JW Mason
@jwmason.bsky.social
Associate professor of economics, John Jay College-CUNY, senior fellow at the Groundwork Collaborative. Blog and other writing: jwmason.org. Study economics with me: https://johnjayeconomics.org. Anti-war Keynesian, liberal socialist, Brooklyn dad.
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JW Mason
@jwmason.bsky.social
· Sep 30
Against Money
A powerful deconstruction of humanity’s most influential invention, from the acclaimed economists J. W. Mason and Arjun Jayadev. Money is unavoidably fundamental to our daily lives. It lurks behind ...
press.uchicago.edu
Coming this spring. press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
This fallacy should henceforth be known as a Barro's Blunder.
Anyway, the world does not need another post dunking on Josh Barro. What it does need, is a word for the fallacy where you make up some weird stereotype about people, and then when it turns out they don't actually act that way, you think that's something strange about *them*.
November 26, 2025 at 10:47 PM
This fallacy should henceforth be known as a Barro's Blunder.
Reposted by JW Mason
Here is a handy summary of the literature on the various margins from the latest Handbook of Labor Economics by @arindube.bsky.social & Attila Lindner for reference:
November 26, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Here is a handy summary of the literature on the various margins from the latest Handbook of Labor Economics by @arindube.bsky.social & Attila Lindner for reference:
I had a regular poker game for a while. Everybody in it was some flavor of socialist.
November 26, 2025 at 10:04 PM
I had a regular poker game for a while. Everybody in it was some flavor of socialist.
Reposted by JW Mason
God this is so depressing given the political response to it
"the economic response to the pandemic really worked. Indeed, there is a good case that it was the most successful example of countercyclical policy in US history." jwmason.org/slackwire/at...
At Groundwork: Lessons from the September Jobs Report – J. W. Mason
jwmason.org
November 26, 2025 at 9:34 PM
God this is so depressing given the political response to it
My post on the latest jobs data included a discussion of the economy's stall speed. Afterward I received a fascinating note about the aerodynamics of airplane stalls, which turn out to be a better metaphor for business cycles than I realized. I've shared it on my blog. jwmason.org/slackwire/a-...
A Note on Stall Speed – J. W. Mason
jwmason.org
November 26, 2025 at 9:58 PM
My post on the latest jobs data included a discussion of the economy's stall speed. Afterward I received a fascinating note about the aerodynamics of airplane stalls, which turn out to be a better metaphor for business cycles than I realized. I've shared it on my blog. jwmason.org/slackwire/a-...
Reposted by JW Mason
"the economic response to the pandemic really worked. Indeed, there is a good case that it was the most successful example of countercyclical policy in US history." jwmason.org/slackwire/at...
At Groundwork: Lessons from the September Jobs Report – J. W. Mason
jwmason.org
November 26, 2025 at 6:07 PM
"the economic response to the pandemic really worked. Indeed, there is a good case that it was the most successful example of countercyclical policy in US history." jwmason.org/slackwire/at...
It's like Rachel Reeves is moonlighting in the Trump administration.
National parks have SO MANY people from other countries (since they get real vacations!)
And they spend a lot of money on hotels, food, souvenirs, etc.
This is unbelievably dumb, it will destroy entire tourist towns
And they spend a lot of money on hotels, food, souvenirs, etc.
This is unbelievably dumb, it will destroy entire tourist towns
November 26, 2025 at 4:24 AM
It's like Rachel Reeves is moonlighting in the Trump administration.
Reposted by JW Mason
The September jobs report tells 3 key stories:
✅ Pandemic fiscal response was a historic success
⚠️ Weakening labor market is widening inequality
🚨 Recession warnings are flashing
From @groundwork.bsky.social Senior Fellow @jwmason.bsky.social 🧵
groundworkcollaborative.org/news/the-sep...
✅ Pandemic fiscal response was a historic success
⚠️ Weakening labor market is widening inequality
🚨 Recession warnings are flashing
From @groundwork.bsky.social Senior Fellow @jwmason.bsky.social 🧵
groundworkcollaborative.org/news/the-sep...
The September Jobs Report: Evidence of Past Success, and of Dangers Ahead - Groundwork Collaborative
groundworkcollaborative.org
November 26, 2025 at 2:24 AM
The September jobs report tells 3 key stories:
✅ Pandemic fiscal response was a historic success
⚠️ Weakening labor market is widening inequality
🚨 Recession warnings are flashing
From @groundwork.bsky.social Senior Fellow @jwmason.bsky.social 🧵
groundworkcollaborative.org/news/the-sep...
✅ Pandemic fiscal response was a historic success
⚠️ Weakening labor market is widening inequality
🚨 Recession warnings are flashing
From @groundwork.bsky.social Senior Fellow @jwmason.bsky.social 🧵
groundworkcollaborative.org/news/the-sep...
Are these really nuclear takes? I guess some people might be dogmatic about using ggplot for everything. But are there people who don't use <-?
Honestly I don't know. I'm not a very technical boy.
Honestly I don't know. I'm not a very technical boy.
R nuclear takes:
-rm(list=ls()) is fine
-notebooks are better for most analysis because you get inline tables and graphs
-base plot is better for simple working graphs (ggplot is for the actual pub version)
- <- is not only fine but better and it's just as keystroke efficient if done right
-rm(list=ls()) is fine
-notebooks are better for most analysis because you get inline tables and graphs
-base plot is better for simple working graphs (ggplot is for the actual pub version)
- <- is not only fine but better and it's just as keystroke efficient if done right
November 26, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Are these really nuclear takes? I guess some people might be dogmatic about using ggplot for everything. But are there people who don't use <-?
Honestly I don't know. I'm not a very technical boy.
Honestly I don't know. I'm not a very technical boy.
The problem is precisely that this is not true. Not-garbage always takes work.
I think Madrigal's claim is wrong because a) it overstates the average quality of shit people see online already, and b) the cost of making not-garbage is going to zero right along with the cost of making garbage
November 25, 2025 at 11:56 PM
The problem is precisely that this is not true. Not-garbage always takes work.
My hope is that going forward, I will be doing these sorts of posts more regularly for Groundwork around macro data releases.
I have a new post up at Groundwork, on some takeaways from the (much-delayed) September jobs numbers. groundworkcollaborative.org/news/the-sep...
The September Jobs Report: Evidence of Past Success, and of Dangers Ahead - Groundwork Collaborative
groundworkcollaborative.org
November 25, 2025 at 9:24 PM
My hope is that going forward, I will be doing these sorts of posts more regularly for Groundwork around macro data releases.
I have a new post up at Groundwork, on some takeaways from the (much-delayed) September jobs numbers. groundworkcollaborative.org/news/the-sep...
The September Jobs Report: Evidence of Past Success, and of Dangers Ahead - Groundwork Collaborative
groundworkcollaborative.org
November 25, 2025 at 9:08 PM
I have a new post up at Groundwork, on some takeaways from the (much-delayed) September jobs numbers. groundworkcollaborative.org/news/the-sep...
There are three (3) current or former students in the John jay economics MA program on the Zohran transition team.
Studying economics at John Jay does not guarantee that you'll play a leading role in building the next wave of municipal socialism. But it sure seems to improve your odds.
Studying economics at John Jay does not guarantee that you'll play a leading role in building the next wave of municipal socialism. But it sure seems to improve your odds.
November 25, 2025 at 3:27 PM
There are three (3) current or former students in the John jay economics MA program on the Zohran transition team.
Studying economics at John Jay does not guarantee that you'll play a leading role in building the next wave of municipal socialism. But it sure seems to improve your odds.
Studying economics at John Jay does not guarantee that you'll play a leading role in building the next wave of municipal socialism. But it sure seems to improve your odds.
Reposted by JW Mason
Really wish more people understood this. Having to interact with the awful guy with more authority than you isn't a betrayal *or* some 3D chess move, it's just a necessity if you want to do your job effectively, and that's as true for progressive politicians as it is for liberal ones.
A simpler and more plausible explanation for the meeting is tactical: The federal government can make things difficult for NYC in many ways, and if the new mayor is going to deliver on his agenda he needs to try to limit how much Trump is actively trying to wreck it.
Matt Stoller: “..Trump & Mamdani defeated establishment in their own way, representing hunger of voters on the right & left who want something different. If those sides cd come together.. that would be a sea change in how we organize our political economy”.
www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...
www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...
November 25, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Really wish more people understood this. Having to interact with the awful guy with more authority than you isn't a betrayal *or* some 3D chess move, it's just a necessity if you want to do your job effectively, and that's as true for progressive politicians as it is for liberal ones.
A simpler and more plausible explanation for the meeting is tactical: The federal government can make things difficult for NYC in many ways, and if the new mayor is going to deliver on his agenda he needs to try to limit how much Trump is actively trying to wreck it.
Matt Stoller: “..Trump & Mamdani defeated establishment in their own way, representing hunger of voters on the right & left who want something different. If those sides cd come together.. that would be a sea change in how we organize our political economy”.
www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...
www.thebignewsletter.com/p/monopoly-r...
Monopoly Round-Up: Why the Establishment Freaked Out Over a Mamdani-Trump Press Conference
Meta wins its antitrust case, there are now two fire truck antitrust claims, the stock market got wobbly, and Larry Summers was exiled from the establishment, at least for now.
www.thebignewsletter.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:53 PM
A simpler and more plausible explanation for the meeting is tactical: The federal government can make things difficult for NYC in many ways, and if the new mayor is going to deliver on his agenda he needs to try to limit how much Trump is actively trying to wreck it.
Should we expect stock prices to rise by another 280 percent, like, immediately? Sure why not. www.ft.com/content/a7f1...
November 24, 2025 at 2:25 PM
Should we expect stock prices to rise by another 280 percent, like, immediately? Sure why not. www.ft.com/content/a7f1...
That is what it looks like, yes. Which should be our starting point for wondering if there is something deeper going on. youngvulgarian.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 6:05 PM
That is what it looks like, yes. Which should be our starting point for wondering if there is something deeper going on. youngvulgarian.substack.com
This outstanding essay by @itsmccarthy.bsky.social in Hammer and Hope captures a frustration that I have long felt with a certain strand of left opinion-makers. hammerandhope.org/article/iden...
November 21, 2025 at 1:15 PM
This outstanding essay by @itsmccarthy.bsky.social in Hammer and Hope captures a frustration that I have long felt with a certain strand of left opinion-makers. hammerandhope.org/article/iden...
Correct.
He won because he combined economic populist demands — rent freezes, universal child care, fast and free buses, municipally operated grocery stores to curtail inflation — with explicit solidarity with Palestine, immigrant communities, and New York’s most marginalized residents.
November 21, 2025 at 2:56 AM
Correct.
Even at Harvard, the kids are all right.
Larry Summers’s co-teacher at Harvard:
“We will miss his insights and his wisdom”
Student:
“NO WE WON’T”
dude pretends he doesn’t hear, then intros Tony Blair lmao
“We will miss his insights and his wisdom”
Student:
“NO WE WON’T”
dude pretends he doesn’t hear, then intros Tony Blair lmao
November 21, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Even at Harvard, the kids are all right.
This is very important. The intrusion of AI slop into higher education is not mainly coming from below, from the students. It's coming from the top.
What I've been noticing lately in convos with students is that they *despise* the AI-slopification of everything as much or even more than I do. And yet our universities & their admin seem to believe that students for some reason want it integrated into everything. THEY DON'T.
“To be sat there with this material in front of you that is just really not worth anyone’s time, when you could be spending that time actually engaging with something worthwhile, is really frustrating,” he said.
November 21, 2025 at 2:34 AM
This is very important. The intrusion of AI slop into higher education is not mainly coming from below, from the students. It's coming from the top.
That squeaking noise you hear? It’s the relations of production out of alignment with the means of production.
whatever the Xai people did to make grok speak more positively about its owner seems to be backfiring
November 20, 2025 at 10:28 PM
That squeaking noise you hear? It’s the relations of production out of alignment with the means of production.
The "accounts for" here is like fingernails on a chalkboard. To me at least.
✨ Nvidia crushed expectations with $57B in Q3 revenue — but look closer. Its inventories have nearly doubled to $20B in unsold chips, and its operating cash flow is falling fast. The growth story may not be what it seems.
November 20, 2025 at 9:54 PM
The "accounts for" here is like fingernails on a chalkboard. To me at least.
The folks at FT Alphaville take @edzitron.com seriously, for what it's worth. And by his/their estimates, OpenAI's costs of inference - the cost of running the models, not counting the cost of developing them - are almost double their revenue, and the gap is getting wider. www.ft.com/content/fce7...
November 20, 2025 at 3:01 PM
The folks at FT Alphaville take @edzitron.com seriously, for what it's worth. And by his/their estimates, OpenAI's costs of inference - the cost of running the models, not counting the cost of developing them - are almost double their revenue, and the gap is getting wider. www.ft.com/content/fce7...
Reposted by JW Mason
Every day he plumbs new depths of Can You Believe This Loser Shit. You think you’ve reached the bottom of the Marianas Trench of Can You Believe This Loser Shit but then there’s a bang and a lurch and your little internet bathyscaphe plunges into a new fissure of Can You Believe This Loser Shit.
November 20, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Every day he plumbs new depths of Can You Believe This Loser Shit. You think you’ve reached the bottom of the Marianas Trench of Can You Believe This Loser Shit but then there’s a bang and a lurch and your little internet bathyscaphe plunges into a new fissure of Can You Believe This Loser Shit.