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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · 1d

That's a terrific workshop if you're rookie doing education work: www.ifo.de/en/cesifo/ev....

CESifo Junior Workshop for the Economics of Education 2026 | ifo Institute

A €500 award will be given to the presenter of the best paper at the workshop.

www.ifo.de

Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · 2d

Congrats to the winners! Interesting and rare that 2/3 don't work at universities. And 2nd award in 2 years for Seattle affiliated researchers! It's not only tech in Seattle.

The medicine Nobel Prize goes to 3 scientists for work on peripheral immune tolerance

Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi were honored for research into how the body helps the immune system avoid attacking your own tissues instead of foreign invaders.

www.npr.org

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · 13d

We're hiring in applied micro. Come be my colleague and if you don't like me then we have a ton of other great people in the department.
apply.interfolio.com/173387

Apply - Interfolio {{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio

apply.interfolio.com

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Aug 8

We updated our paper on employment protection of older workers. It now includes estimates of both externalities as well as "deadwood labor" effects. Still no externalities but up to 4.8% separation effects once EPL is removed suggesting modest "deadwood labor" among workers 60+: tinyurl.com/4kh6tykr

Dropbox

tinyurl.com

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Aug 1

If you don't like the numbers just make them up. I was born in a country that had "full employment". Based on experience I don't recommend going this way. Also it's ironic that he hates China so much but basically is turning US into China

Umut Özek @uozek.bsky.social · Aug 1

This is incredibly concerning for the reliability of federal data moving forward...

www.nytimes.com/live/2025/07...

Live Updates: After a Weak Jobs Report, Trump Says He’s Firing That Agency’s Commissioner

www.nytimes.com

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Jul 30

Not great evidence for Mamdani idea: www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=.... Sure maybe it's b/c it's temporary but we can probably all come up with better ROI public interventions.

Eliminating Fares to Expand Opportunities: Experimental Evidence on the Impacts of Free Public Transportation on Economic and Social Disparities

(August 2025) - We conduct a randomized controlled trial to study the employment effects of providing free public transportation to individuals with low incomes. A temporary subsidy that reduces the p...

www.aeaweb.org

Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Jun 30

Been waiting for this to come out for a while now: www.nber.org/papers/w3397.... That's such a cool paper!!!

State of the Art: Economic Development Through the Lens of Paintings

Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...

www.nber.org

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Jun 18

new fun AI hallucinations: Gemini keeps upgrading JOLE papers to JPE papers when creating references in bibtex. Since AI will be our new overlords, I wonder if I can also upgrade my CV :)

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Jun 10

This is such sad news. I've personally interacted with Ghazala only a few times but loved her papers. Economics lost a brilliant researcher way too soon...

In Memoriam: Ghazala Azmat (1979 - 2025) | EEA

eeassoc.org

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Jun 5

I find it really amusing when a journal that has been sitting on my submission for almost 9 months is sending me a reminder that I'm late with my referee report by two weeks...

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Jun 2

If you think US politics is messed up then newsflash Poland just elected ex gang member and ex pimp as a president. Times of Israel also called him Holocaust revisionist and yet he was supported by the current US administration. So yeah, universities are not about antisemitism...

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 24

New paper out: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti.... We study (using DiD) effects of 1968 Poor People's Campaign on election outcomes. Overall these peaceful protests had no effects on elections (contrasting prior civil rights era findings) but they hurt Ds in the South and helped them in the West.

Civil rights protests and election outcomes: Exploring the effects of the poor people’s campaign

The Poor People’s Campaign (PPC) of 1968 was focused on highlighting, and ultimately reducing, poverty in the United States. As part of the campaign, …

www.sciencedirect.com

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 23

I'd be carful about drawing strong conclusions based on test scores. Earlier we found massive declines in test scores for these EdChoice students (like south of 1SD) but clearly for college they are doing fine. Private schools have no incentives to deliver on test scores - at least in most settings

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 23

@wsj.com coverage of our latest voucher research: www.wsj.com/opinion/edch.... I wouldn't conclude with "But its results are consistent with a large and growing body of evidence that school choice can lift all students" but I think it'd be good to do more research on choice rather than demonizing it

Opinion | Ohio’s School Choice Success Story

Voucher recipients saw substantially improved academic outcomes.

www.wsj.com

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 22

New research out: positive participation and competitive effects of EdChoice vouchers for college attendance and graduation. Participation compared to remaining in underperforming public school. Competitive compared to schools that just missed voucher threat.

Urban Institute @urbaninstitute.bsky.social · Apr 22

New #research shows that #students participating in Ohio’s EdChoice program between 2008 and 2014 were significantly more likely to enroll in #college and earn a bachelor’s degree than public school students.

Learn more in a report from the Urban Institute.

The Effects of Ohio’s EdChoice Voucher Program on College Enrollment and Graduation

More than a million US students now participate in private school choice programs because of recent growth in vouchers, tax credit scholarships, education savings accounts, and tax credits. Given the ...

www.urban.org

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 17

As someone who wrote multiple papers on consequences of childhood disability for families, I find this disgusting. That's why you should increase funds to these families rather than cutting them. A+ geniuses!!!

The Independent @the-independent.com · Apr 16

WATCH | RFK Jr claims autistic children will never go on dates or pay taxes

Read the recent CDC autism report here: www.independent.co.uk/news/world/a...

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 16

Lars is right. Especially those highways that go left ;)

Lars Vilhuber @larsvil.bsky.social · Apr 16

We should stop funding highway maintenance. Complete waste of money! We already have roads.

Same thing with research.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

How the United States became a science superpower — and how quickly it could crumble

US global dominance in science was no accident, but a product of a far-seeing partnership between public and private sectors to boost innovation and economic growth.

www.nature.com

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 15

Meritocracy in action ;)

Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · Apr 12

Import Chinese battery: 145% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Chinese laptop: 20% tariff
Import Chinese battery inside Vietnamese laptop: 0% tariff

Fuckin brilliant. A+ work here team. I am so glad there are such smart people working on our trade policy.

Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 11

That's kind of obvious but oh well. ROI in publicly funded research is something like 5 to 1 on average so basically you're killing a goose laying golden eggs... but let's be clear here, this was always about cutting people off information/services/anything that could make them vote D.

G Elliott Morris @gelliottmorris.com · Apr 11

Today's Chart of the Week: DOGE is not cutting the deficit

Because of cuts to revenue-generating services, Trump and Musk may be making government output more expensive on a unit-output-per-taxpayer-dollar basis. (In other words, less efficient)

DOGE is not cutting the deficit

Real federal spending is higher in 2025 so far than in past years, and DOGE is making it harder to raise revenue

www.gelliottmorris.com

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 9

just imagine what would Republicans do if this mess was generated by Biden, Harris, Obama, ... [paste any other Democrat]. Also can someone explain to me why congress cannot end this? Aren't there enough Republicans worried about 2026? Or are we not planning the economy to survive to '26?

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 9

Here is a simple solution to this: pass the cuts onto your consumers and see how they and their families vote in '26. In the short-run issue bonds. It's not like demand for education and healthcare is very elastic. Maybe then the public will realize how much public goods these funds generate.

The New York Times @nytimes.com · Apr 8

Breaking News: The Trump administration has frozen more than $1 billion in funding for Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern, two officials said.

Trump Officials Freeze $1 Billion for Cornell and $790 Million for Northwestern

The funding pause amid civil rights investigations into both universities sharply escalates the Trump administration’s campaign against elite colleges.

www.nytimes.com

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 7

That about sums it up...

Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · Apr 7

You may be fearing your 401k is no longer enough for you to retire. But with all the cuts to NIH and Medicare you also won't live as long. So the policies are integrated.

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 3

I mostly just feel sorry for the poor penguins... how are they going to survive the tariffs...

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 1

OMG this makes sense. That's how they will solve fentanyl/drug abuse crisis - just stop tracking it. Reminds me of Covid when they suggested that we just don't test and then Covid will vanish ;)

Ezra Golberstein @egolberstein.bsky.social · Apr 1

NSDUH is one of the only ways we can track trends in substance use in the US. NSDUH is one of the only ways we can track adolescent mental health problems in the US.

We cannot afford to fly blind on these critical issues.

reginalabelle.bsky.social @reginalabelle.bsky.social · Apr 1

The entire SAMHSA staff that manages the National Survey on Drug Use and Health has been terminated. This is the only survey that tracks mental health and substance use trends in the US.

We really are flying blind now.

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Chris Karbownik @chriskarbownik.bsky.social · Apr 1

That's our fault though b/c we don't know how to talk to people. 20 points drop in confidence over 10 years is massive. It's kind of crazy that you have to sell the value added to people but maybe unis need strong PR departments.

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