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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · 13d

3/we need some sort of different unconventional math, but we're not told what it might be, or given examples of how it might work. Thanks, but I think we're fine.

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · 13d

2/for 3rd and 4th year undergrad honours students, which I teach more-or-less at a masters level. So, the guy who struggled with something that my undergrads can do seems confident enough to opine on what math we should use in economics generally - in our teaching, research, whatever. Apparently...

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · 13d

1/What's wrong here? Harford starts this piece by telling us about his experience with an MA program in economics: "Everything was drenched in incomprehensible mathematics — or, to be more honest, maths that I could not comprehend." So, Harford would have trouble in my class - monetary economics...

Tim Harford @timharford.ft.com · 13d

Does economics use too much maths - or the wrong kind of maths? on.ft.com/3IqOgGb

The wrong kind of maths

[FREE TO READ] Why the mathematics used in economics for decades needs a rethink

on.ft.com

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · 14d

Glad to know someone thinks of us as an "R&D hub."

Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 18d

Restricting visas doesn’t lead to hiring non-immigrants—it leads to hiring foreigners. For every H-1B visa rejection, multinationals add ~0.4–0.9 foreign employees, especially in R&D hubs like India, China, and Canada.

via @florianederer.bsky.social

How Do Restrictions on High-Skilled
Immigration Affect Offshoring?
Evidence from the H-1B Program
Britta Glennon
WORKING PAPER 27538
DOI 10.3386/w27538
ISSUE DATE July 2020
REVISION DATE February
2023
Highly-skilled workers are not only a crucial and relatively scarce inputs into firms' productive and innovative processes, but are also a critical resource determining competitive advantage. An increasingly high proportion of these workers in the US were born abroad and permitted to work on skilled worker visas. How do multinational firms respond when artificial constraints, namely policies restricting skilled immigration, are placed on their ability to hire scarce human capital? This paper combines visa microdata and comprehensive data on US multinational firm activity to demonstrate that firms respond to restrictions on H-1B immigration by increasing foreign affiliate employment at the intensive and extensive margins, particularly in China, India, and Canada. The most impacted jobs were R&D-intensive ones, but there is some evidence that non-R&D employment was also affected. The paper highlights a means by which firms can circumvent constraining policies and mitigate country-level risk, but it also suggests that, for the average MNC, this means is imperfect; for every visa rejection, they hire 0.4 employees abroad. The most globalized MNCs are the most likely to respond to these restrictions by offshoring, highlighting that firm capabilities—in the form of prior internationalization-shape the decision and ability to offshore in response to skilled immigration restrictions; indeed, these firms hire 0.9 employees abroad for every visa rejection. More broadly, the paper provides evidence of a push factor for internationalizing knowledge activity: artificial constraints on resources result in firms circumventing restrictive policies in ways that may not be anticipated by policy makers.

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · 14d

This year's Canadian Macro Study Group conference will be held November 14-15 in London Ontario at the University of Western Ontario (a.k.a. Western University). Excellent program organized by Sergio Ocampo and Baxter Robinson. canadianmacro.ca/conferences/...

2025: Western University – Canadian Macroeconomic Study Group

canadianmacro.ca

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · 16d

Huge opportunities here. And don't forget Kitchener-Waterloo, or even.... London Ontario.

fabolange.bsky.social @fabolange.bsky.social · 16d

If the UK does not take this good advice, maybe Canada will? Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver are great places for tech hubs - lets compete for them by enabling skilled migration and students.

Matthias Doepke @mdoepke.bsky.social · 16d

The 100K H-1B fee is the biggest opportunity for the UK yet to revive economic growth and business dynamism.

Now let’s drop those visa fees and NHS surcharges right away to send a clear signal and reap the benefits!

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Sep 7

No, Monika is the nerd.

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Sep 2

"Loving the democratic party elite?" Yes, every time I see Chuck Schumer on the telly, I find it hard to contain myself.

Tony Yates @t0nyyates.bsky.social · Sep 2

Really interesting how the big external critics [others being Silver, Smith] mischaracterize this place. I don't think it's a ploy I think they genuinely have not got a clue, perhaps struggle with the concept that it is hard to characterize qualitatively a network of 38m people.

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · Sep 2

if there is one thing this site is famous for, it's loving the democratic party elite

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Sep 2

More accurately: "Given measurement error, the Eurozone inflation rate is essentially unchanged."

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · Sep 2

Eurozone inflation rises to 2.1% in August on.ft.com/3UYo6NB

Eurozone inflation rises to 2.1% in August

Traders expect central bank to keep interest rates on hold at September 11 meeting

on.ft.com

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Sep 2

He'd probably be complaining if everyone agreed with him.

Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias.bsky.social · Sep 2

I would define Blueskyism as the habit of looking at a Clinton / Biden / Harris voter who happens to be somewhat more moderate than the poster on certain issues and deciding that person should be loudly condemned as a fascist and shunned.

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 31

2/have all the incentive and instability problems of conventional banking that we have struggled with for centuries. People aren't bothered about stablecoins because they represent competition for the conventional monetary system. It's because they potentially make the whole system less stable.

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 31

1/There's not much "modern" about a stablecoin. Basically, it's just a bank. The only difference is in the mechanism underlying how stablecoins change ownership, as opposed to how your claim on a bank changes ownership. The former, given current technology, is highly inefficient. And, stablecoins...

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · Aug 31

Stablecoins will force finance to modernise on.ft.com/47VFLgp | opinion

Stablecoins will force finance to modernise

Instead of trying to limit their use, foreign governments should focus on improving confidence in their own currencies

on.ft.com

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 28

Yes, there's plenty of funny money circulating in a university.

Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 28

That's a solution. And, if you do the calculation properly, US PhD programs are not "losing money" in the first year or two. TAs are cheap relative to faculty, and it's the army of TAs that permits faculty the time to do research.

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 28

2/central bank independence, for example. Seems dangerous not to know about that, I'd say.

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 28

1/Right. For example, I know a lot of Argentinian macroeconomists who got interested in the subject because of what went wrong with economic policy in Argentina. Those people teach in American universities and work in the Fed system, and they have a deep understanding of the importance of...

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 28

2/economics in the top U.S. universities in the last 20 years were not U.S. citizens. Foreigners aren't just growing America's food. They're educating its children (speaking loosely - I've always thought of my students as adults).

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 28

1/Typically, students doing a PhD in economics in the U.S. finish in 5 or 6 years, and 6 is much more common than 5. So, this rule effectively bans foreign students in PhD programs in economics. I haven't looked at the numbers, but my impression is that most of the assistant professors hired in...

lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · Aug 28

One of the main benefits of doing a US PhD is the extra time you get, that's one of the big reasons I advised my students to apply for US programmes. We offer a four year degree here, there'd be no advantage over us. The US is euthanising its massive advantage in research for no good reason.

Oren Samet @osamet.bsky.social · Aug 28

I know there's a lot happening today, but this is sneaking in under the radar. This proposed new rule would absolutely crush foreign PhD students, potentially making it impossible for them to enroll with any certainty of their ability to finish www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 26

You could be right. I'm sure someone in the White House is researching the regional Fed Presidents and deciding whether they should stay or go. I think the end game is grift - getting the Fed to buy crypto assets, or some such.

Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 26

The assumption is that all the Trump appointees on the Board would do what Trump wants.

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 20

Charlie Plosser served as a faculty member and Dean of the Business School at the University of Rochester. He served as editor of the Journal of Monetary Economics (with Bob King), and later the President of the Philadelphia Fed. A serious and sensible economist. RIP.

Michael Derby @michaelsderby.bsky.social · Aug 20

I'm sorry to hear about the passing of Charles Plosser, who led the Philly Fed during the financial crisis. He was definitely old school in his views of central banking's role, and he was generous with his time. When I hear the phrase "systematic monetary policy" I'll always think of him.

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Reposted by Stephen Williamson

Michael Derby @michaelsderby.bsky.social · Aug 17

Definitely tells you what all that is really about.

Peter Baker @peterbakernyt.bsky.social · Aug 17

The @washingtonpost tracked where Trump's forces are patrolling in Washington. Spoiler alert: They're not where the crime is.

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 17

"Some difficulty and volatility between the Canadian government and the U.S government." Right. A category 5 hurricane just went through. Described as some difficulty and volatility in air flow.

Matt Potter @mattpotteruk.bsky.social · Aug 17

Watching the US wonder what possible reason there could be for the massive, precipitous drop in numbers of tourists to the USA from Canada is absolutely the gift that keeps giving.

“The weather? Exchange rates? Who can even say!”

newhampshirebulletin.com/2025/08/14/n...

New Hampshire Bulletin clipping headline saying visitors from Canada down 30%

New Hampshire’s economic commissioner saying who could possibly know why, is it the weather

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 16

In Canada's case, it's not like the UK ever lost it. There are people here who still get excited by the royal family, and Charles is officially the King of Canada. Though he could have in mind emulating DJT by marching British troops around Ottawa so we can throw sandwiches at them.

Jonathan Calder @lordbonkers.bsky.social · Aug 16

"In a post on his personal blog about Britain’s international standing, Anderton said that in a future world of 'meritocracy', the UK could 'regain' former colonies such as Australia, Canada and South Africa." #wanker

Farage adviser said UK would be better off if it had not fought Nazi Germany

Exclusive: Jack Anderton says UK may ‘regain’ former colonies in future and suggests end to support for Ukraine

www.theguardian.com

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Stephen Williamson @1954swilliamson.bsky.social · Aug 16

2/level of protection for a very small industry.

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