Rafe Meager (they/them)
@economeager.bsky.social
Aspiring wastrel, applied econometrician. At http://rachaelmeager.com for bayes, dev econ and meta science. Also at http://rottenandgood.substack.com for writing, art, death and emotions. Gay academic nonbinary weirdo, cursed to be serious in life.
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
I see some book piracy discourse, and, to make a positive argument in favor of buying books, your marginal ability to influence what books get published and support the careers of writers you like is massive compared to most other forms of media.
November 25, 2025 at 11:07 PM
I once asked a bookseller at a large indie store how many people would have to buy a book for it to get the attention of the store buyer and cause an additional order and they said: Three.
women and canadians are ruining everything i guess
November 26, 2025 at 2:44 AM
women and canadians are ruining everything i guess
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
One parsimonious explanation: universities presently exist quasi-independently outside the power of the state, and therefore to state actors, must be fully subsumed into the state for its ends, by any means necessary, no matter the consequences for both universities or the state
i really struggle to understand why centre left parties do not like universities, do not like the soft power we wield (imagine getting to educate the children of your geopolitical rivals!!!! IMAGINE!!!). i dont believe that albo, starmer, etc are this stupid, it's got to be hatred. but y.
November 24, 2025 at 12:38 PM
One parsimonious explanation: universities presently exist quasi-independently outside the power of the state, and therefore to state actors, must be fully subsumed into the state for its ends, by any means necessary, no matter the consequences for both universities or the state
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
Agree with all of this, but I don't understand how taxing the fees that already subsidize unis for UK students in order to subsidize unis for UK students makes financial sense.
November 24, 2025 at 12:15 PM
Agree with all of this, but I don't understand how taxing the fees that already subsidize unis for UK students in order to subsidize unis for UK students makes financial sense.
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
Some of it is stupidity, in so far as UK politics and journalism has a deeply cynical anti-intellectualism shot through it ("we've had enough of experts") and the rest is a powerful resentment of the university system not just doing as it is told and wielding a modicum of non-centralised power
November 24, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Some of it is stupidity, in so far as UK politics and journalism has a deeply cynical anti-intellectualism shot through it ("we've had enough of experts") and the rest is a powerful resentment of the university system not just doing as it is told and wielding a modicum of non-centralised power
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
So they don't feel like the sort of places containing lots of people sympathetic to their own worldview, the sort of places wherein people who form their base of support congregate or work, are actually politically legitimate or economically productive places. And evidence can't interfere with this.
November 24, 2025 at 11:38 AM
So they don't feel like the sort of places containing lots of people sympathetic to their own worldview, the sort of places wherein people who form their base of support congregate or work, are actually politically legitimate or economically productive places. And evidence can't interfere with this.
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
I think that in some deep way the centre left actually agree with the right's characterisation of them, that's behind all the angsting about Professional Middle Classes contrasted with authentic true working people which always amounts to two right wing cariactures they just agree with.
November 24, 2025 at 11:38 AM
I think that in some deep way the centre left actually agree with the right's characterisation of them, that's behind all the angsting about Professional Middle Classes contrasted with authentic true working people which always amounts to two right wing cariactures they just agree with.
mini thread on why it is that the centre left now hates universities for some godforsaken reason
Yeah, I think they all hate universities, though perhaps for different reasons. From a neoliberal centrism perspective, "further/tertiary" education may be good but only insofar as it makes better professionals. They'll look at universities and see people having fun and studying like art history &
November 24, 2025 at 11:54 AM
mini thread on why it is that the centre left now hates universities for some godforsaken reason
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
My theory, tested through exposure to Australian higher education administration, is that they are hopelessly captured by the consultants, and that higher education consultants are particularly shallow and uninteresting.
i really struggle to understand why centre left parties do not like universities, do not like the soft power we wield (imagine getting to educate the children of your geopolitical rivals!!!! IMAGINE!!!). i dont believe that albo, starmer, etc are this stupid, it's got to be hatred. but y.
November 24, 2025 at 11:49 AM
My theory, tested through exposure to Australian higher education administration, is that they are hopelessly captured by the consultants, and that higher education consultants are particularly shallow and uninteresting.
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
Wild to be doing a PhD during the first Obama Administration and not remembering the Tea Party at all.
Even wilder to be a well-known political commentator in the 2020s who doesn’t recall January 6.
Even wilder to be a well-known political commentator in the 2020s who doesn’t recall January 6.
November 24, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Wild to be doing a PhD during the first Obama Administration and not remembering the Tea Party at all.
Even wilder to be a well-known political commentator in the 2020s who doesn’t recall January 6.
Even wilder to be a well-known political commentator in the 2020s who doesn’t recall January 6.
minah bird just flew fully inside the apartment, hopped around behind me (guess i was so laser focused on my work...) until I heard it, then when i saw it and said "oh my god!" it deftly flew back out the open balcony door.
November 24, 2025 at 7:36 AM
minah bird just flew fully inside the apartment, hopped around behind me (guess i was so laser focused on my work...) until I heard it, then when i saw it and said "oh my god!" it deftly flew back out the open balcony door.
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
but isn't raye's music neoliberal and dean's music social democratic? in this substack post i will compare this to the differences between william galston's communitarianism and michael sandel's and their influence on the post 1990s left
while olivia dean and raye appear to be similar in aesthetic and in centering romantic relationships, raye's music is about what she wants for herself, while dean's music is about what she can offer the other; this makes dean's work fundamentally regressive in a way raye's is not. in this essay i wi
November 23, 2025 at 2:23 PM
but isn't raye's music neoliberal and dean's music social democratic? in this substack post i will compare this to the differences between william galston's communitarianism and michael sandel's and their influence on the post 1990s left
while olivia dean and raye appear to be similar in aesthetic and in centering romantic relationships, raye's music is about what she wants for herself, while dean's music is about what she can offer the other; this makes dean's work fundamentally regressive in a way raye's is not. in this essay i wi
November 23, 2025 at 2:14 PM
while olivia dean and raye appear to be similar in aesthetic and in centering romantic relationships, raye's music is about what she wants for herself, while dean's music is about what she can offer the other; this makes dean's work fundamentally regressive in a way raye's is not. in this essay i wi
it truly is the battle of the sex pests
I don’t really know who Ryan Lizza is but it seems from reading posts like he is releasing the sexual necronomicon so I wish all of us the best
November 23, 2025 at 7:28 AM
it truly is the battle of the sex pests
No easy thing is it to escape [poster's death] — let him strive who will
November 23, 2025 at 6:44 AM
No easy thing is it to escape [poster's death] — let him strive who will
dont know what it says about me that his reasoning for doing the tell-all are now making pretty good sense in my head
The bamboo metaphor is back: Ryan Lizza has dropped Part 2.
Below are the opening paragraphs, but most of it is behind a paywall.
(My apologies in advance.)
Below are the opening paragraphs, but most of it is behind a paywall.
(My apologies in advance.)
November 22, 2025 at 5:55 AM
dont know what it says about me that his reasoning for doing the tell-all are now making pretty good sense in my head
I appreciate the WSJ following up on this story, which is already in danger of being one of many forgotten scandals in elite academia.
“There is no world where this makes any sense,” said David Autor, one of the MIT professors who had previously championed his student’s research. www.wsj.com/economy/aida...
An MIT Student Awed Top Economists With His AI Study—Then It All Fell Apart
Aidan Toner-Rodgers shot to academic fame in a field hungry for new insights and revelatory research. But a computer scientist thought something seemed off.
www.wsj.com
November 22, 2025 at 4:29 AM
I appreciate the WSJ following up on this story, which is already in danger of being one of many forgotten scandals in elite academia.
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
“There is no world where this makes any sense,” said David Autor, one of the MIT professors who had previously championed his student’s research. www.wsj.com/economy/aida...
An MIT Student Awed Top Economists With His AI Study—Then It All Fell Apart
Aidan Toner-Rodgers shot to academic fame in a field hungry for new insights and revelatory research. But a computer scientist thought something seemed off.
www.wsj.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:03 AM
“There is no world where this makes any sense,” said David Autor, one of the MIT professors who had previously championed his student’s research. www.wsj.com/economy/aida...
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
TRUMP: You're making all the kids learn Arabic Numerals?
MAMDANI: That's correct, but we actually all—
TRUMP: No need to explain, you're a smart man, you're big into education.
MAMDANI: That's correct, but we actually all—
TRUMP: No need to explain, you're a smart man, you're big into education.
November 22, 2025 at 1:54 AM
TRUMP: You're making all the kids learn Arabic Numerals?
MAMDANI: That's correct, but we actually all—
TRUMP: No need to explain, you're a smart man, you're big into education.
MAMDANI: That's correct, but we actually all—
TRUMP: No need to explain, you're a smart man, you're big into education.
"Has he ever been married to anybody?"
"No."
"How come? Somebody cut it off?"
"He's just picky."
"He ain't picky. You see anything around here you'd marry?"
"No."
"How come? Somebody cut it off?"
"He's just picky."
"He ain't picky. You see anything around here you'd marry?"
November 22, 2025 at 1:50 AM
"Has he ever been married to anybody?"
"No."
"How come? Somebody cut it off?"
"He's just picky."
"He ain't picky. You see anything around here you'd marry?"
"No."
"How come? Somebody cut it off?"
"He's just picky."
"He ain't picky. You see anything around here you'd marry?"
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
Meanwhile, in addition to all the people mystified by Trump’s reaction, we have a related crowd who are like “I’m really puzzled that this guy—who recently got himself elected Mayor of New York as a 34 year old socialist Muslim—approached his meeting with Trump in a politically savvy manner”.
November 21, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Meanwhile, in addition to all the people mystified by Trump’s reaction, we have a related crowd who are like “I’m really puzzled that this guy—who recently got himself elected Mayor of New York as a 34 year old socialist Muslim—approached his meeting with Trump in a politically savvy manner”.
Reposted by Rafe Meager (they/them)
i cant believe zohran mamdanis aloof wife is now secretly pulling the presidents strings too. does her power know no bounds?
November 22, 2025 at 12:05 AM
i cant believe zohran mamdanis aloof wife is now secretly pulling the presidents strings too. does her power know no bounds?
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psychosexual you say?
November 22, 2025 at 12:36 AM
psychosexual you say?
So according to MAGA psychosexual structures zohran is now daddy’s daddy …?
TRUMP LIKES HIM SO MUCH (for three hours or whatever but still) HE LET HIM CALL HIM FASH TO HIS FACE imagine how bad jd is seething right now
November 22, 2025 at 12:18 AM
So according to MAGA psychosexual structures zohran is now daddy’s daddy …?