Had a great time presenting today at the University of Tokyo! Japan is gorgeous.
Claudia Persico
@claudiapersico.bsky.social
Associate Prof at American University SPA (formerly UW-Madison), NBER & IZA studying environmental, health & ed policy. PhD from Northwestern U. Thoughts are my own.
The proposed rule would enable political appointees to take control of grants. Peer review is no longer binding. Grants can be canceled for any reason. International collaborations are prohibited. Ideology would drive awards. Please comment to save science. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
‘The purpose of the rule is fascism’: scientists fight back against planned Trump research cuts
Stand Up for Science founder says proposal to control how grants are spent would ‘dismantle US science ecosystem’
theguardian.com
The Wall Street Journal covered my new paper on how we estimate the effects of AI (incorrectly) with @michelleyin.bsky.social and @hoavu.bsky.social! www.wsj.com/tech/ai/ai-m...
AI Can’t Agree on Which Jobs AI Might Destroy
Economists asked ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude which jobs were most exposed to AI. Many times, the models gave different answers.
wsj.com
We asked four LLMs how exposed your job is to AI. They could NOT agree. Management: 15% vs 90% Legal: 10% vs 75% Healthcare: 5% vs 60% Same rubric. Same jobs. Same data. Different AI, completely different answer. New @nber.org working paper with @michelle-yin.bsky.social & @hoavu.bsky.social ! 1/
Welcome our next seminar speaker, Claudia Persico (@claudiapersico.bsky.social). She'll be presenting, "The Effects of Daily Air Pollution on Students, Teachers and School Violence."
Is anyone looking for a last minute extra paper on pollution, education, or health (or crime) for a panel at #ASSA2027?
My new paper on Air Quality and Suicide is online at the Journal of Health Economics! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Air quality and suicide
We study the relationship between air pollution and suicide using detailed daily cause of death data from all death certificates in the U.S. over eigh…
sciencedirect.com
Hey, my new JPAM article is online! It's called, "Can Pollution Cause Poverty? The Effects of Pollution on Educational, Health, and Economic Outcomes" and you can read it here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Can Pollution Cause Poverty? The Effects of Pollution on Educational, Health, and Economic Outcomes
Although pollution is widespread, there is little evidence on how it affects children's long-run outcomes. Using detailed, geocoded longitudinal data, we compare siblings who were gestating before ve....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
I'm excited that my paper on Air Quality and Suicide has found a great home at the Journal of Health Economics! Pollution affects mood. We show that on days of high air pollution, there are more suicide attempts and deaths by suicide in the US. www.nber.org/papers/w30626
Air Quality and Suicide
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
nber.org
Seems troubling. More troubling would be the idea that the Administration might have bombed Iran without expecting this.
I had a great time participating in The Future We're Building with the Children's Environmental Health Network! DC is such a great place to meet policymakers and practitioners, as well as other academics, who want our kids to breathe clean air.
This is going to cause so much sickness, death and misery. And it didn't need to happen. It's a choice to poison the public. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/c...
Trump Allies Near ‘Total Victory’ in Wiping Out U.S. Climate Regulation
nytimes.com
I’m excited to join @CEHN & @CEP_AmericanU on 2/19 for The Future We’re Building in Washington, DC! This symposium blends science, storytelling, & strategy, highlighting examples of communities getting it right & addressing emerging challenges. givebutter.com/FutureWereBu... Registration is free 👇
The Future We're Building Symposium
By Children's Environmental Health Network
givebutter.com
My paper, "“Can Pollution Cause Poverty? The Effects of Pollution on Educational, Health and Economic Outcomes" was accepted at the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management (JPAM)! I am so happy that the paper found a good home and will be published soon! NBER WP version: www.nber.org/papers/w30559
Can Pollution Cause Poverty? The Effects of Pollution on Educational, Health and Economic Outcomes
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
nber.org
New, from me: Defenders of police abuses will sometimes talk about “bad apples” spoiling the barrel. This is the wrong metaphor for ICE and CBP. The barrel itself is rotten. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/past-the-b...
Past the breaking point
The violent occupation of an American city is more than a warning
donmoynihan.substack.com
It is legal to claim asylum in the United States. What is illegal is to forcibly remove a person before their asylum claim is adjudicated. I wish those entrusted with vast power to devastate the lives of small children had more interest in governing, under law, and less in social media quips.
Greg Sargent@gregsargent.bsky.social · 6mo agoPeople are missing a big thing about the saga of the detained 5-year-old. When Vance calls the father an "illegal alien" it seems to reflect a little-known Trump admin move that attempts to nullify asylum claims before they are even heard. This policy is a horror: newrepublic.com/article/2056...
Got a note today from a student from a few years ago, who is now a state representative, saying how much she learned in my education policy course and how she now applies it in the real world. Friends, there is no greater happiness for me than this. My students @au-spa.bsky.social are awesome.
Trump plans to drop calculating the monetary value of public health benefits from air pollution rules and focus instead on industry costs. @claudiapersico.bsky.social (@au-spa.bsky.social) says this will cause deaths of vulnerable Americans. Read from @brettwilkins.bsky.social, @commondreams.org:
EPA to Stop Counting Public Health Benefits When Setting Air Pollution Standards | Common Dreams
"This policy will cause more deaths of vulnerable Americans, like infants and the elderly," said one critic. "Also, it appears to be a violation of the Clean Air Act."
commondreams.org
This is crazy! This is the opposite of trying to find the social optimum.
Claudia Persico@claudiapersico.bsky.social · 7mo agoThis policy will cause more deaths of vulnerable Americans, like infants and the elderly. Also, it appears to be a violation of the Clean Air Act. This is incredibly foolish. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
Human health benefits are by far the largest benefit from most environmental regulations. By not monetizing these benefits moving forward, the Trump EPA is essentially saying there are no human health benefits to reducing air/toxic/climate pollution, improving drinking water quality, etc. 1/
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
nytimes.com
The administration is literally formally and practically saying: - all it cares about is business owners' profits and - the amount it cares about Americans' lives is ZERO.
Claudia Persico@claudiapersico.bsky.social · 7mo agoThis policy will cause more deaths of vulnerable Americans, like infants and the elderly. Also, it appears to be a violation of the Clean Air Act. This is incredibly foolish. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
🚨 Call for Papers: 🚨 The 5th NBER Regulation Conference will be in Cambridge on April 24, 2026. This is a great opportunity to talk to people in different fields about shared regulatory issues! Submissions are due Feb 10. conference.nber.org/confsubmit/b...
This policy will cause more deaths of vulnerable Americans, like infants and the elderly. Also, it appears to be a violation of the Clean Air Act. This is incredibly foolish. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/12/c...
E.P.A. to Stop Considering Lives Saved When Setting Rules on Air Pollution
nytimes.com
NOW: Protest in DC tonight at 14 and U streets, shutting down traffic in both directions.
Amazing study showing that deactivating social media improved mental health. [It has so many coauthors that the sample size was sufficient to run the RCT on themselves.]
AEA Journals@aeajournals.bsky.social · 9mo agoForthcoming in AEJ: Economic Policy: "The Effect of Deactivating Facebook and Instagram on Users’ Emotional State" by Hunt Allcott, Matthew Gentzkow, Benjamin Wittenbrink, et al. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...