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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 3h

Here’s why fewer employed economists is bad for Joe Biden

Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 3h

If a reporter ever gets in touch, you should suggest the headline “You can’t vaccinate against Elon: DOGE nearly as bad as COVID for universities”

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Reposted by Matt Pierson

Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham @paulgp.com · 4h

Posted a short blog post with updated data (and public repo with data) of current state of Econ job market:

paulgp.com/2025/10/08/j...

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 12h

I want to teach an Economics of Immigration course (no I don't), just once, so I can have this image as my opening slide.

Incredible satire or the least self-aware image of all time?

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 1d

Extremely biased from my own background, but I've always thought doing a Critical Theory survey course should be required for economics. Narrowing in on seeing the world only in economic terms too soon can be limiting

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Reposted by Matt Pierson

Trevon Logan @trevondlogan.bsky.social · 9d

Good history helps us avoid nostalgia. The great article “Economic History and the Historians” (2020) by Anne McCants reminds me why nostalgia can get us in trouble. Two of her examples are very relevant to today: vaccinations and the popular narrative of some economic “good old days.”

Getting vaccinated is unpleasant. Dying of measles is worse. In the decade before the 1963 vaccine for measles emerged, an average of 475 Americans died from measles every year, most of them children. This (absolute) number had dropped to a low of 1 in 1981, despite a steadily increasing population that might have hypothetically contributed additional cases. Sadly, the number of measles cases in the United States has been steadily climbing upward again because we seem not to remember the ravages of the disease so much as the inconvenience of the shot—even without taking into account the absurd rejection of the solid scientific evidence in favor of vaccinations. Many people still have an elderly relative who survived a bout of severe childhood illness; not one of us has an elderly relative who did not. The blurring of the historical evidence for and against vaccination that arises from strangely incongruous historical narratives allows a seemingly inconsequential but nonetheless deadly nostalgia to run rampant.

Another example of dangerous reverence for the past concerns the flurry of popular enthusiasm lately (at least if the pundits of the 2016 American election are to be believed) for the “good old days” of the 1950s when a family could live securely on just one income (in these nostalgic accounts, that one income is usually a man’s). Lest we forget, these are the same good old days of poor air quality and measles. Maybe trivial in comparison but certainly indicative of the scope of the cognitive problem that nostalgia presents, the average size of a new home built in America in 1950 was 983 sq. ft.; by 2010, the average size had risen to 2,392 sq. ft. Given that families were larger on average in the 1950s than they were in 2010, per capita space allocation had risen even faster than total area. Although we might not need that much personal space, many of us have become used to it. Older furniture now looks tiny compared to what is now on offer in showrooms, whereas older television sets were behemoths with miniscule screens showing programs in glorious black and white.

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 9d

Because ICE vehicles spontaneously arrest imported cars?

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 9d

It feels like every day we're the customer in Akerlof's Lemons, and we're watching the average price go lower. and lower. and lower.

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 12d

Honestly, I wonder if the rise of the mini-series or seasonally adaptation of book series is just the kind of sidestep around this.

Anyway, back to my LOTR Extended Editions

Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 14d

Philly heard you, so SEPTA suspended regional rail service today in response

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Reposted by Matt Pierson

Zorka Milin @zorkamilin.bsky.social · 16d

Why would some business interests prefer for Congress to fly blind in tax policymaking? 🤔

Very good take from @howardgleckman.bsky.social @taxpolicycenter.bsky.social:

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 19d

And then you go to a seminar from someone who's won the Nobel/Clark, and they open it like

a man sitting in front of a monitor that says i 'm an idiot ask anyone

ALT: a man sitting in front of a monitor that says i 'm an idiot ask anyone

media.tenor.com

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 21d

Listen when you unilaterally decide to ignore a statute you can’t just go halfway. In for a penny, in for a (who knows where it came from?) pound

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Reposted by Matt Pierson

Matt Collin @mattcollin.bsky.social · 22d

🚨New working paper🚨

In this updated work with Annette Alstadsaeter, @bluebery-planterose.com , @gabrielzucman.bsky.social and @andokl.bsky.social , we use leaked data to chart the rise of offshore real estate in Dubai

www.taxobservatory.eu//www-site/up...

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 23d

You should have Nate on the podcast! I’m sure he’d love to do it. And he’s really good at talking about models (both theoretical and econometric)

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Reposted by Matt Pierson

EU Tax Observatory @taxobservatory.bsky.social · 23d

Guess what? EUTO #LunchSeminar is back! 🚀

🎙️Join Margarita López Forero ( @banquedefrance-off.bsky.social ) for an interesting discussion on offshoring wage inequality in tax havens.

🗓️ September 19 | 12pm (CET)
📍 @pse.bsky.social & Zoom

🔗 Register here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · 29d

Ahh yes, those growth promoting investments: microcaptive insurance and basis shifting through complex partnerships

Jesse Drucker @jessedrucker.bsky.social · 29d

My latest story - Trump administration rolls back tax shelter crackdown: www.nytimes.com/2025/09/09/b...

Trump Administration Halts I.R.S. Crackdown on Major Tax Shelters

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Matt Pierson

Matt Collin @mattcollin.bsky.social · Sep 5

I have given in and started a Substack to write about illicit finance, development and data

In my first post, I explain why we should be careful about citing the $312 billion statistic on the size of Chinese money laundering

datadarkly.substack.com/p/exactly-ho...

Exactly how big is that Chinese money laundering ring?

The difficulty of inferring from suspicious transaction reports

datadarkly.substack.com

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · Sep 5

This is a really cool WP (and therefore a cool conference that has it on the program)

Dirk Foremny @dforemny.bsky.social · Sep 5

The second day of #MadPub25 started with Naomi Feldman delivering a keynote on "Tax Complexity and Tax Confusion: From Early Misperceptions to Recent Evidence". Thanks for sharing your interesting thoughts with us in Madrid at @cunef.bsky.social! @cmtneztt.bsky.social @miguelalmunia.bsky.social

Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · Sep 3

It’s back to the “L” line now!

Now describe to your audience “the Mainline”

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · Sep 2

It’s such a weird space! A lot of it recently is in traditionally low risk firms, but gigantic issuance size with really weird terms/exposure.

And why it keeps getting pushed to retail is baffling, why does retail need exposure to this. And the products popping up to gain that exposure…

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Reposted by Matt Pierson

Brendan Greeley @bhgreeley.bsky.social · Aug 29

The Fed is not good at talking to citizens. Its communications culture is aimed at markets, which means it knows how to give coded, cautious hints that leave room for negotiation. That means there's little will and no experience with strong, affirmative signals in response to wanton norm-burning.

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · Aug 29

BSP, fun fact: beamer (and latex in general) are like The Standard for presentations and paper writing in Econ

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · Aug 22

The “but one of my best friends is black!” defense of apartheid

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Matt Pierson @matthewcpierson.bsky.social · Aug 18

Hah, fair enough. A decade is more than enough time spent. Maybe it helps that Black Dog was the best coffee shop in town at the time? (I’m told things have improved since. I hope)

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