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Barbara Biasi

@barbarabiasi.com

5.2K followers 120 following 64 posts

Econ Assistant Prof at Yale SOM. Education, innovation, gender. Born & raised in Monopoli, Italy. Mom of 3.

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Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Aug 16

Untenured associate for me! Good luck 🍀

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Jun 26

Thank you <3

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Jun 26

please do!

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Jun 26

Hello #econtwitter community: if any of you has been teaching any of my papers, would you mind shooting me a DM? I would hugely appreciate that 🙏 and thanks in advance!

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Jun 26

I did!!

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Jun 26

Oh wow!! Thanks for covering our research (and making it go viral!!)

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Jun 4

Laureandi/laureati in Economia in cerca di esperienze di ricerca con forte impatto su politiche pubbliche: venite a lavorare all’Evaluation Lab del Fondo per la Repubblica Digitale! Dettagli qui: 👇🏼

Alessandro Tondini @aletondini.bsky.social · Jun 3

📢 Stiamo cercando 1 Research Associate per un'esperienza di lavoro pre-doc all'#EvaluationLab del #FondoRepubblicaDigitale.

👉 www.fondorepubblicadigitale.it/posizioni_ap...

cc: @raffasadun.bsky.social @barbarabiasi.com @francedrago.bsky.social

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · May 16

I'm looking forward to visiting OIGI in 2026!

Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute @oiginstitute.bsky.social · May 14

Congratulations to these members of the ninth cohort of Institute visiting scholars: David Altig @atlantafed.bsky.social; Shifrah Aron-Dine @ucberkeleyofficial.bsky.social; @barbarabiasi.com @yalesom.bsky.social; @florinbilbiie.bsky.social Cambridge University; 2/5

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 23

Thank you!

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 23

I've done my part to combat the trend this week!

Birthrates Languish in Record Lows, C.D.C. Reports

Despite a 1 percent increase in 2024, U.S. birthrates remained in a historic slump, a trend that worries demographers and cultural critics.

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Barbara Biasi

NBER @nber.org · Apr 13

A 2011 Wisconsin reform weakened teachers' unions, raised test scores, and was a political win for its main proponent, from Barbara Biasi and Wayne Aaron Sandholtz https://www.nber.org/papers/w33666

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 9

It's like Italy in 2011. not good (and guess who was the president)

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

The main conclusion we draw from this study is that even controversial reforms can be a political success if they benefit enough people. Our results also underscore the crucial role of institutions—in our case, unions—in shaping responses to policy. Thanks for reading!

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

Walker did best in districts with many young teachers (whose pay👆bc of Act 10 on avg) and a lot of families w/kids. But alsoin places with politically active unions pre-Act 10, which likely experienced the largest change in union participation to politics with the reform.

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

We then ask: what was it about Act 10 that drove votes to Walker? Was it the personal gains some people experienced, or was it the fact that unions were not around anymore to tell people how to vote? We find that it was both.

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

How do we show this? We look at political contributions of the 900K folks who signed the petition to initiate the recall election. Even among this group of staunch Walker opponents, Dem contributions fell and GOP contributions increased *at a higher rate* than among non-signers.

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

You may wonder: everyone knew about Act10. Why would exposure to it matter 4 how ppl voted? Great Q. The answer, we argue, is that Act10 got a lot of bad press from the get-go. However, upon exposure people likely saw some benefits from it and changed their mind.

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

How? The reform could only be implemented in a district after its pre-Act 10 CBA had expired. By the 2012 election, only some districts had experienced the law. We compare these with not-yet-exposed districts find that they drew support for the gov in terms of votes.

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

What about Walker? He actually did quite well despite the protests: won a recall election in 2012 (the first incumbent US governor to do so) and again a general election in 2014. But did he win *despite* Act 10 or *because* of Act 10? We argue he won *because* of Act 10.

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

We show that the reform was terrible for unions (revenues📉) and for some teachers, who saw their pay halt or even go down. However, some (younger) teachers benefited and, importantly, test scores went up in its aftermath. So the reform was bad for some and good for others.

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

Act 10 drastically changed collective bargaining and pay, part. for public teachers. It made it hard for unions to operate, prevented them from negotiating salary schedules, & gave districts flexibility to set T pay. The reform was met with major protests, which lasted months.

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

To answer this question we go to Wisconsin, a political battleground in every recent major election, and look at the political consequences of a very controversial public-sector reform of collective bargaining, Act 10 of 2011, championed by then-governor Scott Walker.

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 7

🚨🆕 In a new NBER working paper out today (tinyurl.com/2vv3vnhf), with
@wsandholtz.bsky.social we ask a 🔥question: Can controversial public policies end up being political successes even when they cause lots of backlash? And if the answer is yes, what drives pol success? A thread 👇

Barbara Biasi @barbarabiasi.com · Apr 1

Watching history happen. The longest filibuster ever was 24h 18m long.

Brian Tyler Cohen @briantylercohen.bsky.social · Apr 1

Cory Booker is doing something incredible on the Senate floor. If you're not watching, you need to watch: www.youtube.com/live/Ej6locU...

LIVE: Cory Booker goes for floor speech RECORD

YouTube video by Brian Tyler Cohen

www.youtube.com

Reposted by Barbara Biasi

Todd Jones @toddrjones.bsky.social · Mar 21

Mississippi State Univ. is hiring a tenure-track Econ Assistant Prof w/ August start!

Open field; pref. for applied micro & teaching PhD Micro I & II (Micro II this fall).

Apply: MSU site & www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing.php?JOE_ID=2025-01_111475768

Please repost—it's an off-cycle search. Thanks!