We've given our "beyond hot spots" paper a pretty big overhaul over the last few months. I'm super happy with the new version: brendonmcconnell.github.io/pdf/crime-KP... More info in the thread below:

Need to compute sample sizes for a cluster randomized control trial where treatment costs more than control? @brendonmcconnell.bsky.social and I have a paper to help you maximize power or minimize cost. 📄 doi.org/10.1086/739610 + Stata & R routines included.

Back in 2022, a figure on HRT prescribing caught my eye in a Guardian article on the "Davina Effect". Fast-forward a few years, Emmanouil Mentzakis, Rhys Llewellyn Thomas, and I have a paper out: brendonmcconnell.github.io/pdf/HRT.pdf Short 🧵

Tell Labour: Stop Rosebank actionnetwork.org/letters/ask-...

there was some epic, early morning light this past weekend. the light hitting the mist created a "mistbow", which I'd never seen before. some snaps from my morning walk with the pups yesterday.

this has a good overview of the recent Fiscal Studies symposium to which @papiteide.bsky.social and I contributed. Our paper here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/..., more on the symposium here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/toc/14755890...

Fiscal Studies | IFS Public Economics Journal | Wiley Online Library

Basic methods to compute required sample sizes are well understood and supported by widely available software. However, researchers often oversimplify their sample size calculations, overlooking rele...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

David McKenzie@dmckenzie.bsky.social · 12mo ago

This week's links include a mini-symposium on power calculations, what makes for good descriptive work, publishing tips for econometrics, making nice dot charts, and more... blogs.worldbank.org/en/impacteva...

Are you preparing a randomized controlled trial? Don't miss a special symposium of Fiscal Studies (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/1475...) with three articles on power and sample size calculations. (1/3) @theifs.bsky.social

Fiscal Studies | IFS Public Economics Journal | Wiley Online Library

Click on the title to browse this journal

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

nice little thread of our recent work highlighting the crime-reducing benefit of combining hotspot policing methods with spatial network models

ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin@rfberlin.bsky.social · last yr.

🆕 RFBerlin-CReAM Discussion Paper: @corradogiulietti.bsky.social, @brendonmcconnell.bsky.social and @yveszenou.bsky.social propose a new way to fight urban crime by integrating network theory into policing strategies. 🧵

First draft of a new paper out today [link: brendonmcconnell.github.io/pdf/plasma.p..., where we document the impact of plasma donation centers on crime in US cities. We find large and sustained effects of these centers on crime, notably property crime and drugs possession. Short thread below..

The Tony Blair Institute's report on climate change is pro-fossil fuels, pro-CCS, pro-AI, pro-carbon markets, pro-nature-based solutions, and pro-nuclear. These are not solutions to the climate crisis. But they are everything his clients are asking of him. reddmonitor.substack.com/p/tony-blair...

Tony Blair is a climate lobbyist for Big Tech and Big Polluters

How the media got the story completely wrong.

reddmonitor.substack.com

I'm organizing a two-day summer school on networks (10-11 September) at Monash University where Matt Jackson (@JacksonmMatt ), Sanjeev Goyal, and myself will teach a 12 hours course. It is free and anybody interested can apply here: www.monash.edu/business/eve...

Network Economics Conference and Summer School 2025

monash.edu

first draft out today: how to use the spatial network structure of crime in a city to improve upon the standard hot spot policing approach, joint with @corrradogiulietti.bsky.social and Yves Zenou. [1/3]

After a long time of battling with Stata, I finally figured out how to change the aspect on a cmogram graph (I wanted a square format). Sharing in case useful. The line after the cmogram command, I typed "graph display, xsize(1) ysize (1)". Before/After pic attached.

Our IFS report on air pollution is out! Good news first: air pollution (PM2.5) has HALVED in England since 2003, with a big drop during Covid. There's no rebound post Covid, somewhat puzzlingly. We use DEFRA data, monitoring station data shows the same thing. (1/7) ifs.org.uk/publications...

Exposure to air pollution in England, 2003–23 | Institute for Fiscal Studies

We set out how air pollution (PM2.5) has changed across England and explore inequalities by ethnicity, income deprivation, region and age.

ifs.org.uk