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Nikhil Datta

@nikdatta.bsky.social

870 followers 250 following 80 posts

Economist. Assistant prof @ warwick, fellow @ CEP LSE, PhD alum @ UCL. Child of immigrants. Serene since 17/06/06. http://nikhil-datta.com

nikhil-datta.com

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Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · 12d

I did not expect to wake up to a policy which included “subsidise pubs”.

“That is what our £5bn neighbourhood fund is about, to be spent for local people and by local people on their community’s needs.

Whether that’s restoring a local pub…”

www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/f9444c6...

The Left ignored immigration fears for too long. It’s time to give communities back control

Only a plan for patriotic national renewal led by Labour will counter the rise of the populist Right

www.telegraph.co.uk

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Jul 22

Depending on the many small files context, you can set them up as a partitioned dataset which something like duckdb can treat as a single table.
Recently started using duckdb a lot out of necessity (20tb dataset), and can't praise it enough.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Jul 22

One of the big benefits of duckdb is that you don’t need to load the entire file onto ram. The smaller the file, the less the gains from using columnar storage / not loading onto ram. Small csv sizes read onto ram will be basically instantaneous.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Jul 17

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/a...

Good to see coverage of mine and Johannes Brinkmann's @cagewarwick.bsky.social on the RTFO. Here's a nice graph showing the benefits...

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Jun 17

19 years sober

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · May 27

One of the tunes I've written (I occasionally write music) just got added to a playlist with this title...
open.spotify.com/playlist/7yL...

Music to get Killed to (But in a Hot way)

Playlist · VHEXPERTINE · 82 items · 7.9K saves

open.spotify.com

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · May 13

I suspect because he chose Bradford because it reminds people of historical "ethnic tensions". I just had a look at the stats by MSOA, and it's ranked around 250th by percent non-UK born. An MSOA in Leicester is top with 72%.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · May 13

It's 1.2 sqkm and has a population of 6,447

Reposted by Nikhil Datta

Zarah Sultana MP @zarahsultana.bsky.social · May 12

The Prime Minister imitating Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech is sickening.

That speech fuelled decades of racism and division. Echoing it today is a disgrace. It adds to anti-migrant rhetoric that puts lives at risk.

Shame on you, Keir Starmer.

Reposted by Nikhil Datta

Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · Apr 25

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 24

5. Based on the government's current estimated cost of overall damage to society per tonne of carbon (£312), the benefits of the policy far outweigh the cost. For every £1 cost to consumers, the policy has saved between £1.37 to £25 worth of carbon damage over time. The average lies at £5.70.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 24

4. The implied cost per tonne of co2 saved due to the RTFO (in 2024 prices) in turn experiences a lot of volatility, especially when compared to other policies. Within 2018 alone the cost of saving a tonne of carbon ranged from £13 in March to over 10 times that amount 9 months later.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 24

... We decompose the pump price increases by carrying out two exercises, one where we fix the RTFO at the 2013-2018 level, and one where we fix biofuel prices to track fossils. The decompositions show a role for both the RTFO level & changes in prices to biofuels. The latter drive volatility.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 24

3. The cost increase is driven by a combination of the increase in the RTFO, as well as increases in biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel). Biodiesel is notably always higher than fossil fuels by quite a considerable amount...

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 24

2. The RTFO has pushed up pump prices, and the increase has varied a lot. Impacts have ranged from negligible, to substantial. In 2021 the RTFO added up to 8ppl to unleaded, and in 2022 up to 14ppl to diesel. The RTFO has also increased volatility in pump prices.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 24

1. The RTFO has risen considerably since introduction. The current obligation stands at 13.5%,having started at 2.5%.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 24

New policy piece from myself and Johannes Brinkmann on the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation - one of UK's key policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions from road transport - how it impacts prices at the pump for consumers, and what the benefits are. A few graphs / points to follow.

The Costs and Benefits of the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation

Johannes Brinkman, Nikhil DattaThe Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) is a key policy in the UK aimed at reducing carbon emissions by mandating the blending of biofuels with fossil fuels. This...

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 10

cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/about/w...

Rui Costa and I are looking for a part time RA to help us out on a LPC commissioned project on labour market power & the min wage, based at the CEP, LSE. Check out more at the link!

Work for CEP | Centre for Economic Performance.

Work for CEP | Centre for Economic Performance.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 6

Every time I watch one of his videos it’s like “sous vide it like this and then add half a kilo of truffle” like it’s a cooking class for millionaires

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Apr 3

No you can leave it up to domestic immigration policy for that

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Mar 31

New VoxEU piece with S.Machin on the impacts of @livingwageuk.bsky.social's Living Wage. Using variation from councils signing up and inducing their contractors to pay it, we find higher wages, *increases* in employment, reduced within-establishment wage inequality, and labour-labour substitution.

VoxEU @ CEPR @voxeu.org · Mar 31

Data from a firm operating in the low-pay service sector show that the #UK living wage policy was a successful way to increase #wages & reduce within-establishment wage inequality without incurring large negative employment effects.
@nikdatta.bsky.social & S Machin
cepr.org/voxeu/column...
#EconSky

Graph of UK living and minimum wage rates. London Living Wage (LLW), UK Living Wage (UKLW), National Living Wage (NLW), and National Minimum Wage (NWM Adult Rate).

Living wages are an increasingly common policy tool for reducing poverty and improving the living standards of low-income workers. But until recently, there has been little evidence on how living wage clauses effect the largest spender in the economy – the government. This column utilises data from a firm operating in the low-pay service sector with hundreds of establishments across the UK. The authors find that the living wage policy was a relatively successful way to increase wages and reduce within-establishment wage inequality without incurring significant negative employment effects.

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Mar 23

there are only two in my local town and they know each other well. The one I went to told me when it comes time to increase their prices every year they chat and agree on how much to. Collusion in locally concentrated small business markets is alive and well. 2/2

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Mar 23

I know quite a few local small business owners. From chats with them when starting out a lot of them seemed to wiggle their price around to find the *revenue* maxing point, which seems consistent with tracing out demand curves. Also remember a chat with a local sports massage therapist, 1/2

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Mar 12

In a separate project on Brexit + migration we see falls in labour supply for certain occupations due to reductions in EU migration. It’s early days, but there’s a possibility that may link to reductions in skilled workers for construction, something that we may be able to shed light on soon

Nikhil Datta @nikdatta.bsky.social · Mar 12

4. Lowering barriers and costs to housing development requires planning reform.
To read more, check out our first policy piece here:
warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/econ...