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David H Feldman

@dhfeldman.bsky.social

2.5K followers 660 following 3K posts

I write about the economics of higher education and international trade. Love New Mexico & cats. My books: https://academic.oup.com/book/7559 https://academic.oup.com/book/5108 Social media posts are my own views and do not reflect my employer. .. more

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David John Feldman is a British legal academic, author and former judge. He is Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of English Law at the University of Cambridge, and served as an international judge of the Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina under the Dayton Agreement from 2002 to 2010. He is known for having shaped the development of civil liberties and human rights law in the United Kingdom. .. more

Economics 44%

Psychology 20%

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David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · Apr 15

Thank you to the Peterson Institute for International Economics (@piie.com), and to my coauthor Gary Hufbauer for allowing me my say on the Trump Administration's venal power grab in destroying the world's rules-based trading system.

www.piie.com/blogs/realti...

The world trading system is dying: You should fear its replacement

Too few Americans may understand what Canadian prime minister Mark Carney is talking about when he refers to a “system of global trade.” Too few may grasp what we are losing and what we are likely to ...

www.piie.com

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David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 21m

This takes a court order? What a sad country we have become.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 21m

Another North Korean cabinet meeting. All fawn all over the leader.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 3h

Well, that’s an improvement.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 5h

Wonder how the Russians would react if Ukraine returned this in kind to Moscow, Smolensk, and other cities closer to Ukraine?

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 5h

We seem to be a short step away from a return to Scopes Trial conflicts over what can be taught.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 5h

This is why journalists need to be familiar with the subjects they write about.

Here's an old essay I wrote with Doug Webber. Journalists were a primary intended audience. The subject was education, but the point is general. Don't rely on "studies show ..."

www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/0...

Pitfalls to avoid when interpreting research studies on higher ed (opinion)

The quality of much of the research on higher education is questionable, argue David H. Feldman and Douglas A. Webber, who recommend some questions you should ask when interpreting the results.

www.insidehighered.com

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 5h

Oh, and I meant "can't," not can.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 5h

Trump (and most Republicans) can't do nuance. Yes, the vaccine-free Amish population has autistic children.

www.statnews.com/2025/10/02/a...

Yes, Amish people do have autism, but we still don’t know how many do

President Trump said there is “virtually no autism” among the Amish. A researcher who studies the health of the Amish says it’s complicated.

www.statnews.com

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 5h

Congrats. Yes, as expected.

I can understand why any department would ask for seven letters.

Did your department also ask some people to write who were not on your list? In our department, we select some people and the candidate selects some people to produce a joint list approved by all.

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David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 7h

Tip O'Neill is rolling over in his grave at what has become of the House of Representatives.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 7h

Pete Hegseth would like to have a word with them, and with their commander ....

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 7h

I was in the first wave of WaPo rejectionists after Bezos forced paper to make no endorsements in the election. That was when the bulk of its good people still remained. I simply wasn't going to give the organization any money. Now the bulk of the good people are gone. That ship sank a while ago.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 7h

She is a complete blithering idiot. But that's par for the course in this administration ... and why Trump feels comfortable deferring to her.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 8h

Been there, seen that! 😅

Don't forget the "holy chile!"

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 8h

Yes, we haven't yet gotten to the point where the Emperor finally understands that everyone sees that he is naked. We're still in the middle of the story where people obsequiously praise his elegant attire and flatter him to get what they want.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 8h

And the GOP killed one of the ACA's three pillars ... the mandate. The mandate was a key in keeping cost down by enlarging the pool of young and healthy people within the program. Graham and his colleagues knew that they were making the ACA more fragile and costly by killing the mandate.

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David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 8h

The GOP's specialty is to say anything in order to appear reasonable for as long as necessary to persuade their base, while actively pursuing policies that directly contradict their soothing language.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 9h

2/ I truly don't have a clear answer to this. I don't know if anyone else does either, which is why we are increasingly pondering the possibility of civil conflict and the political separation of the nation into bluer and redder units.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 9h

The more "they" (ICE) behave like black shirts and gestapo, the more "we" say that we're going to prosecute them when "we" are back in control. The more "we" threaten criminal retribution the more "they" need to ensure that free elections never happen again. How do we get out of the vicious circle?

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 21h

don't forget cinnamon and vanilla! 😀

I suspect their extra "costs" will mostly get passed on to consumers. Their margins are way too small to absorb this.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 21h

What carrier, and how have they handled it?

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David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 1d

Sneaky reporter, maybe. We need more questions like that to show people just how uneducated Trump is about just about everything but how to grift.

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David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 1d

He should not live, dine, or go, to any structure taller than two stories ...

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 1d

A reason for the US to maintain sanctions against Cuba.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 1d

I'm thinking that a united and tenacious Republican opposition, supported by Congressional norms that the Democrats did not simply sweep away, may have contributed to the party's inability to enact its full policy agenda. That and a SCOTUS majority that often blocked them when they tried.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 1d

If the US hasn't gone completely authoritarian by 2029, and a Democrat occupies the White House, we're gonna fire every last one of them...

We have no need of ICE as a separate organization, and working for this ICE should disqualify all 20K employees from further work in the federal government.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 1d

2/ There is also an America, and it overlaps with the America First, that simply doesn't believe anything you say. They have different facts, many offered by people like Jesse Watters, and that's what they believe. That America doesn't care at all, and feels fine and smug about it.

David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 1d

I wish I could believe that there was some unified "America" that believed that, but I don't. There is an America that cares about global poverty and that believes we have a constructive role to play, but there is an America that averts its eyes and mutters platitudes about America First instead.

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David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 1d

Yep, you have pegged him in ways that I probably shouldn't ... at least not in public. 😉

Can you imagine what Tip O'Neill would have said about him?

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David H Feldman @dhfeldman.bsky.social · 1d

This is why a Democratic wave in 2026 is so important. They can only ooze contempt because they know that the Republicans in Congress are content to see GOP authoritarianism and executive rule by presidential decree.