Joshua Weidmann
@joshuaweidmann.bsky.social
220 followers 440 following 10 posts
Predoc @HarvardEcon. Prev. @Konstanz and @LSE. Political Economy. #FirstGen https://joshuaweidmann.com/
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
janvogler.bsky.social
🚨 The Virtual Workshop in Historical Political Economy is back! 🚨

For the new academic year, we have an amazing line up of papers for you!

In our inaugural session 2 HPE superstars will join us: @annagbusse.bsky.social (Stanford) will present & @jvoth.bsky.social (Zurich) discuss! I can't wait. 😀
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
drodrik.bsky.social
Three things made the US a rich and powerful nation: the rule of law, its science & innovation system, and openness to foreign talent. Remarkable how Trump has taken a sledgehammer to all three. No enemy of this country could do more.
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
abergeron.bsky.social
Given the current political news, this may not be top of mind, but my co-authors and I are looking for French-speaking RAs to join projects in the DRC that study the role of state capacity in economic development.

1-year predoc: povertyactionlab.org/careers/pred...
Predoctoral Field-Based Research Associate (One Year) – Democratic Republic of Congo, UC Berkeley | The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab
povertyactionlab.org
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
adambonica.bsky.social
The DOGE firings have nothing to do with “efficiency” or “cutting waste.” They’re a direct push to weaken federal agencies perceived as liberal. This was evident from the start, and now the data confirms it: targeted agencies overwhelmingly those seen as more left-leaning. 🧵⬇️
Scatterplot titled “Empirical Evidence of Ideological Targeting in Federal Layoffs: Agencies seen as liberal are significantly more likely to face DOGE layoffs.”
	•	The x-axis represents Perceived Ideological Leaning of federal agencies, ranging from -2 (Most Liberal) to +2 (Most Conservative), based on survey responses from over 1,500 federal executives.
	•	The y-axis shows Agency Size (Number of Staff) on a logarithmic scale from 1,000 to 1,000,000.

Each point represents a federal agency:
	•	Red dots indicate agencies that experienced DOGE layoffs.
	•	Gray dots indicate agencies with no layoffs.

Key Observations:
	•	Liberal-leaning agencies (left side of the plot) are disproportionately represented among red dots, indicating higher layoff rates.
	•	Notable targeted agencies include:
	•	HHS (Health & Human Services)
	•	EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)
	•	NIH (National Institutes of Health)
	•	CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau)
	•	Dept. of Education
	•	USAID (U.S. Agency for International Development)
	•	The National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE), despite its conservative leaning (+1 on the scale), is an exception among targeted agencies.
	•	A notable outlier: the Department of Veterans Affairs (moderately conservative) also faced layoffs despite its size.

Takeaway:

The figure visually demonstrates that DOGE layoffs disproportionately targeted liberal-leaning agencies, supporting claims of ideological bias. The pattern reveals that layoffs were not driven by agency size or budget alone but were strongly associated with perceived ideology.

Source: Richardson, Clinton, & Lewis (2018). Elite Perceptions of Agency Ideology and Workforce Skill. The Journal of Politics, 80(1).
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
poleconukinar.bsky.social
🔜 POLECONUK Webinar is back on 10 March! Our first talk is by Bård Harstad (Stanford, @bardharstad.bsky.social) presenting "The Politics of Global Public Goods". For details visit us at: sites.google.com/view/polecon...
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
asheshrambachan.bsky.social
Excited to spend the day at the NBER Digital Economics and AI Meeting!

I'll be presenting this paper on LLMs and empirical research: www.nber.org/papers/w33344

Full lineup of the conference: www.nber.org/conferences/...
Digital Economics and AI Meeting, Spring 2025
www.nber.org
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
paulgp.com
Holy forking shirt balls

"Denial of a wanted abortion has both immediate and lasting effects. It increases a woman’s risk of death by 2.5 p.p within nine months, mainly due to unsafe abortion procedures, and raises the likelihood of carrying the pregnancy to term by 31 p.p. "
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
cescamat.bsky.social
📢 Workshop Call 📢

3d Edition of the Yale-UB Historical Political Economy Workshop

Keynote: "Revolutionary Contagion" by Saumitra Jha and Steven Wilkinson

At University of Barcelona @ub.edu on June 30 and July 1, 2025

Send us your papers by Febr 28: shorturl.at/w96jk

@didacqueralt.bsky.social
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
chrisblattman.bsky.social
Come work for me at UChicago @beckerfriedman.bsky.social ! I'm hiring a full-time pre-doc to start this April/May/June for data analysis on crime, education, mental health, and organized crime, mostly on projects in Latin America. Details & apply here: job-boards.greenhouse.io/universityof...
Research Professional – Christopher Blattman (Full-Time, Benefits Eligible)
Chicago, IL
job-boards.greenhouse.io
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
shengwuli.bsky.social
I did a NYT video interview—along with voices from Hungary, Nicaragua, and Russia— about how repression works in authoritarian states.

www.nytimes.com/video/opinio...
Video: Opinion | How Tyranny Begins
Tyranny doesn’t happen overnight. Take it from the people who missed the first signs.
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
dziblatt.bsky.social
As we enter the new year, our work & conversations at Harvard's Center for European Studies are zeroing in on understanding the disruptive forces remaking Europe & the broader Transatlantic world in deeply unsettling times. We have an exciting lineup. Please join us & mark your calendars.
europeatharvard.bsky.social
We have many new events on Europe lined up this semester. Check out our calendar for February. ces.fas.harvard.edu/events
Michael Ignatieff and Daniel Ziblatt in discussion
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
bengolub.bsky.social
PLEASE RT :)

Submit to the annual Network Science and Economics Conference, the largest US event for network theory and empirical research in and adjacent to economics

Deadline Jan 30 (soon!)

Conference Apr 11-13 at Stanford
joshuaweidmann.bsky.social
Now with Ethan Bueno de Mesquita instead of Will Howell, right?
Reposted by Joshua Weidmann
keithschnak.bsky.social
We are having our second annual formal theory conference at WashU for graduate students and postdocs working on formal models in political science. Please consider applying or passing this information to someone who might want to apply!
Call for Papers: 2025 Washington University Conference for Early Career Scholars in Theoretical Political Economy

The Department of Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis will host a conference for early-career scholars working on formal theories of politics. The conference will be held on campus at Washington University on April 18, 2025. 

If you are a current PhD student or postdoctoral fellow working in formal theory or political economic theory, please apply to present by emailing your paper to me (keschnak@wustl.edu) by February 15, 2025. We will cover travel and lodging for paper presenters. 

Additionally, if you are a faculty member interested in attending or serving as a discussant, please feel free to contact me.
joshuaweidmann.bsky.social
When will we get to know which one you guys picked? 😉