Here is a new NBER Working Paper by @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social, @phoxie.bsky.social, and me on the effects of federal pandemic aid to school districts: www.nber.org/papers/w35447.
@jeffreypclemens.bsky.social
Professor of Economics at UC San Diego Director of CEPA: https://cepa.ucsd.edu/ Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution Research Associate at NBER Editorial Boards at JPUBEC, JHE, JEP, and AEJ: Policy
COVID-era federal school funding may have had little impact on students, not because $ don't help, but because local govts reacted by reducing property taxes, leaving schools' overall funding levels unchanged. New @nber.org paper here: www.nber.org/papers/w35447
Great work by authors @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social @stanveuger.bsky.social @phoxie.bsky.social Revives the old "flypaper effect" (money sticks where it lands) literature I first learned about when helping Jon Gruber write his undergrad public economics textbook in 2003!
California’s $20 fast-food minimum wage raised restaurant prices approximately 3–4 percent. Other prices including food-at-home exhibit no differential movement, pointing to wage-driven pass-through, from Jeffrey Clemens, Olivia Edwards, Jonathan Meer, and Joshua D. Nguyen www.nber.org/papers/w34990
A surge in SNAP retailer participation during the Great Recession boosted adopters’ food sales and product variety while improving access, but welfare gains were modest, from Anne T. Byrne, Xiao Dong, Jessie Handbury, Erik James, Katherine Meckel, and Andrés C. Rovira www.nber.org/papers/w34467
In a new AEI Economic Perspectives paper, Tobias Peter and I propose that DC legalize redevelopment of large single-family lots into duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes. We also analyze the consequences of making such a change in terms of new housing production etc. www.aei.org/research-pro...
I read this article with great interest, as the unsuccessful US effort to suppress Afghan opium production was the subject of some of my earliest research. Readers of this article might be interested in the Twitter thread below: x.com/jeffreypclem...
Jeffrey P. Clemens on X: "An underrated mistake in US policy in Afghanistan was its long-running effort to suppress the cultivation of opium poppy and, in turn, the production of heroin and other opiates. A thread. 1/19" / X
An underrated mistake in US policy in Afghanistan was its long-running effort to suppress the cultivation of opium poppy and, in turn, the production of heroin and other opiates. A thread. 1/19
x.com
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 9mo agoExclusive: The CIA conducted a classified program to manipulate Afghanistan’s lucrative poppy crop, blanketing fields with modified seeds that germinated plants containing almost none of the chemicals that are refined into heroin, The Post learned.
Timely research on the SNAP program
NBER@nber.org · 9mo agoLow-income households denied SNAP due to administrative barriers suffer downstream consequences. Process-related denials increase debt, delinquencies, and decrease credit scores, from Tatiana Homonoff, Min S. Lee, and Katherine Meckel www.nber.org/papers/w34434
Low-income households denied SNAP due to administrative barriers suffer downstream consequences. Process-related denials increase debt, delinquencies, and decrease credit scores, from Tatiana Homonoff, Min S. Lee, and Katherine Meckel www.nber.org/papers/w34434
This is painstakingly done, comprehensive work on the earnings of individuals who make minimum wage at some point in their careers (typically, though not always, at career onset). Recommended reading for anyone interested in how minimum wages fit into the big picture.
NBER@nber.org · 10mo agoWorkers earning minimum wages typically show stronger future careers, and state minimum wage policies do not significantly alter these relative trajectories, from Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr, and Louis J. Maiden www.nber.org/papers/w34405
This is painstakingly done, comprehensive work on the earnings of individuals who make minimum wage at some point in their careers (typically, though not always, at career onset). Recommended reading for anyone interested in how minimum wages fit into the big picture.
NBER@nber.org · 10mo agoWorkers earning minimum wages typically show stronger future careers, and state minimum wage policies do not significantly alter these relative trajectories, from Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr, and Louis J. Maiden www.nber.org/papers/w34405
Workers earning minimum wages typically show stronger future careers, and state minimum wage policies do not significantly alter these relative trajectories, from Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr, and Louis J. Maiden www.nber.org/papers/w34405
Excited to receive our new 536 page book on tax competition and coordination in the mail today: "Policy Responses to Tax Competition" (w/ Poterba & @omzidar.bsky.social) I know everyone is looking forward to order it here: amazon.com/-/es/Respons...
Thanks to our editor at @uchicagopress.bsky.social and all the authors who contributed @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social @stanveuger.bsky.social @s-stantcheva.bsky.social @mariusbrulhart.bsky.social @kurtschmidheiny.bsky.social & many others not on here!
Featured in the latest Digest: Federal Fiscal Aid to State and Local Governments and COVID-19 Mortality https://www.nber.org/digest/202507/federal-fiscal-aid-state-and-local-governments-reduced-covid-19-mortality
Many thanks to the economists who signed on, including @dacemoglumit.bsky.social, @kylepomerleau.bsky.social, @michaelrstrain.bsky.social, @danieldbunn.bsky.social, @kclausing.bsky.social, and @jasonfurman.bsky.social, and to our magnificent counsel. Full brief here: www.aei.org/articles/ami...
aei.org
I organized an economist amicus brief in V.O.S. Selections Inc. v. Trump, the "Liberation Day" tariffs case in which the government's appeal will soon be considered by the Federal Circuit Appeal Court.
Thank you to the hundreds of business leaders who are standing against the unconscionable attacks on our university system. They know that was is being destroyed is future American innovation and prosperity.
Business Leaders Call Trump Attacks on Universities a Competitive Threat
More than 200 business leaders signed an open letter calling on the Trump administration to reverse its moves against colleges and universities, arguing that funding cuts and restrictions on [student
wsj.com
An unpopular view: new diff-in-diff methods have been a setback for empirical work. I see an increased flow of papers that do 5 variants of them plus extensive torturing of parallel trends robustness to "prove" that a weak research design is solid. That effort could've been spent more productively
Spirits: "US tariff uncertainty takes its toll" www.thespiritsbusiness.com/2025/05/us-t... "The problem with this administration is that you have to have a really loud voice in the ear of the White House to get anything done"
In the new issue of The American Enterprise, @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social and I have an article comparing the evolution of America’s system of fiscal federalism to Europe’s.
Federal subsidies to state and local municipalities in the US during COVID-19 significantly improved individual #health outcomes as subsidies were channelled toward critical health care inputs. Jeffrey Clemens & Anwita Mahajan @ucsandiego.bsky.social cepr.org/voxeu/column... #EconSky
I'm happy to report receiving the green light for promotion to full professor at UCSD economics effective July 1st! I'm feeling grateful to my family, mentors, co-authors, colleagues and many others who have helped to push and pull me along the way.
. @jeffreypclemens.bsky.social of @ucsandiego.bsky.social and Michael Wither of Powerlytics Inc investigate when tinkering with safety net programs is harmful to beneficiaries. #HealthInsurance #LaborMarkets #SafetyNet
When is tinkering with safety net programs harmful to beneficiaries?
Interactions between redistributive policies can confront low-income households with complicated choices. We study one such interaction, namely the relationship between Medicaid eligibility threshold...
doi.org
Melinda Pitts, research center director, Center for Human Capital Studies @atlantafed.bsky.social estimates that the potential reduction in the full federal workforce, including contract and grant employees, could be as high as 1.2 million www.atlantafed.org/blogs/macrob...
