Seth Morgan
sethmorgan.bsky.social
Seth Morgan
@sethmorgan.bsky.social
Environmental economist at The Nature Conservancy. Interests: impact evaluation, ecosystem services, conservation effectiveness, environment for development. Opinions my own.
Pretty proud of this playlist I made of songs I like to sing with my kids, anchored by the great John McCutcheon: open.spotify.com/playlist/3oB...
For the Kids
open.spotify.com
December 30, 2025 at 2:09 AM
Interesting discussion under this thread:
A type of practice that I find interesting historically is the rigorously untrue. Astrology, for instance, was often a very tightly defined practice with a seriously requirement of learning: it just wasn’t actually real.
December 28, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn’t nirvana, pearl jam, soundgarden or Alice In Chains.
December 28, 2025 at 3:35 AM
is There moral significance to which vice you hate most? Judith Shklar put cruelty first. So did Zadie Smith in her novel The Fraud. My latest in The Enthusiast: open.substack.com/pub/theenthu...
Judith Shklar’s Ordinary Vices
reordering of hatreds
open.substack.com
December 26, 2025 at 4:37 PM
It was a privilege to contribute to this very nice paper on factors contributing to silvopasture adoption:
The latest paper from SNAPP's Sustainable Cattle Ranching in Colombia working group and researchers at The University of British Columbia examines the drivers of silvopastoral system (SPS) adoption based on real-world implementation and working group data. Learn more here: bit.ly/48Yht5y
Frontiers | Enablers and barriers to adoption of sustainable silvopastoral practices for livestock production in Colombia
In Latin America, the expansion of land for Extensive Cattle Ranching (ECR) is the leading driver of deforestation causing unsustainable levels of environmen...
www.frontiersin.org
December 11, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
The snow leopard is a legendary elusive cat... so much so that they've become known as the "ghost cat." Now in Mongolia, camera trap data and footage are helping to protect the species.

Get up close with more snow leopard footage here: https://nature.ly/48eGPuu

🎥 courtesy of: Erica Anderson
December 1, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Great reading list here. Plus one to @paulcrider.liberalcurrents.com recommending Sen’s Development as Freedom. Moral touchstone for me that relates to everything from development to immigration to disability rights.
Excellent question and it so happens that back in August our editors picked five books each to make a reading list: www.liberalcurrents.com/the-liberal-...

Now, at the time, we did that as a post for patrons only.

But you know what, let's make it public today. 🍾
November 28, 2025 at 9:53 PM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."

There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
I don’t know who needs to hear this (maybe just past me) but MASS has a select() function so load it after dplyr at your peril! #rstats
November 13, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Looking for some spooky reads? The Enthusiast has some recs (no paywall). My choice was White Tears by @harikunzru.bsky.social , a furious, haunting read I haven’t stopped thinking about since I read it. open.substack.com/pub/theenthu...
Captain's Choice: Frightening Books
Intriguing nightmares
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Right now I’m reading The Fraud by @zadiesmith.bsky.social and Judith Shklar’s Ordinary Vices, and I’m pretty sure Smith read Shklar! Eliza in the Fraud says “Cruelty stands apart. In any degree cruelty is a crime. It is the very worst that we can do“ echoing Shklar’s “putting cruelty first.”
October 17, 2025 at 8:30 PM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
Urban trees can lower temps by up to 12°C, but it’s not just about quantity. Species, layout and local climate all play a role in how effective they are. Strategic planting leads to cooler streets, cleaner air and healthier communities, especially in neighborhoods vulnerable to rising temperatures.
Trees are natural ACs for cities, if you plant the right ones
Urban trees are on the rise but researchers are only starting to uncover the best way to cool cities with them
dialogue.earth
October 6, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Great piece from Steven Kennedy on the late great Robert Redford’s ability to act while talking on the phone: open.substack.com/pub/theenthu...
On the Phone with Robert Redford
Pick it up and listen
open.substack.com
September 26, 2025 at 12:39 PM
Really enjoying @bretdevereaux.bsky.social's series on pre-modern peasants -- the majority of people who have ever lived. So knowledgeable and fascinating. acoup.blog/2025/07/11/c...
Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part I: Households
This is the first post in a series discussing the basic contours of life – birth, marriage, labor, subsistence, death – of pre-modern peasants and their families. Prior to the industria…
acoup.blog
September 10, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
The letter is ready, thanks to all those who helped out! Starting to gather signature now, please consider signing (link at top of letter) & spread the word.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...
August 27, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Got an essay out about the poetry power-couple Jane Kenyon and Donald Hall. Also loss, grief, and mortality. open.substack.com/pub/theenthu...
Open Tombs: Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon
the pain-deadening walk forward after loss
open.substack.com
August 14, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Really loving @liberalcurrents.com these days. Always challenges my brain and adds to my reading list. Good stuff by @paulcrider.liberalcurrents.com , @adamgurri.liberalcurrents.com , @sjshancoxli.liberalcurrents.com and others.
August 1, 2025 at 1:54 PM
With my latest project I switched from stargazer to modelsummary for generating tables. Really great R package! Thanks to @vincentab.bsky.social. modelsummary.com
modelsummary: Data and Model Summaries in R
modelsummary.com
July 30, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
Is there a field biologist in the Portland, Oregon, area who wouldn't mind being in a bear suit for an hour in the woods on August 4. For science. DM me.
July 28, 2025 at 9:14 PM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
My practical tips for designing, implementing, and analyzing powerful experiments. In today's blog I summarize a new paper I've written for a special issue on power calculations. A key message is that it does not make sense to talk of “the” power of an experiment. blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...
My practical tips for designing and analyzing powerful experiments
blogs.worldbank.org
July 28, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
🦐 Shrimp farms in Indonesia yield more when surrounded by mangroves.

Restoring mangroves = better shrimp + stronger climate resilience. Let’s farm smarter, not harder.

Learn more about this work here link.springer.com/article/10.1...
July 25, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
Looking for economists to follow on BlueSky, in particular in your field or geographic area? IDEAS has various lists to help you. See there as well to get listed (hint: just add your BlueSky handle in your author profile)

ideas.repec.org/i/ebluesky.h...

#RePEc #EconSky
RePEc-registered Economists on Bluesky
ideas.repec.org
July 23, 2025 at 12:54 PM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
The first commit for the #rstats {tigris} package was 10 (!) years ago, and the package is still going strong.

tigris gets geographic data from the US Census Bureau into R for you -- often in a single line of code.

As tigris turns 10, let's review what it can do:
July 18, 2025 at 7:03 PM
Nice resource on measuring wealth in surveys: blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...?
How should we measure household wealth in our surveys?
blogs.worldbank.org
July 17, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Reposted by Seth Morgan
I am pleased to share the most significant study that I have so far contributed to. We find overwhelming evidence that mechanical thinning and prescribed fire reduce subsequent wildfire severity across seasonally dry forests in the western USA. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
July 11, 2025 at 9:15 PM