the 1st time in 934 months
This blind spot will remain forever
Reposted by Claudia Persico
From the team that brought you the "Too Big To Fail" financial institutions, it's the "Too Brilliant To Be Held Accountable" men
🤢
🤢
November 18, 2025 at 11:23 AM
From the team that brought you the "Too Big To Fail" financial institutions, it's the "Too Brilliant To Be Held Accountable" men
🤢
🤢
Reposted by Claudia Persico
This is a good companion piece to the NYT piece today on the attack on the DOJ, and a sign of what the lawyers who did not resign or get fired are willing to do.
Trump's illegal murders in the Caribbean just got worse. An internal DOJ memo on the bombings says the victims are waging war on the US, but per NYT, it extensively cites the WH's *own claims* to this effect as evidence!
It gets even darker than that. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2032...
It gets even darker than that. 1/
(new piece)
newrepublic.com/article/2032...
Trump Boat Bombings Take Dark, Unnerving Turn with Leaked Memo Stunner
A new Trump administration memo argues that those carrying out the boat attacks can’t be prosecuted. Why? Because the administration says so!
newrepublic.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:33 PM
This is a good companion piece to the NYT piece today on the attack on the DOJ, and a sign of what the lawyers who did not resign or get fired are willing to do.
This is a huge threat to research and likely to greatly harm our Chinese colleagues and friends.
This has gotten surprisingly little attention — it's not even on the front page of @science.org right now — but it's really hard to describe what the SAFE Research Act would do to US science and scientists without sounding insane
www.science.org/content/arti...
www.science.org/content/arti...
November 14, 2025 at 7:45 PM
This is a huge threat to research and likely to greatly harm our Chinese colleagues and friends.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
I know that the job market is rough this year for Econ PhDs. @utoronto.ca has expanded its postdoc funding. If you are on the market and work on school finance or early childhood education and are interested in a PostDoc, let me know! #econsky #educsky postdoc.sgs.utoronto.ca/current-post...
Postdoctoral Talent Initiative – School of Graduate Studies Postdoctoral Fellows
postdoc.sgs.utoronto.ca
November 13, 2025 at 11:53 PM
I know that the job market is rough this year for Econ PhDs. @utoronto.ca has expanded its postdoc funding. If you are on the market and work on school finance or early childhood education and are interested in a PostDoc, let me know! #econsky #educsky postdoc.sgs.utoronto.ca/current-post...
Reposted by Claudia Persico
What will AI actually mean for schools over the next several years? Here are my theories:
–The student cheating problem won't go away.
–AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant.
–AI will *not* be a super-tutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
–The student cheating problem won't go away.
–AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant.
–AI will *not* be a super-tutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
3 ways AI will (and won’t) change schools
The cheating problem isn’t going away. More teachers will use AI as an assistant. But AI won't be a supertutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org
November 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
What will AI actually mean for schools over the next several years? Here are my theories:
–The student cheating problem won't go away.
–AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant.
–AI will *not* be a super-tutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
–The student cheating problem won't go away.
–AI will increasingly become a ubiquitous teaching assistant.
–AI will *not* be a super-tutor.
cbnewsletters.chalkbeat.org/p/3-ways-ai-...
Reposted by Claudia Persico
📢 Announcing the 25-26 SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series!
We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:
12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social
Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable
We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:
12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social
Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable
November 4, 2025 at 6:20 PM
📢 Announcing the 25-26 SustainableED Virtual Seminar Series!
We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:
12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social
Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable
We're hosting 4 public seminars synthesizing research at the intersection of ed & climate change:
12/1 @jorgecuartas.bsky.social
2/9 Jaimie Davis
3/11 Hunter Gehlbach
4/15 @claudiapersico.bsky.social
Register: linktr.ee/edsustainable
This is why we need to donate to food banks now.
"For every meal that a food bank provides, the SNAP program provides nine. There's no way we can meet that gap. There's no way we can replace every single one of those meals. It is not sustainable for food banks to fill this gap. We were not built to do this."
October 27, 2025 at 8:03 PM
This is why we need to donate to food banks now.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
It’s not just that they don’t have to turn off SNAP benefits — they’re not legally allowed to. They legally must use the contingency fund.
The admin is pretending they can’t use it even though their own guidance from a month ago (that they’ve since deleted) contradicts that.
The admin is pretending they can’t use it even though their own guidance from a month ago (that they’ve since deleted) contradicts that.
Yes, they’re using the shutdown to turn off SNAP benefits.
No, they don’t have to.
No, they don’t have to.
October 27, 2025 at 7:40 PM
It’s not just that they don’t have to turn off SNAP benefits — they’re not legally allowed to. They legally must use the contingency fund.
The admin is pretending they can’t use it even though their own guidance from a month ago (that they’ve since deleted) contradicts that.
The admin is pretending they can’t use it even though their own guidance from a month ago (that they’ve since deleted) contradicts that.
Millions of poor families are about to lose access to SNAP (food assistance) because of the shutdown. 39% of all SNAP recipients are children. Kids are about to go hungry and food banks are about to be overrun, so I am urging you to donate to your local food bank like we just did.
Food Bank for the Washington, DC, Region | Capital Area Food Bank
The Capital Area Food serves the entire Washington, DC, metropolitan region, providing meals to thousands of people a day while also addressing the root causes of hunger.
www.capitalareafoodbank.org
October 27, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Millions of poor families are about to lose access to SNAP (food assistance) because of the shutdown. 39% of all SNAP recipients are children. Kids are about to go hungry and food banks are about to be overrun, so I am urging you to donate to your local food bank like we just did.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
I am not a lawyer. David Super is *the* lawyer. If he says the Trump Administration is illegally withholding SNAP benefits, they are. So...they are.
"A more clearly unlawful impoundment is difficult to imagine."
"A more clearly unlawful impoundment is difficult to imagine."
My latest on the Administration's wildly unlawful shutdown of SNAP. To buy their argument, you must ignore the interpretation they took Sept. 30 and repeatedly in the first Trump Administration. Shamelesly and gratuitously cruel.
Balkinization share.google/yaVtx89DJsIR...
Balkinization share.google/yaVtx89DJsIR...
Balkinization
Balkinization
<br>an unanticipated consequence of
<br>Jack M. Balkin
<br>
<br>
share.google
October 25, 2025 at 5:11 PM
I am not a lawyer. David Super is *the* lawyer. If he says the Trump Administration is illegally withholding SNAP benefits, they are. So...they are.
"A more clearly unlawful impoundment is difficult to imagine."
"A more clearly unlawful impoundment is difficult to imagine."
Reposted by Claudia Persico
If the NIH and HHS were under any other prior President (Dem or GOP), we’d see a rapid shift of funding to leverage this. But the politicization (and gutting) of these agencies means it won’t happen—and so many people will die unnecessarily as a result.
Finally read the paper and it's worth the buzz.
mRNA vaccines saved 20 million lives in a global pandemic and the technology is opening up new avenues for the treatment of deadly cancers. This is really one of the most impactful scientific developments of our time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
mRNA vaccines saved 20 million lives in a global pandemic and the technology is opening up new avenues for the treatment of deadly cancers. This is really one of the most impactful scientific developments of our time.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint blockade - Nature
mRNA vaccines targeting SARS-CoV-2 also sensitize tumours to immune checkpoint inhibitors.
www.nature.com
October 25, 2025 at 2:51 PM
If the NIH and HHS were under any other prior President (Dem or GOP), we’d see a rapid shift of funding to leverage this. But the politicization (and gutting) of these agencies means it won’t happen—and so many people will die unnecessarily as a result.
I love diving at coral reefs. I've seen the bleaching first hand wherever I go. It's really sad. These are some of nature's most beautiful creations and ecologically necessary to protect coastlines.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Planet’s first catastrophic climate tipping point reached, report says, with coral reefs facing ‘widespread dieback’
Unless global heating is reduced to 1.2C ‘as fast as possible’, warm water coral reefs will not remain ‘at any meaningful scale’, a report by 160 scientists from 23 countries warns
www.theguardian.com
October 15, 2025 at 8:01 PM
I love diving at coral reefs. I've seen the bleaching first hand wherever I go. It's really sad. These are some of nature's most beautiful creations and ecologically necessary to protect coastlines.
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
My work on how pollution can cause poverty was covered by the @washingtonpost.com . Check it out ⬇️⬇️
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Column | Why this one area of cities is usually the poorest
The Department of Data went looking for geographic patterns in poverty, and stumbled upon a surprising culprit.
www.washingtonpost.com
October 8, 2025 at 6:03 PM
My work on how pollution can cause poverty was covered by the @washingtonpost.com . Check it out ⬇️⬇️
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...
Reposted by Claudia Persico
New paper out in @pnas.org! We study the effect of air pollution on pets, finding increased vet admissions when air quality is worse. Tackling air pollution doesn't just matter for human health - it's important for animals too, including people's much loved cats and dogs www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
October 1, 2025 at 3:42 PM
New paper out in @pnas.org! We study the effect of air pollution on pets, finding increased vet admissions when air quality is worse. Tackling air pollution doesn't just matter for human health - it's important for animals too, including people's much loved cats and dogs www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Affected by the Government Shutdown*? Join SPA for a day of free classes covering career development strategies, current events, AI, & networking opportunities.
🗓️ Friday, 10/10 🕑 9:30 AM - 3 PM 📍Kerwin Hall
👉 Reserve your spot: american-spa.swoogo.com/classeswithoutquizzes
🗓️ Friday, 10/10 🕑 9:30 AM - 3 PM 📍Kerwin Hall
👉 Reserve your spot: american-spa.swoogo.com/classeswithoutquizzes
October 3, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Affected by the Government Shutdown*? Join SPA for a day of free classes covering career development strategies, current events, AI, & networking opportunities.
🗓️ Friday, 10/10 🕑 9:30 AM - 3 PM 📍Kerwin Hall
👉 Reserve your spot: american-spa.swoogo.com/classeswithoutquizzes
🗓️ Friday, 10/10 🕑 9:30 AM - 3 PM 📍Kerwin Hall
👉 Reserve your spot: american-spa.swoogo.com/classeswithoutquizzes
Had a great time visiting @utknoxville.bsky.social Economics this week! Also got great feedback last week visiting the @umaryland.edu MPRC. Knoxville is pretty!
October 3, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Had a great time visiting @utknoxville.bsky.social Economics this week! Also got great feedback last week visiting the @umaryland.edu MPRC. Knoxville is pretty!
Reposted by Claudia Persico
📈 Once niche, health economics is now central to the field.
A new study shows its share in top journals tripled since the 1990s—driven not by conformity, but by innovative, high-quality research.
Health is shaping the future of economics.
A new study shows its share in top journals tripled since the 1990s—driven not by conformity, but by innovative, high-quality research.
Health is shaping the future of economics.
Early View
The Rise of Health Economics: Transforming the Landscape of Economic Research
tinyurl.com
September 30, 2025 at 6:03 PM
📈 Once niche, health economics is now central to the field.
A new study shows its share in top journals tripled since the 1990s—driven not by conformity, but by innovative, high-quality research.
Health is shaping the future of economics.
A new study shows its share in top journals tripled since the 1990s—driven not by conformity, but by innovative, high-quality research.
Health is shaping the future of economics.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
So, a project that I’m working on is getting some media attention, and that feels pretty cool.
I should note: this article lets at least one highly dubious claim from administration brass go unchallenged. So bad as this picture of Trump’s SSA looks, the reality’s probably worse.
Gift link below.
I should note: this article lets at least one highly dubious claim from administration brass go unchallenged. So bad as this picture of Trump’s SSA looks, the reality’s probably worse.
Gift link below.
A Diminished Social Security Work Force, and Its Customers, Feel the Strain
www.nytimes.com
September 25, 2025 at 9:22 PM
So, a project that I’m working on is getting some media attention, and that feels pretty cool.
I should note: this article lets at least one highly dubious claim from administration brass go unchallenged. So bad as this picture of Trump’s SSA looks, the reality’s probably worse.
Gift link below.
I should note: this article lets at least one highly dubious claim from administration brass go unchallenged. So bad as this picture of Trump’s SSA looks, the reality’s probably worse.
Gift link below.
Reposted by Claudia Persico
Flu season is coming. 🍂💉
A French study shows that invitation letters & free vouchers boost vaccination—especially among the most risk-averse.
Clearer, targeted campaigns could save thousands. tinyurl.com/y7frzfk2 @universityofleeds.bsky.social
A French study shows that invitation letters & free vouchers boost vaccination—especially among the most risk-averse.
Clearer, targeted campaigns could save thousands. tinyurl.com/y7frzfk2 @universityofleeds.bsky.social
September 24, 2025 at 7:01 AM
Flu season is coming. 🍂💉
A French study shows that invitation letters & free vouchers boost vaccination—especially among the most risk-averse.
Clearer, targeted campaigns could save thousands. tinyurl.com/y7frzfk2 @universityofleeds.bsky.social
A French study shows that invitation letters & free vouchers boost vaccination—especially among the most risk-averse.
Clearer, targeted campaigns could save thousands. tinyurl.com/y7frzfk2 @universityofleeds.bsky.social
Come be my colleague!
Professor in Health Economics. The position is in the departments of economics and health studies...
tinyurl.com/yvxfdrs4
tinyurl.com/yvxfdrs4
American Economic Association: JOE Listings - August 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026
tinyurl.com
September 18, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Come be my colleague!