Frances Woolley
@frwoolley.bsky.social
Economics prof, policy nerd, dog walker.
Pinned
Frances Woolley
@frwoolley.bsky.social
· Sep 17
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative lives on at worthwhileblog.ca
"the pipeline will either die — which will give Smith and the separatists an important new grievance — or will be pushed through in a way that is toxic to Carney’s existing coalition and unfair to the formidable Indigenous people of northern BC, who cannot be treated as an afterthought" Gift Link.
www.thestar.com
November 28, 2025 at 2:24 PM
"the pipeline will either die — which will give Smith and the separatists an important new grievance — or will be pushed through in a way that is toxic to Carney’s existing coalition and unfair to the formidable Indigenous people of northern BC, who cannot be treated as an afterthought" Gift Link.
Reposted by Frances Woolley
🚨 Postdoctoral opportunities! 🚨
Hello #econsky! We are hiring 2 postdocs in the department of economics at UCalgary for those working in *electricity economics*
Term: 2 years
Pay: $80,000/yr + benefits + $10k research allowance
Start: July 2026
Details in next two posts 👇
Hello #econsky! We are hiring 2 postdocs in the department of economics at UCalgary for those working in *electricity economics*
Term: 2 years
Pay: $80,000/yr + benefits + $10k research allowance
Start: July 2026
Details in next two posts 👇
November 21, 2025 at 9:04 PM
🚨 Postdoctoral opportunities! 🚨
Hello #econsky! We are hiring 2 postdocs in the department of economics at UCalgary for those working in *electricity economics*
Term: 2 years
Pay: $80,000/yr + benefits + $10k research allowance
Start: July 2026
Details in next two posts 👇
Hello #econsky! We are hiring 2 postdocs in the department of economics at UCalgary for those working in *electricity economics*
Term: 2 years
Pay: $80,000/yr + benefits + $10k research allowance
Start: July 2026
Details in next two posts 👇
Reposted by Frances Woolley
Today's JMP features @akhila-kovvuri.bsky.social's work which shows how the extension of the metro system in Delhi generated new jobs around transit stations. Using staggered DiD, she shows consumer-focused firms move in, with new jobs. Large gain for women. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?
What if the train brought the job to you? How public transit moves opportunity closer—and changes who gets hired: Guest post by Akhila Kovvuri
blogs.worldbank.org
November 17, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Today's JMP features @akhila-kovvuri.bsky.social's work which shows how the extension of the metro system in Delhi generated new jobs around transit stations. Using staggered DiD, she shows consumer-focused firms move in, with new jobs. Large gain for women. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?
Reposted by Frances Woolley
Could argue the misogyny Summers expressed both publicly while president of Harvard and in emails to Epstein says more about the culture at our most elite institutions than any of the frontpage freakouts over academia in the past few years but hey
November 17, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Could argue the misogyny Summers expressed both publicly while president of Harvard and in emails to Epstein says more about the culture at our most elite institutions than any of the frontpage freakouts over academia in the past few years but hey
Reposted by Frances Woolley
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 Frances Woolley
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
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November 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
A List of Things Said to Have Been Ruined by Women
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Reposted by Frances Woolley
This is such interesting and impt work--and especially so in light of today's voucher push and the fact that, per @douglasharris9.bsky.social, the average private school in the US is a low-tuition school serving 30 kids. It'd be pretty cheap to create new, low-quality, segregative private schools.
3️⃣ We find white children exposed to academies fared worse as adults.
📉 Human capital index ↓ 0.04 SD
📉 Economic self-sufficiency ↓ 0.06 SD
This evidence suggests White families may have sacrificed educational quality to maintain racial segregation.
11/12
📉 Human capital index ↓ 0.04 SD
📉 Economic self-sufficiency ↓ 0.06 SD
This evidence suggests White families may have sacrificed educational quality to maintain racial segregation.
11/12
November 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
This is such interesting and impt work--and especially so in light of today's voucher push and the fact that, per @douglasharris9.bsky.social, the average private school in the US is a low-tuition school serving 30 kids. It'd be pretty cheap to create new, low-quality, segregative private schools.
Reposted by Frances Woolley
We're cutting $s to low-income 18 year-olds to access education, but we still have half a billion a year to make student loans interest-free for early-career 20-somethings "to help with the rent"
AS DUMB AS A BAG OF HAMMERS.
AS DUMB AS A BAG OF HAMMERS.
Here's the biggest PSE story you haven't heard yet: the Canada Student Grant for low-income students is being cut from $4200/year to $3000/year as of next August. It's implicit in the budget tables but the government is too chickenshit to actually say so directly.
November 4, 2025 at 11:47 PM
We're cutting $s to low-income 18 year-olds to access education, but we still have half a billion a year to make student loans interest-free for early-career 20-somethings "to help with the rent"
AS DUMB AS A BAG OF HAMMERS.
AS DUMB AS A BAG OF HAMMERS.
Reposted by Frances Woolley
For my teaching colleagues: Whenever I'm dealing with grade distributions, I remember this post from @frwoolley.bsky.social for the Worthwhile Canadian Initiative. Fortunately, it's archived:
worthwhileblog.ca/2011/04/19/w... (That simple last transformation is so useful sometimes)
worthwhileblog.ca/2011/04/19/w... (That simple last transformation is so useful sometimes)
What’s the best way to scale grades?
It happens. An exam question is not clear, or more challenging than intended. The exam is marked by an over-zealous TA. Or perhaps the students haven't studied as hard as they should have. As …
worthwhileblog.ca
November 3, 2025 at 1:49 PM
For my teaching colleagues: Whenever I'm dealing with grade distributions, I remember this post from @frwoolley.bsky.social for the Worthwhile Canadian Initiative. Fortunately, it's archived:
worthwhileblog.ca/2011/04/19/w... (That simple last transformation is so useful sometimes)
worthwhileblog.ca/2011/04/19/w... (That simple last transformation is so useful sometimes)
Reposted by Frances Woolley
This week's post: Populism and Economic Prosperity mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/10/popu...
We would expect populist governments to damage the economy. Evidence suggests that they do so in a big way. But we know from Brexit that the media typically nullifies the impact of this evidence on voters.
We would expect populist governments to damage the economy. Evidence suggests that they do so in a big way. But we know from Brexit that the media typically nullifies the impact of this evidence on voters.
Populism and Economic Prosperity
Mainstream political parties normally claim that populist parties, if they ever got to power, would damage the economy. We have clear evid...
mainlymacro.blogspot.com
October 16, 2025 at 8:05 AM
This week's post: Populism and Economic Prosperity mainlymacro.blogspot.com/2025/10/popu...
We would expect populist governments to damage the economy. Evidence suggests that they do so in a big way. But we know from Brexit that the media typically nullifies the impact of this evidence on voters.
We would expect populist governments to damage the economy. Evidence suggests that they do so in a big way. But we know from Brexit that the media typically nullifies the impact of this evidence on voters.
Reposted by Frances Woolley
amazing graph from @amandamull.bsky.social's latest that explains everything from lift pass pricing to vehicle design www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
October 14, 2025 at 3:21 PM
amazing graph from @amandamull.bsky.social's latest that explains everything from lift pass pricing to vehicle design www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...
Reposted by Frances Woolley
This covers some important sources of bias that arise from naive control strategies. Of value even if you don't care about the life-satisfaction ~ age association.
Life satisfaction mostly declines with age. Previous findings (esp. the famous U-shaped age-SWB trajectory) were artifacts of misspecified models. doi.org/10.1093/esr/...
September 30, 2025 at 6:33 AM
This covers some important sources of bias that arise from naive control strategies. Of value even if you don't care about the life-satisfaction ~ age association.
Great to chat to Dan Fumano @vancouversun.bsky.social about BC's property tax deferment program.
My take: "the B.C. model, where significant interest rate subsidies are accessed by those with above-average home values, does not seem to be an effective use of government funds.”
My take: "the B.C. model, where significant interest rate subsidies are accessed by those with above-average home values, does not seem to be an effective use of government funds.”
How B.C.'s property tax system delivers big benefits to multimillionaires, and why some say it needs to change
B.C.'s property tax system is uniquely generous for wealthy homeowners. Some people think that should change. Find out more.
vancouversun.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Great to chat to Dan Fumano @vancouversun.bsky.social about BC's property tax deferment program.
My take: "the B.C. model, where significant interest rate subsidies are accessed by those with above-average home values, does not seem to be an effective use of government funds.”
My take: "the B.C. model, where significant interest rate subsidies are accessed by those with above-average home values, does not seem to be an effective use of government funds.”
The best way to lobby for retaining door-to-door mail delivery? Ask: where will the community mailboxes go? Rally the NIMFYS (not in my front yard)
September 30, 2025 at 3:18 PM
The best way to lobby for retaining door-to-door mail delivery? Ask: where will the community mailboxes go? Rally the NIMFYS (not in my front yard)
Need #EconSky help pls! Need US data on lawyer's wages, or top 1%, 2% or top 10% wages that goes back to the 1960s. Have FRED's 9th decile earnings data fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LEU02... but it only goes back to 2000, and I'm looking more at the very top of the distribution. Indiv not hshd.
September 23, 2025 at 12:34 PM
Need #EconSky help pls! Need US data on lawyer's wages, or top 1%, 2% or top 10% wages that goes back to the 1960s. Have FRED's 9th decile earnings data fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LEU02... but it only goes back to 2000, and I'm looking more at the very top of the distribution. Indiv not hshd.
Reposted by Frances Woolley
September 17, 2025 at 7:50 PM
We've managed to import all of the pictures into Wordpress too, including the infamous drawing from the "why indifference curves are so hard to understand" blog post #EconSky
worthwhileblog.ca/2012/09/12/w...
worthwhileblog.ca/2012/09/12/w...
Why indifference curves are so hard to understand
Look at these curves. I see boobs like this all the time Every year, come exam time, students make mistakes that reveal a fundamental lack of understanding of indifference curves. They write…
worthwhileblog.ca
September 17, 2025 at 1:33 PM
We've managed to import all of the pictures into Wordpress too, including the infamous drawing from the "why indifference curves are so hard to understand" blog post #EconSky
worthwhileblog.ca/2012/09/12/w...
worthwhileblog.ca/2012/09/12/w...
What happens when technology replaces people? Nick Rowe has some thoughts. A prescient post from the WCI vaults #EconSky
Over the next few days I'll be posting some of my favourite blogs. Nick Rowe's Of Horses and Men has aged pretty well: worthwhileblog.ca/2010/02/11/o...
Of horses and men
As a teenager I read Kurt Vonnegut's novel Player Piano. It's stuck in my economist's mind ever since. It describes life in the near-future when technology and machines have destroye…
worthwhileblog.ca
September 17, 2025 at 1:24 PM
What happens when technology replaces people? Nick Rowe has some thoughts. A prescient post from the WCI vaults #EconSky
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative lives on at worthwhileblog.ca
September 17, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative lives on at worthwhileblog.ca
Reposted by Frances Woolley
Trying this again w/out typos;
I thought that Miran might be upset at how much the Trump tariffs have diverged from his (admittedly weird) prescription from Nov.
Now the White House has published his remarks on what he wants countries to do.
NB #5 - "Simply write checks"
#cdnpoli
I thought that Miran might be upset at how much the Trump tariffs have diverged from his (admittedly weird) prescription from Nov.
Now the White House has published his remarks on what he wants countries to do.
NB #5 - "Simply write checks"
#cdnpoli
April 7, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Trying this again w/out typos;
I thought that Miran might be upset at how much the Trump tariffs have diverged from his (admittedly weird) prescription from Nov.
Now the White House has published his remarks on what he wants countries to do.
NB #5 - "Simply write checks"
#cdnpoli
I thought that Miran might be upset at how much the Trump tariffs have diverged from his (admittedly weird) prescription from Nov.
Now the White House has published his remarks on what he wants countries to do.
NB #5 - "Simply write checks"
#cdnpoli
"Accountability is fundamental. But this is not accountability to the micromanagement of rules and process: this was accountability to material results."
It Canadian government. More and more restrictive rules for the tiniest of operations. Which erode judgement and skill, and result in the goal being backside protection for following rules, and not mission delivery www.liberalcurrents.com/good-governa...
Good Governance Requires Accountability
We must rediscover the virtue of ambition: the ambition to get out there and make some real changes—and the courage to face the music after.
www.liberalcurrents.com
September 9, 2025 at 2:58 PM
"Accountability is fundamental. But this is not accountability to the micromanagement of rules and process: this was accountability to material results."
Reposted by Frances Woolley
I finally understand boomers avocado meme.
"Boomers bought houses at a time when saving a couple of pounds per day taking a packed lunch to work would give you a house deposit in eight years. For a millennial this would take two centuries."
martinrobbins.substack.com/p/waspinomic...
"Boomers bought houses at a time when saving a couple of pounds per day taking a packed lunch to work would give you a house deposit in eight years. For a millennial this would take two centuries."
martinrobbins.substack.com/p/waspinomic...
My latest, exploring with numbers how the millennial household budget is basically incomprehensible to retired boomers.
WASPInomics and the magic avocado tree
Why boomers struggle to make sense of the millennial world.
open.substack.com
September 6, 2025 at 11:43 PM
I finally understand boomers avocado meme.
"Boomers bought houses at a time when saving a couple of pounds per day taking a packed lunch to work would give you a house deposit in eight years. For a millennial this would take two centuries."
martinrobbins.substack.com/p/waspinomic...
"Boomers bought houses at a time when saving a couple of pounds per day taking a packed lunch to work would give you a house deposit in eight years. For a millennial this would take two centuries."
martinrobbins.substack.com/p/waspinomic...
It's the end of an era - as of September 30, 2025, typepad will shut down, taking Worthwhile Canadian Initiative with it worthwhile.typepad.com
Hivemind - what were your favourite posts (e.g. ones you used for teaching)? And where would you recommend starting a new blog? Substack or...? #econsky
Hivemind - what were your favourite posts (e.g. ones you used for teaching)? And where would you recommend starting a new blog? Substack or...? #econsky
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative
A mainly Canadian economics blog
worthwhile.typepad.com
August 29, 2025 at 4:07 PM
It's the end of an era - as of September 30, 2025, typepad will shut down, taking Worthwhile Canadian Initiative with it worthwhile.typepad.com
Hivemind - what were your favourite posts (e.g. ones you used for teaching)? And where would you recommend starting a new blog? Substack or...? #econsky
Hivemind - what were your favourite posts (e.g. ones you used for teaching)? And where would you recommend starting a new blog? Substack or...? #econsky
Reposted by Frances Woolley
Dear first year students: Yes, this is worth your time and effort. Seriously. 👇🇨🇦
More adults have university degrees than in the past. That competition makes it harder to demand a higher salary.
Higher education grads still make more money than other workers, just not by as much as they used to.
👉 Read more: bit.ly/4nkzhMT
Higher education grads still make more money than other workers, just not by as much as they used to.
👉 Read more: bit.ly/4nkzhMT
August 25, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Dear first year students: Yes, this is worth your time and effort. Seriously. 👇🇨🇦
Can't wait to listen!
This was a fun conversation with @jrobson.bsky.social and Marwa Abdou 🇨🇦👇
share.transistor.fm/s/7fac0e83
share.transistor.fm/s/7fac0e83
Beyond the Paycheque: Rethinking Economic Security in an Age of Transformation with Tammy Schirle & Jennifer Robson | Canada's Economy, Explained | Episode 11
Do Canada’s public policies reflect the reality of today’s workers?Many of the social programs Canadians rely on for economic security were designed in and for a very different era. Built around a mid...
share.transistor.fm
August 5, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Can't wait to listen!