Paul Kelleher
@paulkelleher.net
Moral and political philosophy, climate economics, bioethics
Author of *The Social Cost of Carbon* (OUP 2025) | Faculty @UWMadison, posting in personal capacity
Likes: Boston Celtics ☘️, bouldering, ebikes, funding public ed.
paulkelleher.net
Author of *The Social Cost of Carbon* (OUP 2025) | Faculty @UWMadison, posting in personal capacity
Likes: Boston Celtics ☘️, bouldering, ebikes, funding public ed.
paulkelleher.net
Pinned
Paul Kelleher
@paulkelleher.net
· Oct 14
I don’t spam y’all much anymore about my book but a photographer at a department event snapped this handsome pic so send tweet
If you are an environmental econ or philosophy grad student who would like to read my book but can’t buy or otherwise access it, just email me!
Accused by rightwing extremists of plagiarism?: you can't be a college president.
Take control of a country by illegal force and then extort your way to someone else's non-transferable trophy?: So much winning that you should be able to cancel the midterm elections.
Take control of a country by illegal force and then extort your way to someone else's non-transferable trophy?: So much winning that you should be able to cancel the midterm elections.
January 15, 2026 at 10:42 PM
Accused by rightwing extremists of plagiarism?: you can't be a college president.
Take control of a country by illegal force and then extort your way to someone else's non-transferable trophy?: So much winning that you should be able to cancel the midterm elections.
Take control of a country by illegal force and then extort your way to someone else's non-transferable trophy?: So much winning that you should be able to cancel the midterm elections.
Ethics in environmental economics (including discounting, equity, valuing lives, etc.)
Bioethics (including public health ethics)
Bioethics (including public health ethics)
Finally, a note to the many professors in my networks: One other specific, small thing you can do from outside of Minneapolis is reach out to colleagues who are heavily affected (because of their own or their family's risk, or because they're very busy protecting neighbors) and offer a guest lecture
January 15, 2026 at 9:19 PM
Ethics in environmental economics (including discounting, equity, valuing lives, etc.)
Bioethics (including public health ethics)
Bioethics (including public health ethics)
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
Happy birthday to the most important site on the internet.
As I told a group of historians last week at AHA during a panel about marketing history books: As AI makes the rest of the web decline in trustworthiness, we all have a responsibility to make Wikipedia as good & complete as possible.
As I told a group of historians last week at AHA during a panel about marketing history books: As AI makes the rest of the web decline in trustworthiness, we all have a responsibility to make Wikipedia as good & complete as possible.
Wikipedia is 25 today.
January 15, 2026 at 1:05 PM
Happy birthday to the most important site on the internet.
As I told a group of historians last week at AHA during a panel about marketing history books: As AI makes the rest of the web decline in trustworthiness, we all have a responsibility to make Wikipedia as good & complete as possible.
As I told a group of historians last week at AHA during a panel about marketing history books: As AI makes the rest of the web decline in trustworthiness, we all have a responsibility to make Wikipedia as good & complete as possible.
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
The Senate should not vote to fund the government while communities in America are under assault from the government.
January 15, 2026 at 5:01 AM
The Senate should not vote to fund the government while communities in America are under assault from the government.
Cut $2 billion in essential funding late on a Tueaday, say oopsie late on Wed. What a way to run a country. www.npr.org/2026/01/14/n...
Trump administration rolls back $2 billion mental health, addiction grant cuts
Sweeping cuts to mental health and addiction programs worth more than $2 billion are being reversed. After a political backlash from Republicans and Democrats, the grant money will be restored.
www.npr.org
January 15, 2026 at 3:31 AM
Cut $2 billion in essential funding late on a Tueaday, say oopsie late on Wed. What a way to run a country. www.npr.org/2026/01/14/n...
If you can believe it, today is World Logic Day.
January 15, 2026 at 2:44 AM
If you can believe it, today is World Logic Day.
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
Fuck.
BREAKING — Mayor of Lewiston, Maine posts on FB that ICE is coming to the city imminently. This confirms my reporting the agency is planning a surge in the city and state generally.
Lewiston is home to a large Somali-American population, which made up 4.6% of the population as of the 2020 census.
Lewiston is home to a large Somali-American population, which made up 4.6% of the population as of the 2020 census.
January 14, 2026 at 11:58 PM
Fuck.
It’s too much. And I don’t (currently) have stormtroopers occupying or preparing to occupy my town. But still, it’s too much.
January 14, 2026 at 11:37 PM
It’s too much. And I don’t (currently) have stormtroopers occupying or preparing to occupy my town. But still, it’s too much.
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
Oh hell no.
BREAKING — Mayor of Lewiston, Maine posts on FB that ICE is coming to the city imminently. This confirms my reporting the agency is planning a surge in the city and state generally.
Lewiston is home to a large Somali-American population, which made up 4.6% of the population as of the 2020 census.
Lewiston is home to a large Somali-American population, which made up 4.6% of the population as of the 2020 census.
January 14, 2026 at 11:18 PM
Oh hell no.
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
We are so far beyond "show us your papers." They don't want to see the papers. We are now into the "give us the names" stage of the occupation.
January 14, 2026 at 4:18 PM
We are so far beyond "show us your papers." They don't want to see the papers. We are now into the "give us the names" stage of the occupation.
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
Another day, another report of HHS/SAMHSA cancelling mental health and substance use grant projects effective immediately. With confidence, I can say this will impact Louisianans in an outsized way: Trump administration letter wipes out addiction, mental health grants
www.npr.org/2026/01/14/n...
www.npr.org/2026/01/14/n...
Trump administration sends letter wiping out addiction, mental health grants
The Trump administration sent hundreds of letters Tuesday terminating federal grants supporting mental health and drug addiction services.
www.npr.org
January 14, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Another day, another report of HHS/SAMHSA cancelling mental health and substance use grant projects effective immediately. With confidence, I can say this will impact Louisianans in an outsized way: Trump administration letter wipes out addiction, mental health grants
www.npr.org/2026/01/14/n...
www.npr.org/2026/01/14/n...
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
EPA hasn't "stopped monetizing the health benefits of ozone and particulate matter." They've repudiated any attempt at risk assessment for those pollutants. There's a difference, and it makes a difference.
January 14, 2026 at 3:19 PM
EPA hasn't "stopped monetizing the health benefits of ozone and particulate matter." They've repudiated any attempt at risk assessment for those pollutants. There's a difference, and it makes a difference.
Let this be a warning to all those Minnesotans who are encouraging one another to drive the speed limit. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/u...
Senator Says Prosecutors Are Investigating Her After Video About Illegal Orders
www.nytimes.com
January 14, 2026 at 3:53 AM
Let this be a warning to all those Minnesotans who are encouraging one another to drive the speed limit. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/u...
In economics this is known as a Maralago improvement.
Sen. Kevin Cramer: "Maybe the point should be if you're the attorney for Jay Powell and you want to avoid an indictment, how about you go to Jeanine Pirro and say, 'I'll make a deal. I'll step down today if you drop the investigation today.' To me, that would be a win win for everybody."
January 14, 2026 at 3:16 AM
In economics this is known as a Maralago improvement.
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
Thread. Cosign.
over the course of 1871, congress held seven months of hearings on ku klux klan and other white vigilante violence in the south, they took detailed testimony from hundreds of black men and women attesting to klan terror. (1/?)
January 14, 2026 at 2:52 AM
Thread. Cosign.
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
US media is in a weird spot. CBS News is now a state propaganda unit and People magazine is now a bastion of critical news reporting
January 14, 2026 at 1:03 AM
US media is in a weird spot. CBS News is now a state propaganda unit and People magazine is now a bastion of critical news reporting
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
A running theme on my reactions to news events these days is "Oh god, they are replacing something messy and fraught with something much worse." Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) (like the Social Cost of Carbon) is a complicated and ethically fraught metric. Setting it to zero doesn't help, tho...
Breaking News: The EPA will stop considering lives saved when setting pollution limits and instead calculate only the cost to businesses.
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved by Limiting Air Pollution
In a reversal, the agency plans to calculate only the cost to industry when setting pollution limits, and not the monetary value of saving human lives, documents show.
nyti.ms
January 12, 2026 at 7:16 PM
A running theme on my reactions to news events these days is "Oh god, they are replacing something messy and fraught with something much worse." Value of a Statistical Life (VSL) (like the Social Cost of Carbon) is a complicated and ethically fraught metric. Setting it to zero doesn't help, tho...
Truth
YouTube video by Hank Green
youtube.com
January 13, 2026 at 11:31 PM
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
Literal gestapo shit. I don't know what to say other than that it happened here.
"“They specifically asked me if I knew where the Hmong families lived on my street & in the neighborhood.” Lugert-Thom responded, “I don’t know anything about that” & she said they then asked, “Well, what about the Asian families?”"
"“I was a bit shaken & a bit shocked of what I was asked to do.”"
"“I was a bit shaken & a bit shocked of what I was asked to do.”"
A St. Paul resident says federal officers knocked on her door and asked her to identify Hmong and Asian households in her North End neighborhood last week.
January 13, 2026 at 10:46 PM
Literal gestapo shit. I don't know what to say other than that it happened here.
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
So, if I'm reading this right:
4 prosecutors at the Dept of Justice Civil Rights division quit because the Trump-appointed leadership won't investigate Good's killer,
and
6 from the Minnesota US Attorney's office quit when they were told instead to investigate her widow.
(HT @benjaminkabak.com)
4 prosecutors at the Dept of Justice Civil Rights division quit because the Trump-appointed leadership won't investigate Good's killer,
and
6 from the Minnesota US Attorney's office quit when they were told instead to investigate her widow.
(HT @benjaminkabak.com)
Federal prosecutors quit in protest over lack of investigation into ICE shooting
Six lawyers from US attorney’s office in Minnesota quit along with four leaders of DoJ’s civil rights division
www.theguardian.com
January 13, 2026 at 9:35 PM
So, if I'm reading this right:
4 prosecutors at the Dept of Justice Civil Rights division quit because the Trump-appointed leadership won't investigate Good's killer,
and
6 from the Minnesota US Attorney's office quit when they were told instead to investigate her widow.
(HT @benjaminkabak.com)
4 prosecutors at the Dept of Justice Civil Rights division quit because the Trump-appointed leadership won't investigate Good's killer,
and
6 from the Minnesota US Attorney's office quit when they were told instead to investigate her widow.
(HT @benjaminkabak.com)
Gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/u...
Six Prosecutors Quit Over Push to Investigate ICE Shooting Victim’s Widow
www.nytimes.com
January 13, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Gift link www.nytimes.com/2026/01/13/u...
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
"Over the long lifetime of CO2 in the atmosphere, the cumulative CO2-radiative forcing exceeds the amount of energy released upon combustion by a factor >100,000."
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Pan et al's excellent new study reminded me of our 2015 study.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Pan et al's excellent new study reminded me of our 2015 study.
January 13, 2026 at 5:10 PM
"Over the long lifetime of CO2 in the atmosphere, the cumulative CO2-radiative forcing exceeds the amount of energy released upon combustion by a factor >100,000."
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Pan et al's excellent new study reminded me of our 2015 study.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Pan et al's excellent new study reminded me of our 2015 study.
This includes UW Health.
Health systems pause gender-affirming care for minors, sparked by proposed new federal rule from the Trump administration. Some lawmakers & fairwisconsin.bsky.social call on them to walk it back. Details from @erikgunn.bsky.social
Lawmakers urge health systems to reverse their pause in gender-affirming care for minors • Wisconsin Examiner
Two health systems have paused gender-affirming hormones and puberty blockers for minors, sparking criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates.
buff.ly
January 13, 2026 at 4:23 PM
This includes UW Health.
Reposted by Paul Kelleher
In a newly published paper, we find that in 2025 human emissions of greenhouse gases added around 23 billion trillion joules of heat to the world's oceans – 39 times as much as the annual energy produced by all human activity on Earth. link.springer.com/ar...
January 13, 2026 at 12:32 AM
In a newly published paper, we find that in 2025 human emissions of greenhouse gases added around 23 billion trillion joules of heat to the world's oceans – 39 times as much as the annual energy produced by all human activity on Earth. link.springer.com/ar...