Mike Makowsky
@mikemakowsky.bsky.social
Professor of Economics at Clemson University
Crime, Political Economy, Religion #COYS
Monday ramblings @
https://economistwritingeveryday.com/author/mdmakowsky/
Crime, Political Economy, Religion #COYS
Monday ramblings @
https://economistwritingeveryday.com/author/mdmakowsky/
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
Keep this in mind when people claim cars mean business — closing Central #Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY.
There was also a 71% drop in air pollution.
Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople
There was also a 71% drop in air pollution.
Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople
Closing Central Madrid To Cars Resulted In 9.5% Boost To Retail Spending, Finds Bank Analysis
City of Madrid significantly boosted the takings of its shops and restaurants last Christmas by banning cars from the CBD, finds an analysis by Spain's second largest bank.
www.forbes.com
November 20, 2025 at 6:21 AM
Keep this in mind when people claim cars mean business — closing Central #Madrid to cars over holidays resulted in a 9.5% boost in retail spending on its main shopping street: STUDY.
There was also a 71% drop in air pollution.
Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople
There was also a 71% drop in air pollution.
Via @carltonreid.com in @forbes.com. #citymakingmath #citiesforpeople
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
Now forthcoming at Quarterly Journal of Economics
Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis
Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...
(See thread below for an overview)
Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis
Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...
(See thread below for an overview)
November 19, 2025 at 4:22 PM
Now forthcoming at Quarterly Journal of Economics
Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis
Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...
(See thread below for an overview)
Enlightenment Ideals and Belief in Progress in the Run-up to the Industrial Revolution: A Textual Analysis
Available at: digitalcommons.chapman.edu/esi_working_...
(See thread below for an overview)
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
One of the most upsetting articles I've read in a long time www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-grade...
UCSD report senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347...
We are failing a generation of kids.
UCSD report senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347...
We are failing a generation of kids.
When grades stop meaning anything
The UC San Diego math scandal is a warning
www.theargumentmag.com
November 19, 2025 at 2:05 AM
One of the most upsetting articles I've read in a long time www.theargumentmag.com/p/when-grade...
UCSD report senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347...
We are failing a generation of kids.
UCSD report senate.ucsd.edu/media/740347...
We are failing a generation of kids.
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
For every surveillance state to function, there must be a critical mass of people who willingly act as snitches to further the regime's ideology.
I lived through this firsthand, money isn't the motivating factor for these people, it's the satisfaction of seeing people they hate suffer
I lived through this firsthand, money isn't the motivating factor for these people, it's the satisfaction of seeing people they hate suffer
RAISE YOUR CHILDREN SO THEY DO NOT DO THINGS LIKE THIS dailyfreepress.com/11/13/10/216...
BU College Republicans president says he called ICE to ‘detain these criminals’ at Allston Car Wash
The president of Boston University College Republicans wrote on X he called the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement requesting it detain employees at Allston Car Wash, the site of a Nov. 4 raid w...
dailyfreepress.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:07 PM
For every surveillance state to function, there must be a critical mass of people who willingly act as snitches to further the regime's ideology.
I lived through this firsthand, money isn't the motivating factor for these people, it's the satisfaction of seeing people they hate suffer
I lived through this firsthand, money isn't the motivating factor for these people, it's the satisfaction of seeing people they hate suffer
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
I wonder if the United States can learn anything from the last time a major industrialized country decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world?
Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
November 11, 2025 at 3:35 PM
I wonder if the United States can learn anything from the last time a major industrialized country decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world?
Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
I think the main lesson is: PR matters.
See, many forget, and not in this wp, that Brits voted for Brexit not once, but three times.
- Brexit ref
- GE of 2017
- GE of 2019
3 time Brexiers won using the same rhetoric. And when Labs won, they embraced xenophobic antiglobalism.
See, many forget, and not in this wp, that Brits voted for Brexit not once, but three times.
- Brexit ref
- GE of 2017
- GE of 2019
3 time Brexiers won using the same rhetoric. And when Labs won, they embraced xenophobic antiglobalism.
I wonder if the United States can learn anything from the last time a major industrialized country decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world?
Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
Almost a decade after the Brexit vote, GDP in the UK is around 6-8% lower relative to peer countries. (Source: www.nber.org/papers/w34459)
November 11, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I think the main lesson is: PR matters.
See, many forget, and not in this wp, that Brits voted for Brexit not once, but three times.
- Brexit ref
- GE of 2017
- GE of 2019
3 time Brexiers won using the same rhetoric. And when Labs won, they embraced xenophobic antiglobalism.
See, many forget, and not in this wp, that Brits voted for Brexit not once, but three times.
- Brexit ref
- GE of 2017
- GE of 2019
3 time Brexiers won using the same rhetoric. And when Labs won, they embraced xenophobic antiglobalism.
Flew to the UK on a packed flight, flew home surrounded by entire empty rows. The flight attendant said it was a persistent pattern across her shifts for a while now. "A lot more people seem to be leaving the US than entering. Not sure why."
🤔
🤔
November 4, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Flew to the UK on a packed flight, flew home surrounded by entire empty rows. The flight attendant said it was a persistent pattern across her shifts for a while now. "A lot more people seem to be leaving the US than entering. Not sure why."
🤔
🤔
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
November 3, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
America & the world can never trust the US Presidency & our calcified, two-party Congress again.
In @liberalcurrents.com, I argue we need to reform the executive (limit it), make the legislature supreme, & institute multiparty proportional representation.
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-american...
In @liberalcurrents.com, I argue we need to reform the executive (limit it), make the legislature supreme, & institute multiparty proportional representation.
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-american...
The American Presidency Can Never Be Trusted Again
It’s time for multiparty democracy and a limited executive.
www.liberalcurrents.com
November 1, 2025 at 7:40 AM
America & the world can never trust the US Presidency & our calcified, two-party Congress again.
In @liberalcurrents.com, I argue we need to reform the executive (limit it), make the legislature supreme, & institute multiparty proportional representation.
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-american...
In @liberalcurrents.com, I argue we need to reform the executive (limit it), make the legislature supreme, & institute multiparty proportional representation.
www.liberalcurrents.com/the-american...
This is worth reading. Each step on the path from young person intoxicated by their first exposure to political identity and ideology to adult whose responsibilities and obligations depend on a career in the political marketplace. Humans can be boiled just like frogs when you have kids to feed.
"At every step along the way, I rationalized, compartmentalized, and found excuses to stay tethered to the party, even as I grew to believe it was undermining the foundations of our constitutional republic." Enough is enough: www.thebulwark.com/p/my-last-da...
October 20, 2025 at 4:38 PM
This is worth reading. Each step on the path from young person intoxicated by their first exposure to political identity and ideology to adult whose responsibilities and obligations depend on a career in the political marketplace. Humans can be boiled just like frogs when you have kids to feed.
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
Courage is contagious…..
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...
University of Virginia Won’t Join White House’s Compact for Colleges
www.nytimes.com
October 18, 2025 at 12:48 PM
Courage is contagious…..
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/u...
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
I’ve decided not to post my annual “women on the Econ job market” thread this year. Social media has splintered too much, and now that I’ve left academia I’m focused on other priorities.
October 14, 2025 at 2:02 PM
I’ve decided not to post my annual “women on the Econ job market” thread this year. Social media has splintered too much, and now that I’ve left academia I’m focused on other priorities.
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
“What is the ‘Denver model’?”
“Well, it’s a relatively simple concept. We’re treating a non-fatal shooting incident like we would a homicide.”
“Well, it’s a relatively simple concept. We’re treating a non-fatal shooting incident like we would a homicide.”
huge st. paul w www.mprnews.org/story/2025/1...
St. Paul solved more crimes, had drastically fewer homicides in 2025
A remarkable shift is under way in St. Paul. The city is on track for a 70 percent drop in homicides by the end of 2025. And they’re solving more than 70 percent of crimes.
www.mprnews.org
October 11, 2025 at 2:57 PM
“What is the ‘Denver model’?”
“Well, it’s a relatively simple concept. We’re treating a non-fatal shooting incident like we would a homicide.”
“Well, it’s a relatively simple concept. We’re treating a non-fatal shooting incident like we would a homicide.”
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
October 10, 2025 at 9:45 PM
The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
“ABC7 spoke to Pertissue Fisher, a woman who lives in the building. She said ICE agents took everyone in the building, including her, and asked questions later….’They was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other.’”
It can’t happen here, you say. But it is happening.
It can’t happen here, you say. But it is happening.
ICE agents raid South Shore apartments; Trump says Chicago could become military training ground
ICE agents raided a South Shore apartment building overnight as the city braces for a possible military deployment.
abc7chicago.com
October 2, 2025 at 2:10 AM
“ABC7 spoke to Pertissue Fisher, a woman who lives in the building. She said ICE agents took everyone in the building, including her, and asked questions later….’They was bringing the kids down, too, had them zip tied to each other.’”
It can’t happen here, you say. But it is happening.
It can’t happen here, you say. But it is happening.
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
"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."
This is the best and perhaps most important illustration of sample selection i have seen in a good long while.
This is the best and perhaps most important illustration of sample selection i have seen in a good long while.
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.”
October 1, 2025 at 10:45 AM
"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."
This is the best and perhaps most important illustration of sample selection i have seen in a good long while.
This is the best and perhaps most important illustration of sample selection i have seen in a good long while.
There's arguably no greater inflection point in a constitutional crisis than if and when a general refuses to follow an unlawful order from a President. They have a "duty to disobey", but the due process and fallout will determine the future of the country. That's all. Just, you know, everything.
An unprecedented violation of our civic and Constitutional traditions. Calling every military leader in the world back to the U.S. to hear a wildly inappropriate partisan campaign speech followed by a fascist call to use the military against Americans.
September 30, 2025 at 4:09 PM
There's arguably no greater inflection point in a constitutional crisis than if and when a general refuses to follow an unlawful order from a President. They have a "duty to disobey", but the due process and fallout will determine the future of the country. That's all. Just, you know, everything.
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
No Liberal or Conservative President has authority under law to pervert our federal law enforcement into a weapon against his political opposition—explicitly!
If you wondered what life under Orbán was like, it has arrived. Americans will suffer from authoritarian rule and we reject it.
If you wondered what life under Orbán was like, it has arrived. Americans will suffer from authoritarian rule and we reject it.
Patel on left-wing groups: "We are properly going to chase them down like the domestic terrorists that they are."
September 26, 2025 at 10:55 AM
No Liberal or Conservative President has authority under law to pervert our federal law enforcement into a weapon against his political opposition—explicitly!
If you wondered what life under Orbán was like, it has arrived. Americans will suffer from authoritarian rule and we reject it.
If you wondered what life under Orbán was like, it has arrived. Americans will suffer from authoritarian rule and we reject it.
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
They're racists & they're fascists but above all they are the pettiest two-bit criminals you've ever seen
Critical part of the President's new $100,000 charge for H1-B visas: The Administration can also offer a $100,000 discount to any person, company, or industry that it wants. Replacing rules with arbitrary discretion.
Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.
Want visas? You know who to call and who to flatter.
September 20, 2025 at 2:16 PM
They're racists & they're fascists but above all they are the pettiest two-bit criminals you've ever seen
You can't hide players in modern basketball who can't shoot, modern hockey who can't skate, and modern soccer/football who can't pass. They're always net negatives.
September 20, 2025 at 2:17 PM
You can't hide players in modern basketball who can't shoot, modern hockey who can't skate, and modern soccer/football who can't pass. They're always net negatives.
Reposted by Mike Makowsky
i don’t think people on bluesky understand the severity of this situation.
i woke up to literally hundreds of texts from friends and family thinking about either moving back home to india or applying to other countries for jobs. this includes me.
i woke up to literally hundreds of texts from friends and family thinking about either moving back home to india or applying to other countries for jobs. this includes me.
Those on an H1B cannot return to the US from tomorrow (Sunday) unless paying $100K. This is an out-of-the blue presidential action. We’ll see software engineers stranded abroad.
One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.
One easy to predict outcome: those on US visas will travel less… for work, for conferences etc.
September 20, 2025 at 12:20 PM
i don’t think people on bluesky understand the severity of this situation.
i woke up to literally hundreds of texts from friends and family thinking about either moving back home to india or applying to other countries for jobs. this includes me.
i woke up to literally hundreds of texts from friends and family thinking about either moving back home to india or applying to other countries for jobs. this includes me.