Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

Mirya R. Holman @mirya.bsky.social · 4d

"Full-day kindergarten expansions were responsible for as much as 24 percent of the growth in employment of mothers with kindergartenaged children in this time frame."

AEA Journals @aeajournals.bsky.social · 5d

Forthcoming in AEJ: Economic Policy: "A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families" by Chloe R. Gibbs, Jocelyn Wikle, and Riley Wilson. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

A Matter of Time? Measuring Effects of Public Schooling Expansions on Families

(Forthcoming Article) - We leverage pronounced changes in the availability of public schooling for young children— through duration expansions to the kindergarten day—to better understand how an impli...

www.aeaweb.org

1 22 51

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · 8d

Go check out the HUD website.

4 1 7

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

Eric Patashnik @ericpatashnik.bsky.social · 8d

Many thanks to @elizabethlinos.bsky.social for speaking today
@taubmancenter.bsky.social @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social. So many insights into using cutting-edge research to improve government performance!

2 5

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · 12d

Really looking forward to talking about the work of @thepeoplelab.bsky.social and thinking together about what comes next!

Eric Patashnik @ericpatashnik.bsky.social · 12d

Looking forward to @elizabethlinos.bsky.social's Politics & Policy talk to @brown.edu students next Monday, hosted by @taubmancenter.bsky.social @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social
events.brown.edu/taubman/even...

Politics & Policy Lunch: Public Sector Innovation with Professor Elizabeth Linos

Join us for the Politics & Policy Lunch series featuring Professor Elizabeth Linos, Faculty Director of The People Lab at Harvard Kennedy Schoo...

events.brown.edu

1 5

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · 12d

Super interesting interview on the use of AI in the classroom by the expert on AI and pedagogy at HKS @tedsvo.bsky.social - he's right, this is the big AI question we need to talk about more. www.wbur.org/upnext/2025/...

How one college professor uses AI in the classroom

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Teddy Svoronos is mostly optimistic on the benefits of AI in higher education.

www.wbur.org

1 3

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · 28d

New in @pnas.org! Light-touch government outreach boosted take-up of the Child Tax Credit & stimulus payments among very low-income families—while higher-touch strategies added little.

By: @elizabethlinos.bsky.social, J. Lasky-Fink, V. Dorie, @jrothst.bsky.social

🔗 www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

Interventions to bolster benefits take-up: Assessing intensity, framing, and targeting of government outreach | PNAS

Behaviorally informed “nudges” are widely used in government outreach but are often seen as too modest to address poverty at scale. In four field e...

www.pnas.org

2 7

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Sep 6

federalnewsnetwork.com/it-moderniza...

After federal workforce cuts, DOGE chief says ‘we need to hire’

Federal News Network reported in June that DOGE has been inviting federal employees to join the organization.

federalnewsnetwork.com

1 4

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Sep 4

This was never about performance

Sia At The Game @rhpsia.bsky.social · Sep 4

NEW: US Treasury watchdog finds that of the 7,315 IRS workers terminated by DOGE, just 43 were documented underperformers. Almost 50% of the fired employees had been appraised as working at or above expectations. www.icij.org/news/2025/09... via @icij.org

Watchdog report finds overwhelming majority of IRS employees fired by DOGE for performance had no documented issues - ICIJ

A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration notes that the termination letters were written for the agency by the OPM and its cuts failed to follow internal IRS procedures.

www.icij.org

1 5

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

Sherry Pagoto, PhD @drsherrypagoto.bsky.social · Sep 1

This morning 9 former CDC Directors, whose tenures date back to 1977, published this warning in the NYT:

RFK Jr is a danger to public health.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...

Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health

www.nytimes.com

26 530 1.4K

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · Aug 28

CDC employees standing up and walking out in light of the mass shootings, firings, and *waves hands in the air* everything else.

#USAnotRFK

Lets gooooo

180 3.4K 13K

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 28

The people of government doing what needs to be done to serve the nation.

James Goodwin @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social · Aug 28

The career civil service, among other things, is one of the most important bulwarks a democracy has against authoritarianism. Yet, we've maliciously programmed over ~50 years to believe that "unaccountable, unelected bureaucrats" are a threat to our constitutional order and individual freedoms.

Katelyn Jetelina @kkjetelina.bsky.social · Aug 28

CDC employees standing up and walking out in light of the mass shootings, firings, and *waves hands in the air* everything else.

#USAnotRFK

Lets gooooo

1 1 15

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 28

We'll be sending out our annual report soon so sign up now!

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Aug 28

Don’t miss our next newsletter—coming soon! 📩

We only send a couple each year, with our biggest updates + findings.

👉 Sign up here: harvard.us9.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=...

The People Lab

The People Lab Email Forms

harvard.us9.list-manage.com

3

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 28

A really important and clear summary of where we are.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Aug 28

New, from me:
America is no longer a functioning democracy. It is a competitive authoritarian system, hurtling rapidly toward authoritarianism.
This was a hard piece to write but we can't move forward if we don’t acknowledge where we are.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-author...

The authoritarian checklist

It is time to admit that America is no longer a functioning democracy

donmoynihan.substack.com

4

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 28

This one will be in the history books.

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Aug 28

This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Washington, DC under military occupation in last August 2025, with banners proclaiming the absolute power of the primus inter pares

1 4

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Aug 27

🚨 ICYMI: The People Lab is growing — and we’re hiring!

We’ve got two exciting opportunities:
🔹 Research Associate Fellow (rolling review)
🔹 Senior Project Manager (first review Sept 2, 2025)

Learn more + apply here 👉 peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/

Careers

peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu

1 4

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 25

Looking at images of all the happy crowds doing the #ZcavengerHunt and 7yo says "oh cool which protest is this from?"

5

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

Jennifer Doleac @jenniferdoleac.bsky.social · Aug 17

If you’re on the academic job market this year, it’s a great time to submit proposals for external funding based on your JMP or other ongoing work. Make this your back-up plan! See thread below.

Jennifer Doleac @jenniferdoleac.bsky.social · Feb 15

This year's Econ job market has, by all accounts, been brutal. If you're still not sure what you're doing next year, applying for external funding to continue your work is a great way to buy yourself time & options. It's a way to "build your own post-doc." Check out AV's open RFPs!

Andrew Bacher-Hicks @abacherhicks.bsky.social · Jan 23

Back by popular demand! We just released another call for proposals using RCTs and quasi-experiments.

3-page LOIs are due March 14. Details here: bit.ly/4ambjv3

(1/2)

9 26

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose @iipp-ucl.bsky.social · Aug 15

🎤What Does Efficiency Really Mean?

Catch up on our recent IIPP #RethinkingTheState Forum panel with Josh Entsminger in conversation with @mazzucatom.bsky.social, Yamini Aiyar, @choprausa.bsky.social, @elizabethlinos.bsky.social, & @damonsilvers.bsky.social.

📷 Watch the recording: buff.ly/6yYfDii

2 4

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

John Skiles Skinner @skiles.blue · Aug 17

A terrorist targeted federal workers last week. There wasn’t much reporting on it. But I’m not finished thinking about it! 🧵

An anti-vaxxer fired more than 500 gunshots into CDC Atlanta, shattering 150 “blast-proof” windows on 6 buildings. Employees were pinned down in terror.

93 3.2K 7.4K

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

Erica Chenoweth @chenoweth.bsky.social · Aug 13

My team at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman.bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) has finalized our participation estimates for No Kings Day on 6/14. Here are five key takeaways🧵:

New data shows No Kings was one of the largest days of protest in US history

The historic number of No Kings protesters and their expansive geographic spread are signs of a growing and durable pro-democracy movement.

wagingnonviolence.org

5 210 490

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 13

Yup.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · Aug 13

“.. DOGE increasingly looks like a giant joke as the initiative winds up saving essentially zero dollars for US taxpayers .”

- Vital Knowledge

@politico.com 🇺🇸
www.politico.com/news/2025/08...

3

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 10

I don't know about the party establishment but @thepeoplelab.bsky.social is certainly are asking and aiming to answer those questions!

1 3

Reposted by Elizabeth Linos

Rita Hamad @ritahamad.bsky.social · Aug 8

Our latest study @jamahealthforum.com shows the harms of work requirements for safety net programs. Women who were subject to harsher requirements and who received less cash assistance from TANF were less likely to breastfeed. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... @donmoyn.bsky.social @hsph.harvard.edu 1/

1 31 89

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 8

So who is writing the piece on datasets as democracy?

4

Elizabeth Linos @elizabethlinos.bsky.social · Aug 5

We're getting hundreds and hundreds of applications for this RA fellows position so if you're planning on applying, applying before August 14th is a great idea. Also, you got this! Take the leap and apply!

The People Lab @thepeoplelab.bsky.social · Jul 25

🚨 TPL is hiring a Research Associate Fellow! Are you passionate about using evidence to improve how government serves the public? Do you want to use your research & analytical skills for both social impact and cutting edge research?

Apply here -> peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu/careers/

Careers

peoplelab.hks.harvard.edu

3 4