Erez Yoeli
@erezyoeli.bsky.social
Research Scientist, MIT Sloan Director, Applied Cooperation Initiative Co-author, Hidden Games Research focus: How to motivate people to do good
Kudos to @science.org for this self-analysis of the peer review process. These kind of data are never shared and don't have to be. Wildly refreshing to see it out in the open. Editorial and peer review dynamics at elite general science journals | Science Advances www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Editorial and peer review dynamics at elite general science journals
Analyses of deidentified data reveal complex interactions that quantify success at elite general science journals.
science.org
"Fact avoidance" involves biased search and revelation of evidence. In Hidden Games, we used simple game theory models to show how such forms of spin can arise and persist - even when everyone knows it's going on.
Shalev Gad Roisman@shalevroisman.bsky.social · last wk.New draft paper on SSRN: "Fact Avoidance," forthcoming in the Harvard Law Review Supreme Court Issue. This Essay identifies a recurring feature where the Court decides presidential power cases entirely on legal grounds without engaging at all with the facts /1 papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
Skygest is my politics-free happy place.
Paper Skygest Team@paper-feed.bsky.social · 12mo ago**Please repost** If you're enjoying Paper Skygest -- our personalized feed of academic content on Bluesky -- we'd appreciate you reposting this! We’ve found that the most effective way for us to reach new users and communities is through users sharing it with their network
"findings suggest that the rise of private health insurance in the US was not solely due to macroeconomic forces or collective bargaining; it was also enabled by a strategic, interest group–financed effort to shape citizen views and influence policy." academic.oup.com/qje/article/...
Why Doesn’t the United States Have National Health Insurance? The Political Role of the American Medical Association
Abstract. This article examines how the American Medical Association (AMA) helped shape the development of the U.S. health insurance system in the critical
academic.oup.com
"... rigid moral rules act as a social technology: they trade efficiency for robustness, extending the reach of reputation-based cooperation."
Julien Lie-Panis@jliep.bsky.social · 4w agoWhy do societies rely on rigid moral rules? Don't lie. Keep your promises. Don't steal. We all recognize there are good reasons to make exceptions. So why are moral rules so often categorical? Our new paper proposes an answer. 🧵
There is a huge mismatch between what voting is supposed to achieve, and what it actually achieves.
Matthew Sheffield@matthew.flux.community · last mo.People don't vote on policies. They only generally know what candidates stand for. 67% of people supported the major policies of Kamala Harris. Didn't matter. Republicans have monstrously unpopular policy views (eliminate multiple depts, criminalize abortion...). It doesn't matter.
How much does a scientific claim change between the preprint and the final published paper, post peer review? LLM was used to track 72,644 bioRxiv/journal pairs from 2018-25 The primary claim was unchanged in 39.9% of papers, mildly revised in 50.0%, and substantially changed in only 10.2%.
Tracking claim changes from preprint to publication across 72,644 biomedical studies using large language models
Preprints now disseminate a large share of biomedical research before peer review. Because they have not yet passed peer review, some scientists regard preprint claims as unverified or potentially unr...
biorxiv.org
Trust in science is falling, but: - it remains high - the drop is no larger than for other institutions - the reduction is concentrated amongst the political right www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Have people stopped trusting science? The data tell a surprising story
Some say there’s a global crisis of trust — but research reveals where the real problems lie.
nature.com
Today’s 5-4 ruling is a powerful reminder that the law does not enforce itself.
Erez Yoeli@erezyoeli.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe laws are still in place, the norms have collapsed.
Seems like a good day to re-up this question.
Erez Yoeli@erezyoeli.bsky.social · last yr.Question for legal scholars: As someone who once worked for an independent agency, I appreciate the value that their independence provides. If SCOTUS decides that independent agencies are unconstitutional, what are alternatives for ensuring a more stable, apolitical civil service?
Terms of art sometimes take on a life of their own. That’s fine, but it’s useful to know how others interpret what we say.
Chris Tucker: Do You Understand?
ALT: Chris Tucker: Do You Understand?
static.klipy.com
Shane Littrell, PhD@metacognishane.bsky.social · last mo.New article is posted! In this one, I somewhat jokingly complain about how often cognitive dissonance, Dunning Kruger Effect, and gaslighting are misused online and why it irritates me. Is it all BS? Am I “gaslighting” you? Click here to find out: bullshitology.substack.com/p/thats-not-...
New WP rightly argues that externalities rooted in coordination problems (e.g., network externalities) differ from those rooted in cooperation problems (e.g., pollution), and require different solutions.
Same Same But Different Neon Sign
ALT: Same Same But Different Neon Sign
static.klipy.com
@casssunstein.bsky.social · last mo.Non-User Externalities (people are talking about how sad it would be to be among the increasingly small group of people who have not read this paper). www.nber.org/papers/w3527...
T/F/U England transitioned to coal because it had cut down all its forests. F - It was the other way around. When coal became available, they were free to clear forests for farmland!
Juan Moreno-Cruz@jmorenocruz.bsky.social · last mo.The most common theory is that England transitioned to coal because they were running out of wood. But forests were well kept and wood was in abundance. We show that the transition occurred because of a combination of technology and institutions that favour long-term investment in mining.
This is a really interesting case, illustrating quirks of our psychology, and the limits of participatory politics.
David Zipper@davidzipper.bsky.social · 2mo agoPolling for congestion pricing is always bad before a city implements it. Then it rapidly improves once residents experience faster traffic, quieter streets, and better transit service. As a European city official once told me, " “You have to make people happy against their will."
Off-topic PSA: Wonderful new recording of Rach's The Bells and Symphonic Dances. By the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and Choir, led by Karina Canellakis. Enjoy! music.apple.com/us/album/rac...
Rachmaninoff: The Bells & Symphonic Dances by Karina Canellakis, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra & Netherlands Radio Choir on Apple Music
Album · 2026 · 7 Songs
music.apple.com
A book I am particularly looking forward to: The Thinking Animal by @nicholaraihani.bsky.social www.amazon.com/Thinking-Ani...
The Thinking Animal: What Other Intelligence Reveals About Our Own
Buy The Thinking Animal: What Other Intelligence Reveals About Our Own on Amazon.com ✓ FREE SHIPPING on qualified orders
amazon.com
In some parts of the world, democracy is alive and well. apnews.com/article/sout...
Former South Korean president receives life sentence for imposing martial law in 2024
Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been sentenced to life in prison for his brief imposition of martial law to suppress the opposition.
apnews.com
Love me a good ol' religious loophole. Why do we permit such violations of the spirit of the law? Probably the answer lies with the game theoretic concept of common knowledge.
Nick Brumfield@nickjbrumfield.bsky.social · 2mo agoReligious pluralism win? Being Buddhists, the Siamese considered animal slaughter to be bad karma But they did really like meat They got around this by having Muslims run the slaughterhouses and Chinese be the pig farmers
The laws are still in place, the norms have collapsed.
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2mo agoIt remains baffling to me that we have a clear constitutional requirement that the president can't enrich himself on the job, something we had no problem enforcing strictly for hundreds of years, and then this sweaty conman came by and the nation just sorta shrugged it off.
TLDR: OMB is eliminating traditional barriers to political interference in federal grant-making.
elizabethginexi.bsky.social@elizabethginexi.bsky.social · 2mo agoSummary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule. Russell Vought is going destroy American Science. elizabethginexi.substack.com/p/summary-of...
Like Chater and Loewenstein, Leo argues that we should focus on the system, not just the individual. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
The i-Frame and the s-Frame: How Focusing on Individual-Level Solutions Has Led Behavioral Public Policy Astray
An influential line of thinking in behavioral science, to which the two authors have long subscribed, is that many of society’s most pressing problems can be ad
papers.ssrn.com
derek guy@dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2mo agoAn excerpt from Pope Leo XIV's encyclical this morning. The full text can be read here: www.vatican.va/content/leo-...
![The principle of social justice
77. For the Christian community, social justice is a concrete way of following Jesus and remaining faithful to the Gospel. In the New Testament, Jesus proclaims the “good news to the poor” ( Lk 4:18) and identifies himself with the lowly, the sick, the imprisoned and strangers (cf. Mt 25:31-46). He thus teaches us that justice is born from, and fulfilled in, fraternity, because the way we approach and relate to the least among us becomes, in concrete terms, the measure of our relationship with God and with our brothers and sisters. Justice, however, concerns not only the behavior of individuals, but also the way in which the structures of society are conceived and organized. In this regard, the Second Vatican Council reminds us that every institution is called to serve the human person and his or her dignity. [105] Social justice is, therefore, characterized by the capacity of a social, economic and political order to allow everyone — particularly the weakest — to live a truly dignified life, without leaving anyone behind.
78. The recent Magisterium has insisted that social justice begins with the least among us. Saint John Paul II spoke of a preferential option for the poor [106] that must guide both personal and societal choices, while Pope Francis denounced a “‘throw away’ culture” [107] that generates ever new forms of exclusion. From this perspective, social justice requires us to look at individuals and communities, starting with the most vulnerable: the poor, migrants, refugees, internally displaced persons, victims of violence and people living in urban or existential peripheries.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ks3gpa6ftoyaq7hmf6c4qx4c/bafkreihlkfccr3kyev3tmrw4ghr3ze53orhuxoihjlo6xch2b7uxwkrupm)
Will you do better on an exam if you study harder? Students are more likely to say yes if they have an exam looming. Suggests these beliefs are rooted not just in the truth, but also in their function (motivating us to study). Fun evidence by @georgweizsaecker.bsky.social et al. 🧵
Georg Weizsäcker@georgweizsaecker.bsky.social · 2mo agoSmart lies (to yourself)
How can news elicit the response “no shit” while pissing off the White House? This is a tell that they care not that the news be known, but that it be made common knowledge. Covered nicely in S Pinker’s latest book, “When everyone knows that everyone knows…” a.co/d/0f9zq3kW
Amazon.com
a.co
Asawin Suebsaeng@swin24.bsky.social · 2mo agoMay seem no shit Sherlock to you but worth noting us reporting this seemed to piss off the white house
Op-ed in today's NYT by @zliscow.bsky.social argues that the most effective way to tax the rich is to raise the income and capital gains tax rate on the top income brackets. www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/o...
Opinion | The Simple Answer to Taxing the Rich Is the Best Answer
nytimes.com
Solar plus storage is a big deal in places with incomplete and unreliable energy infrastructure. That Africa is manufacturing this capacity locally is doubly a big deal.
Dave Jones@cleanpowerdave.bsky.social · 3mo agoA NEW TWIST in Africa's soaring solar story: It's now manufacturing its own panels. The factories use imported Chinese cells, which are 40% of the value of panels, keeping much of the value domestically. 9 GW of cells+wafers in Mar/Apr alone🧵
