Steve B. Holt
@stevebholt.bsky.social
1.8K followers 1.1K following 1.5K posts
Associate Professor. Public Management, Education Policy, Econometrics. https://stevebholt.github.io/
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Steve B. Holt
stevebholt.bsky.social
Hi everyone. Some exciting news. We are hiring an Assistant Professor in Public Policy here at Rockefeller College. We are pretty flexible on topic areas. We have a great team here and Albany is a great place to live. #econsky #academicsky

Posting: albany.interviewexchange.com/jobofferdeta...
albany.interviewexchange.com
Reposted by Steve B. Holt
resnikoff.bsky.social
This is going to sound like a copout answer, but my take is that any city of a sufficient size is going to have *something* cool and interesting going on, even if it's hidden away somewhere. The truly bleak cities are the affluent suburbs that are just McMansions, cars, and nothing else.
getthebagcoach.bsky.social
What’s the worst city you’ve visited?

I’ll never go back to Myrtle Beach SC if somebody paid me
stevebholt.bsky.social
I am begging editors to log off the internet. We do not need to still be doing this. People not terminally online or involved in culture war issues with colleges - which is most people - barely knew who Charlie Kirk was. Who is all this coverage for?
stevebholt.bsky.social
Used the one window I had to see a movie to see One Battle After Another. I cannot recommend it enough. See it in theaters - it's so worth it. The movie is an homage to the American revolutionary spirit fit into a cat and mouse film. And from beginning to end, this movie just *goes*.
stevebholt.bsky.social
Unreasonably cruel that our political economy produced a severe housing shortage in most cities, driving additional margins of people into homelessness, and the wannabe dictator regime is now using visible homelessness as a pretext for sending soldiers into the streets and not building housing.
stevebholt.bsky.social
I used to view this turn in both of them as a turf protection response to growth in good public facing writing skills among some top academics. Why read Matt if there are more informed writers with a platform?

But it's probably more petty than that. Some insult or humiliation they never got over.
stevebholt.bsky.social
Like, yes, 1,000 units a year for a three year stretch is not sufficient and will not be sufficient to reduce rents in a place attracting more than 1,000 residents per year while working through a housing deficit.

Now they've tanked the market for new units in Albany and think it's good!
stevebholt.bsky.social
This is true. In part, people have no sense of the scale of building needed, so it needs to be constantly put in front of them. In Albany, there was a short stretch of building 1,000 units or so a year, and there are Council members who point to it as "letting building happen failed to reduce rent."
samd.bsky.social
the reason that YIMBYposting is so important is that we need to deprogram the incorrect lizardbrain thinking that building more housing increases rents.

thankfully all of the data is on our side!
sharonk.bsky.social
i agree that building more housing is a good thing! but their own polling shows the average voter has a folk theory of politics where higher supply means higher prices and that they fucking hate any non-SFH zoning!
stevebholt.bsky.social
I look forward to the horror movie some thoughtful director makes based on Kurt Weiss Greenhouses or the J-1 visa program generally.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/n...
They Were Promised a Taste of America. They Got Abuse and Exploitation.
www.nytimes.com
stevebholt.bsky.social
Good God, I didn't realize he got this wrecked in the interview.
stevebholt.bsky.social
Honestly, being left behind after the Rapture might be pretty good. A labor shortage to work through, which might lead to some supply chain issues in many industries. But might actually be able to return a variety of rights back to people. Likely some wage growth.
stevebholt.bsky.social
Chotiner: You say here that you're a board game enthusiast.
Me: Yes, I love playing all board games
Chotiner: But there are several games here still in their cellophane.
Me: Well, you see...
Chotiner: And you say here that you care about waste and the environment.
Me: Now, hold on...
stevebholt.bsky.social
I can't emphasize enough that people not on Twitter 24/7 because they've been convinced it's part of their job do not even know who the fuck Charlie Kirk was and yet somehow we are abandoning the fucking first amendment over him getting murdered by a random person.
stevebholt.bsky.social
The way you know social media has cooked so many brains in the media and political establishment is that the NYTimes *hard news* section has had wall to wall coverage of Kirk's murder, Democrats are worried about the campaign messaging, and if you ask any normie not online, they're like, "Who?"
jamellebouie.net
these people are genuinely idiots
andrewsolender.bsky.social
NEW: Expect some drama in House Dems’ meeting this AM over a vote to honor Charlie Kirk.

Some members undecided. Others voting no or “present.” But some in the party fear anything but a unanimous vote for it will be a messaging coup for the GOP.

@Axios.com
www.axios.com/2025/09/18/c...
stevebholt.bsky.social
Welcome to my old man rants at a cloud post.
stevebholt.bsky.social
It feels to me like cinemas *want* to go out of business. I want to see Caught Stealing. It's been out for like two and a half weeks. I finally have an evening to go see a movie. The run for Caught Stealing is ALREADY down to single matinee showings at all the theaters near me.
stevebholt.bsky.social
There are several grassroots orgs in the Capital Region that work on these issues. Walkable Albany & Capital Streets are two. They focus primarily on local gov & have been *losing* ground there on housing. It's bad. Development has all but stopped in Albany and many officials see it as a good thing.
stevebholt.bsky.social
Frum, Rove, and Carlson all showing more courage in their convictions about the 1st amendment and honest assessments of the Kirk murder than many Democratic electeds and liberal pundits is not something I expected, if I'm being honest.
bluegeorgia.bsky.social
David Frum on Jimmy Kimmel: "This is not cancel culture because it's not culture. It's state repression. It's an order from the government. Here is the script, you must read, if you do not read it, you will be taken off the air."
stevebholt.bsky.social
So much theory about institutional design to generate a robust, sustainable democracy and sets of democratic institutions has gone up in smoke in 8 months of this regime. Legal theory too.
donmoyn.bsky.social
What America is going through is not unusual in historical terms. Plenty of examples like it today elsewhere in the world.
What makes it unusual is the rapid collapse from a set of widely espoused norms and values that centered on liberty. It is the sacking of the shining city on hill that shocks.
stevebholt.bsky.social
"Dear Dr. Holt,
Welcome to the manuscript central system for..."

No. Nonononono, dear God, no

"Dear Dr. Holt,
I would like to invite you to review..."
stevebholt.bsky.social
As it should be, really. At base, probably a story of bit part guy that just thought he was owed more and hates a world that decided he wasn't in all the wrong ways.
stevebholt.bsky.social
Yeah, he's been a MAGA-type guy for awhile now.