Julien Senn
@sennjulien.bsky.social
430 followers 270 following 57 posts
Economist @ University of Zurich. site: https://sites.google.com/site/juliensenn
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sennjulien.bsky.social
A few days ago I was very excited to share a new paper on "The Fundamental Properties, Stability and Predictive Power of Distributional Preferences" but didn't realize I can write a thread on bsky.

So here is the thread !

#Econsky

1/11
sennjulien.bsky.social
First week of teaching in Paris Sorbonne. Of course, my first lecture is postponed because today is strike day and getting to the Uni might be nearly impossible for staff & students. The experience wouldn't be french otherwise. 😅
sennjulien.bsky.social
I am very happy to share that I am joining the Sorbonne University as an Econ Prof.

I am extremely grateful to everyone that made this possible, above all my parents.
sennjulien.bsky.social
sennjulien.bsky.social
🚨Publication alert🚨

What motivates citizens to support redistributive policy proposals?

Find out in our new paper just accepted in the @jpube.bsky.social (joint with @aljoshahenkel.bsky.social, T.Epper, E. Fehr).

Paper: tinyurl.com/9u45tcep

A thread🧵
sennjulien.bsky.social
🚨 Incredibly excited about this 🚨

Thread below
jpube.bsky.social
Just published in @jpube.bsky.social:

"Beliefs about inequality and the nature of support for redistribution"

By @aljoshahenkel.bsky.social, Ernst Fehr, @sennjulien.bsky.social, & Thomas Epper

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#econsky
Reposted by Julien Senn
jpube.bsky.social
Just published in @jpube.bsky.social:

"Beliefs about inequality and the nature of support for redistribution"

By @aljoshahenkel.bsky.social, Ernst Fehr, @sennjulien.bsky.social, & Thomas Epper

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
#econsky
Reposted by Julien Senn
mjcrockett.bsky.social
🚨PSA for anyone using GPT in human subjects research🚨

A judge has ruled that OpenAI must retain ChatGPT and API data indefinitely, with few exceptions.

This might have implications for your IRB compliance and the security of your participants' data. 1/
sennjulien.bsky.social
I have a paper that has been sitting for so long at a journal that even the link to track the submission is now broken. #academiclife #delayshurt
a man in a suit and tie is standing in the middle of a field .
Alt: a man in a suit and tie is standing in the middle of a field .
media.tenor.com
sennjulien.bsky.social
coauthored with a great team of non-random coauthors in ® order:
@aljoshahenkel.bsky.social (@kofeth.bsky.social‬, @ethz.ch‬)
® Ernst Fehr ® Julien Senn (@econ.uzh.ch)
® Thomas Epper (@cnrs.fr, @iesegresearch.bsky.social‬, @ieseg.fr)
sennjulien.bsky.social
💡These findings cast a new light on the seemingly puzzling result that, in the aggregate, large changes in beliefs about inequality often do not translate into changes in demand for redistribution.
sennjulien.bsky.social
🤔 How do beliefs and prefs affect support for the 99% initiative?

1.Those with social prefs are more supportive of the 99%
2.The shock in beliefs does not affect avg support for the 99%.
3.Heterogeneity 🚨! The shock has a large effect on the support of the (richer) inequality averse.
sennjulien.bsky.social
Can these misperceptions be corrected? Yes 😃
Does updating depend on preferences? No 😮

Using an information intervention (a downward shock in beliefs for almost everyone), we show that most subjects update their beliefs downwards, independent of preference types.
sennjulien.bsky.social
🤔How do these subjects perceive inequality, and do these perceptions depend on preferences?

We contacted them months later and find that
i) most vastly overestimate inequality
ii) these misperceptions are largely independent of preferences.
sennjulien.bsky.social
We first elicit the distributional preferences of a sample broadly representative of the Swiss voting population.

Three distinct behavioral types coexist: inequality averse, altruistic, and selfish subjects.

This is consistent with our previous work (tinyurl.com/44p7ujjn)
sennjulien.bsky.social
Using a staggered experiment, we explore the joint role of distributive preferences and beliefs about inequality for support for the 99% initiative—a highly redistributive policy proposal on which Swiss citizens voted in 2021.
a cartoon of a man with a cane standing in front of blue curtains
ALT: a cartoon of a man with a cane standing in front of blue curtains
media.tenor.com
sennjulien.bsky.social
🚨Publication alert🚨

What motivates citizens to support redistributive policy proposals?

Find out in our new paper just accepted in the @jpube.bsky.social (joint with @aljoshahenkel.bsky.social, T.Epper, E. Fehr).

Paper: tinyurl.com/9u45tcep

A thread🧵
Reposted by Julien Senn
p-hunermund.com
I noticed this too that universities and PIs are increasingly trying to exploit their market power, and no one seems to stop them. In other countries non-fulltime PhD and postdoctoral positions are very uncommon, as far as I know.
calebw.bsky.social
Keeping one eye on academic jobs in Germany, I'm seeing more 50–75% positions, where salary & work hrs are both reduced. I'm even seeing 50%-time, 3-year doctoral jobs, where you're expected to write a dissertation in <20hrs/week in 3 years (while supporting a research team). 👎
1/2
a star wars character is saying `` it 's a trap '' .
Alt: Admiral Akbar saying "it's a trap"
media.tenor.com
sennjulien.bsky.social
I don't think this is only a german problem. The fact that juniors have to so extremely rely on advisor(s) for all the important steps in their career is in my view one of the biggest issues in academia.
virginiagewin.bsky.social
“There is far too much power in the hands of professors in the German system,” says @leising.bsky.social.

My latest @nature.com story digs into efforts to tackle the entrenched structural heirarchy that enables academic bullies.
Can Germany rein in its academic bullying problem?
Researchers and administrators are exploring ways to restructure a rigid hierarchy that can breed power abuses.
www.nature.com
sennjulien.bsky.social
I don't think this is necessarily a german problem and I have always seen this as the biggest issue in academia. Juniors are way too reliant on advisor(s), at all levels.
sennjulien.bsky.social
Academic journals time bipolarity: Before acceptance, every interaction takes months. After acceptance, they need everything from you within 48hours.
Reposted by Julien Senn
ericlipton.nytimes.com
The fear among academics and lawyers now talking on the record on just about any topic that involves the federal government or the White House is really extraordinary and worrisome, and getting worse, it seems to me, every week. Dissent by an establishment figures becoming verboten in the US
Reposted by Julien Senn
aaronsojourner.org
Tenure was created for moments like this.

It's there to give you more security & courage to speak out truthfully.

Use it or lose it.
sennjulien.bsky.social
Elect stupid people, suffer from stupid policies.
justinwolfers.bsky.social
Monstrously destructive, incoherent, ill-informed tariffs based on fabrications, imagined wrongs, discredited theories and ignorance of decades of evidence. And the real tragedy is that they will hurt working Americans more than anyone else.
sennjulien.bsky.social
What a time to be a young (european) scientist in the last 5 years: covid, budget cuts, hiring freezes, and now a potential wave of US-based scientists searching for a new home.