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Reposted by Mike Levere

Kathleen Romig @kathleenromig.bsky.social · 4d

Alarming news this morning that Social Security head Frank Bisignano has been named “CEO” of IRS, a move that raises 3 major concerns:

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

Bessent Picks Social Security Chief Frank Bisignano as IRS CEO

The Social Security head will do double duty at the tax agency while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent retains his formal title as acting IRS commissioner.

www.wsj.com

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Mike Levere @michaellevere.bsky.social · 14d

Amazing, congrats!

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Michel Grosz @michelgrosz.bsky.social · 28d

The FTC is hiring Statisticians in the Bureau of Economics!

This is a great opportunity for seniors or recent grads interested in antitrust and consumer protection economics, and applied microeconomics research.

Come work with me! Happy to answer any questions.

www.usajobs.gov/job/845835200

STATISTICIAN

The Bureau of Economics seeks candidates for the position of Statistician. Statisticians work directly with BE staff economists to (1) provide economic analysis in support of antitrust and consumer pr...

www.usajobs.gov

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Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 29d

What’s so surprising about this imo is that the change in attitude is strong across all groups - young, old, liberal, conservative, college grads, non-college grads. Just a monumental shift in attitudes.

Percent of people saying going to college is very important plummeting in the past 12 years

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Mike Levere @michaellevere.bsky.social · Sep 1

Fed independence is critical to a functioning economy! I was proud to sign this letter- please consider and do so TODAY too

Prof Dynarski @dynarski.bsky.social · Aug 31

I signed an open letter from economists supporting Fed independence & Governor Lisa Cook

Letter: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Add your name by Monday: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Open letter

Click here to add your signature. An Open Letter from Economists in Support of Governor Lisa Cook and Federal Reserve Independence To the President, Members of Congress, and the American public: We wr...

docs.google.com

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Institute for Research on Poverty @irpwisc.bsky.social · Aug 28

▶️ Yesterday's webinar recording and slides on "Navigating Disability Benefits: New Research on Administrative Burden and Work Incentives" now posted! Thanks to our presenters Debra Brucker w/ UNH, @michaellevere.bsky.social w/ Colgate, and Ramonia Rochester w/ NDI.
www.irp.wisc.edu/resource/nav...

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Mike Levere @michaellevere.bsky.social · Aug 27

Still time to sign up for this webinar this afternoon from 2-3 ET. What better way to spend your Wednesday afternoon than learning about administrative burden in disability benefits programs?? Looking forward to the conversation! www.irp.wisc.edu/resource/nav...

Navigating Disability Benefits: New Research on Administrative Burden and Work Incentives

Research | Training | Policy | Practice

www.irp.wisc.edu

Reposted by Mike Levere

John Mullahy @johnmullahy.bsky.social · Aug 14

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/13/o...

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Mike Levere @michaellevere.bsky.social · Aug 7

Excited to be speaking at this webinar on 8/27- sign up! Should be a great discussion.

Institute for Research on Poverty @irpwisc.bsky.social · Aug 7

Register now for this excellent upcoming webinar "Navigating Disability Benefits: New Research on Administrative Burden and Work Incentives" with Debra Brucker from UNH, @michaellevere.bsky.social from Colgate, and Ramonia Rochester with NDI. Register here: www.irp.wisc.edu/resource/nav...

A man sitting in a wheelchair is working in a cubicle with headset and computer.

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Mike Levere @michaellevere.bsky.social · Jul 28

Really enjoyed presenting at NBER SI last week about my working paper analyzing PROMISE, a large RCT trying to improve economic outcomes for disadvantaged youth with disabilities. See video here: www.youtube.com/live/tzaNRDq...

Children and Families, NBER Summer Institute

YouTube video by NBER

www.youtube.com

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David Wessel @davidmwessel.bsky.social · Jul 25

After 22 years, NBER shuts its Retirement and Disability Research Center. It was funded by the Social Security Administration (SSA) through a cooperative agreement with the NBER with the goal of providing research and analysis that could inform Social Security policy. www.nber.org/brd/20251/nb...

NBER Retirement and Disability Research Center Winds Down Operations

www.nber.org

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Kathleen Romig @kathleenromig.bsky.social · Jul 4

Yesterday the Social Security Administration sent a highly misleading & political press release about the tax bill to my work account, where I'd signed up for SSA updates.

Then overnight I got it again, this time to my personal account. And I heard from lots of others who did, too. 🧵

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Kathleen Romig @kathleenromig.bsky.social · Jun 30

Pssst . . . it costs about the same amount to shore up Social Security's finances as it does to make the Trump tax cuts permanent.

But Congressional Republicans are on the verge of shoveling trillions at the wealthiest, while leaving a shortfall in the program we ALL need and love.

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Adrianna McIntyre @adrianna.bsky.social · Jun 30

They could have used this gimmick to extend the enhanced tax credits at "no cost" and prevent 4.2 million people from losing coverage.

This would be no more (or less) gimmicky than using it to extend tax breaks for the wealthy.

Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · Jun 30

Senate just adopted a current policy baseline. This means they’re treating most of their tax cuts, which were slated to end this year, as “free” because people got used to having them before
Congrats, every time you renew your Netflix or buy another Starbucks coffee or lease a new car, it’s now free

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John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · Jun 16

Female academics are much more affected by the birth of a child than are male academics.

Academic mothers are much more likely to...

◾temporarily leave the labor force

◾and, if they return, shift away from tenure-track positions.

scholar.harvard.edu/files/sdchen...

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Mike Levere @michaellevere.bsky.social · Jun 16

It is essential to know that the $1 BILLION of savings noted here is less than 0.1% of the total amount spent on annually Social Security -- why is the benchmark the operating budget? Can't help but think of Dr. Evil here...

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Brendan Duke @brendanvduke.bsky.social · Jun 11

OBBB's tax provisions are more regressive than the Bush tax cut deal. The latter had refundable tax credit expansions helping the bottom OBBB lacks and didn't include the top rate cut/pass-through deduction.

And the Bush tax cut deal didn't cut SNAP/Medicaid at the same time.

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Bat 🦇 Borus @matthewborus.bsky.social · Jun 10

Once again, I find myself thinking of the press release announcing that the Social Security Administration was unilaterally cancelling funding for all Retirement and Disability Research Consortia.

It called the centers “wasteful initiatives.” All of them had a combined cost of about $15 million.

The Associated Press @apnews.com · Jun 10

BREAKING: The Pentagon said the deployment of National Guard members and Marines to protests over immigration raids in LA will cost $134 million.

Hegseth faces sharp questions from Congress on deploying troops to Los Angles and Pentagon chaos

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been quickly met with sharp questions and criticism by lawmakers who pressed him about his early moves to fire key military leaders and and purge diversity programs.

bit.ly

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Pam Herd @pamherd.bsky.social · Jun 10

There's a lot to unpack here. But the "why do people in the developed world die from chronic diseases at higher rates than in poorer countries" is because we survive long enough to die from chronic rather than infectious disease. This is epidemiology 101. It's not a mystery.

LOLGOP ❌👑❌ @thefarce.org · Jun 10

I'm sure this is all a waste of our time.... But any medical experts out there want to watch Stephen Miller talk about MAHA and explain if there's any science here besides eugenics?

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Robert (Bob) Kubinec @rmkubinec.bsky.social · Jun 4

This is why we need *public* research funding--the public has a right to know what the best evidence is on these complex topics.

Henry Mance @henrymance.ft.com · Jun 4

Incredible:

0% of studies funded by the meat industry have found a link between red meat and cardiovascular ill-health.

73% of studies *not* funded by the meat industry have found a link.

www.thetimes.com/uk/science/a...

Is red meat bad for your heart? Studies leave plenty to chew over

Scientists analyse industry-sponsored research on red meat and heart health

www.thetimes.com

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Mike Levere @michaellevere.bsky.social · Jun 2

The incredible value of the excellent research showing that health insurance saves lives!

Adrianna McIntyre @adrianna.bsky.social · Jun 1

Highlighting for Joni Ernst:

"If you take Sarah Miller’s research on what the Medicaid expansions did, she found that for every 529 people covered, a life was saved. That means that kicking 13.7 million people off of health insurance would lead to 23,000 more deaths a year in America."

Adrianna McIntyre @adrianna.bsky.social · Jun 1

Just got around to this interview with Jon Gruber, which is a useful overview of the House bill — and its potential consequences — ahead of the Senate reconvening this week tradeoffs.org/2025/05/22/w...

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · May 30

New from @chloeneast.bsky.social at Can We Still Govern:
AEI cited her work to make the case for SNAP work requirements. Chloe explains that her and other research show that work requirements reduce SNAP access while doing nothing for employment outcomes.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/what-aei-g...

What AEI Gets Wrong about SNAP Work Requirements

They cited my research, so let me respond!

donmoynihan.substack.com

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Mike Levere @michaellevere.bsky.social · May 29

Here’s a recent one we published on how changing work incentives for SSDI doesn’t affect disability beneficiaries work activity, along with exploring why it did not have effects
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Can changes in disability insurance work incentives influence beneficiary employment? Evidence from the promoting opportunity demonstration

We study how disability beneficiary work behavior responds to a rule change that replaces a cash cliff—a threshold above which benefits reduce to zero…

www.sciencedirect.com

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Liz Ananat @lizananat.bsky.social · May 27

New research from [email protected]

Congress is pushing work requirements for Medicaid&SNAP. You’ve heard these kick eligible folks off (@pamherd.bsky.social @donmoyn.bsky.social), don't increase work&cause hunger (@laurenhlb.bsky.social @chloeneast.bsky.social). But wait there's more! 1/n

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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · May 23

This is especially important: “We call upon our fellow institutions of higher education in the United States to declare their willingness to facilitate the immediate co-enrollment of Harvard’s international students, including formal acceptance of transfer for immigration purposes.”

Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · May 23

“Nakedly authoritarian and retaliatory” — statement from Harvard’s @aaup.bsky.social chapter on the termination of Harvard’s SEVP certification.

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