Noel D. Johnson | Lightnews

Noel Johnson

@ndjohnson.bsky.social

570 followers 150 following 300 posts

Professor of Economics at GMU.
https://noeldjohnson.github.io

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Political science 39%

Economics 37%

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Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · 3d

Here are some presentation slides for the research.
www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/360j3...

www.dropbox.com

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · 3d

Did a podcast on my research with @malikaltaf.bsky.social on the 1857 Rebellion, British massacres, and smallpox vaccine hesitancy in Colonial India. open.spotify.com/episode/6Qfw...

Noel Johnson and Vaccines in Colonial India

open.spotify.com

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · 17d

I’m getting strong Simpsons used car salesman vibes off this email I just received…

www.instagram.com/reel/DRI_k11...

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · 17d

Happy new year!

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · 17d

I’ve seen a new thing. #tentonatesla

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · 18d

I’m about 100 pages in, but so far this book is fantastic!

www.amazon.com/Furious-Mind...

Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right

Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right [Field, Laura K.] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Furious Minds: The Making of the MAGA New Right

www.amazon.com

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · Dec 2

“Insist on perfect work in relatively unimportant products. Be pleasant to inefficient workers and give them undeserved promotions. Hold conferences when there is more critical work to be done. See that three people have to approve everything where one would do”

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · Dec 2

Everybody! I’ve found the guiding document adopted by university administrators…
www.cia.gov/static/5c875...

www.cia.gov

Reposted by Kevin Milligan, Noel D. Johnson

Mauricio Drelichman @mdrelichman.bsky.social · Nov 24

A @voxdev.bsky.social column on the impact of public education through the lens of economic history, by my (former) student Ben Milner @benjaminlm.bsky.social.

voxdev.org/topic/educat...

How public education transforms opportunity: Evidence from the 1870 Education Act

The 1870 Education Act demonstrates how targeted public investment in education can help narrow the gap in opportunity between rich and poor children.

voxdev.org

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · Nov 23

Flashback to that time “someone” asked the professor how many median voters there were in the model being taught in the PhD public finance class.

Reposted by Noel D. Johnson

James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · Nov 23

I liked it better when the goal of an econ phd first year was to survive MWG and avoid embarrassing yourself too many times in class

Reposted by Noel D. Johnson

Alex Taylor @alextaylorecon.bsky.social · Nov 17

How did France become one of Europe’s biggest printers of vernacular books, and how did it shape its linguistic and political development?

My paper w/Jacob Hall, "The King’s French," shows how a 1539 language mandate changed printing, standardized French, and strengthened national identity. (1/12)

This paper investigates the impact of language mandates on linguistic transition, standardization, and national identity in Early Modern France. Using the Universal Short Title Catalogue, we construct a panel of printing activity in European towns from 1500 to 1650. We then estimate the impact of the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterˆets, an ordinance requiring the use of French—rather than Latin—in all legal documents, on vernacular language printing in France using a difference-in-discontinuities design. To account for the influence of religion on vernacular printing, we leverage a Large Language Model to classify selected authors from the time period as Protestant or Catholic and control for religious print output. Results suggest that the ordinance promoted the general use of vernacular language in print and led to an explosion of vernacular printing within France. We also study the impact of the ordinance on linguistic standardization, finding that the ordinance homogenized printed French to Parisian French standards, but only within France. To explore the long-run effects of language promotion and standardization on national identity, we estimate the impact of the ordinance on expressions of nationalism in the Cahiers de Dol´eances—a collection of grievances and suggestions filed by the three Estates on the eve of the French Revolution—finding more expressions of nationalism in Third Estate cahiers from print towns originally subjected to the ordinance. The findings have implications for the role of the state in shaping national identity, the legibility of the law, and the spread of ideas through language policy.

Reposted by Kris Inwood, Daniel A. Tirado-Fabregat, Noel D. Johnson

Jens Notroff @jensnotroff.com · Nov 13

All roads lead to Rome, they say. - And finally you too can find out if that's true! 😉

With "The Digital Atlas of Ancient Roads", #Itiner-e, a high-resolution dataset and detailed map created in a collaborative ongoing project:

www.newscientist.com/article/2503... via @newscientist.com

Digital map lets you explore the Roman Empire's vast road network

Archaeologists have compiled the most detailed map yet of roads throughout the Roman Empire in AD 150, totalling almost 300,000 kilometres in length

www.newscientist.com

Reposted by Sascha O. Becker, Noel D. Johnson

P David Boll @pdavidboll.bsky.social · Nov 5

🚨 New Version 🚨

The new and extended version of our paper on dealing with spatial unit roots in regressions, now
*forthcoming at the Stata Journal* under a new title!

w/ @essobecker.bsky.social @jvoth.bsky.social

Relevant to anyone who uses spatial data !

Link and more information in🧵(1/n)

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · Nov 4

I love random discoveries. I've been listening to this album a lot recently.

open.spotify.com/album/3pfs0b...

Bernard Hughes: Music for Mixed Voices

open.spotify.com

Reposted by Jacob T. Levy, Noel D. Johnson

Patrick Schmidt @pdwschmidt.bsky.social · Oct 26

I've been thinking a lot lately of a quote from Leo Strauss: A theoretical crisis does not necessarily lead to a practical crisis.

The Constitution has collapsed as a meaningful organizing framework for American politics, but like the Roman Senate meeting in 603AD, some things keep going.

Reposted by Noel D. Johnson, Evan Roberts

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias.bsky.social · Oct 14

Guy whose concern about the No Kings rally is that there’s a lot of evidence constitutional monarchies do a better job than republics of avoiding personalistic politics.

Reposted by Noel D. Johnson

Sascha O. Becker @essobecker.bsky.social · Oct 13

"No way I am going to retire. Even if my students are retiring, not me." ❤️

Alexander Wulfers @alexanderwulfers.com · Oct 13

"Bob Fogel said to me once: For economics to work without economic history is like an evolutionary biologist without paleontology. You just miss 99.5% of all the species that ever walked on this earth." Joel Mokyr www.youtube.com/live/__0sGvj...

LIVE: Nobel Prize in economics winner Joel Mokyr speaks

YouTube video by Reuters

www.youtube.com

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · Oct 13

Congrats to Joel Mokyr on the Nobel Prize. I'll take this opportunity highlight one of his less mentioned works: "Demand vs Supply in the Industrial Revolution". A great example of how to combine theory with history. tinyurl.com/yv8ed8mj

Dropbox

tinyurl.com

Reposted by Noel D. Johnson, Hisham Zerriffi

Mauricio Drelichman @mdrelichman.bsky.social · Oct 13

Elated at Joel Mokyr's Nobel Prize! You can find numerous accounts -now multiplying by the minute- of his scholarly contributions. Today I want to celebrate the man and the mentor.

Joel Mokyr at the 2011 conference in his honour at Northwestern.

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · Oct 13

The adds are for Colgate, Grinnell, and Bocconi in case you’re wondering.

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · Oct 13

I just checked JOE and I count 3 adds for economic history positions (I’m not counting the “any fields”). There seems to be a bit of a gulf between what the Nobel committee is recognizing and what Econ departments think they should be doing.

Erik Angner @erikangner.com · Oct 13

That's like four economics awards in a row with a substantial economic-history component, right? That strikes me as a remarkable shift. www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists...

Reposted by Noel D. Johnson

Pseudoerasmus @pseudoerasmus.bsky.social · Oct 13

Mokyr's work could not have been done today in most economics departments, but the irony is that his work would not fit in history departments today, either. Methodologically he seems more 'history' than 'economics' to economists, but the content and reasoning are too 'economics' for most historians

Reposted by Mark D. White, Kris Inwood, Noel D. Johnson , and 2 more Mark D. White, Kris Inwood, Noel D. Johnson, Matthias Schmelzer, Thor Berger

Erik Angner @erikangner.com · Oct 13

That's like four economics awards in a row with a substantial economic-history component, right? That strikes me as a remarkable shift. www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists...

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · Oct 10

Thanks for the heads up "K9 advantix II large dog". For use on dogs only. Got it.

Reposted by Mark D. White, Johan P. Olsen, Kevin Carey , and 7 more Mark D. White, Johan P. Olsen, Kevin Carey, Lesley Bartlett, Robert B. Reich, José Antonio Noguera, Noel D. Johnson, Simon Lester, Klaus Oschema, David Darmofal

James Medlock @jdcmedlock.bsky.social · Oct 9

“I’ll declare war on you if you don’t give me the peace prize” is an incredible bit

Reposted by Nuno Palma, Noel D. Johnson

Patrick Fitzsimmons @patrubenfitz.bsky.social · Oct 6

Was thrilled to write this for @broadstreetblog.bsky.social (which I recommend for anyone interested in historical political economy)

www.broadstreet.blog/p/blood-and-...

Blood and Iron: Political Fragmentation in the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean

How new technology reshaped the political equilibrium of the early Iron Age through violence.

www.broadstreet.blog

Noel Johnson @ndjohnson.bsky.social · Oct 4

Science marches on. Also, I’m not eating this.

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · Oct 3

Scientists revive old Bulgarian recipe to make yogurt with ants. Ants carry lactic and acetic acid bacteria that help coagulate milk, as well as formic acid to acidify it. They even partnered with Danish chefs to create three recipes using ant yogurt. arstechnica.com/science/2025...