Do you have kids? Might college be a part of their future? As someone who tends to overthink and underact on parenting decisions, this write-up (and the underlying research) really hit home. money.com/saving-for-c...

Why You’re Sabotaging Your Child’s College Fund — Even When You Can Afford It

Many parents underestimate their 529 savings impact despite potential for college costs.

money.com

Providing the first large-scale analysis of College Saving Accounts participation and effectiveness, from Guglielmo Briscese, John A. List, and Sabrina Liu https://www.nber.org/papers/w34126

We find that financial literacy emerges as a key barrier: 61% of parents who could save enough to cover half of college costs still perceive potential savings as fruitless. Overall, targeted financial literacy interventions can expand CSA effectiveness considerably. ideas.repec.org/p/feb/artefa...

Navigating the College Affordability Crisis: Insights from C

With higher education costs consistently outpacing inflation and public funding declining, college affordability has become a critical barrier to economic mobility for middle- and low-income families.

ideas.repec.org

**NEW PAPER ALERT** When you have kids or believe that higher education is a critical tool for social mobility, college affordability is top of mind. College Savings Accounts offer a promising tool for financing higher education. We combine several data sources to explore key issues.

We are excited to join Bluesky! J-PAL North America is a regional office of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, based at MIT, seeking to reduce poverty by ensuring policy is informed by scientific evidence. www.povertyactionlab.org/na

Our next Chicago School in Experimental Economics summer programs are coming! One will take place at the University of Bonn on September 7-11, and the other will take place at the University of Chicago on September 13-17. For more details please see here: voices.uchicago.edu/jlist/the-ch...

"To enhance the employment potential of AI and minimize its negative effects on workers, broad-based access to high-quality education, together with training programs and active labor-market policies, will be crucial." www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/a...

What AI Means for Growth and Jobs | by Philippe Aghion, Simon Bunel and Xavier Jaravel - Project Syndicate

Philippe Aghion, Simon Bunel and Xavier Jaravel think the technology has great potential to boost productivity without harming employment.

project-syndicate.org

Hope this ongoing work can contribute to the discussion on the demand and supply side of how Econ research can (and can't!) influence policymaking #Econsky @bencasselman.bsky.social

NBER@nber.org · 2y ago

How policymakers and the US population update their beliefs on the use of science and the trust they have in government following a field experiment that demonstrated the ineffectiveness of a policy intervention, from Guglielmo Briscese and John A. List https://www.nber.org/papers/w33239

How policymakers and the US population update their beliefs on the use of science and the trust they have in government following a field experiment that demonstrated the ineffectiveness of a policy intervention, from Guglielmo Briscese and John A. List https://www.nber.org/papers/w33239

Great piece @bencasselman.bsky.social! I think another issue is irrelevance. Journal gatekeeping has made econ insular, pushing young economists toward 'what Editor X likes' instead of bold, innovative work policymakers value—leaving institutional Econ advisors with a limited set of ideas #EconSky

Ben Casselman@bencasselman.bsky.social · 2y ago

Economists are in the wilderness. Politicians and the public have rejected their advice on everything from trade to climate change. They held comparatively little sway under Biden, and stand to hold less under Trump. Can they find their way back to influence? #EconSky www.nytimes.com/2025/01/10/b...

Highly relevant given this recent evidence about the political economy of experiments @gubri.bsky.social @johnlist.bsky.social: bsky.app/profile/john...

John A. List@johnlist.bsky.social · 2y ago

Our political economy of field experiments study has just been released by the @nberpubs.bsky.social! Written with @gubri.bsky.social, who is brilliant and on the market this year!

How do we overcome political hurdles to learning from experimentation #EconTwitter? The practice below from the private sector seems promising: pre-plan a positive course of action for each possible experimental result 👇

Cat Hicks@grimalkina.bsky.social · 2y ago

...+ setting up a compelling case for each outcome, such that people feel structurally aligned with either, and have commitment to changing the causal story if A, or if B. It's fun work but only possible when folks really genuinely know they want help digging out of the trap of confirmation bias

Why do people distrust government agencies, even when they provide vital info (e.g., health, environment)? Can low-cost interventions restore trust & promote welfare-enhancing behaviors? Our study provides novel experimental evidence on these key questions (1/5) 👇 #EconSky

Happy to participate to this very timely session at #ASSA2025 on political polarisation and trust #econsky

Guglielmo Briscese@gubri.bsky.social · 2y ago

Excited for #ASSA2025! Don’t miss our panel on the growing experimental work at the intersection of political economy and behavioral economics: www.aeaweb.org/conference/2... #econsky

ChatGPT 4o didn't know how to solve this puzzle. Can you? #EconSky

Excited for #ASSA2025! Don’t miss our panel on the growing experimental work at the intersection of political economy and behavioral economics: www.aeaweb.org/conference/2... #econsky

#EconSky where can I find publicly available longitudinal survey data on US firms? Any sample or industry is fine.

Our political economy of field experiments study has just been released by the @nberpubs.bsky.social! Written with @gubri.bsky.social, who is brilliant and on the market this year!

NBER@nber.org · 2y ago

How policymakers and the US population update their beliefs on the use of science and the trust they have in government following a field experiment that demonstrated the ineffectiveness of a policy intervention, from Guglielmo Briscese and John A. List https://www.nber.org/papers/w33239

The academic job market can be very stressful. If you're struggling to cope or just need someone to talk to or vent your frustrations, feel free to reach out - shared pain is half the pain. You're not alone in this. #EconJMP #EconSky

Just confirming: it is not ok (or cool) in our profession to ignore papers that relate clearly to ours, even if they are working papers. There is some weird trend going on lately…

A lot of talent is wasted in a world where more than half of laureates come from households in the richest 5%

The science behind winning a Nobel Prize? Being a man from a wealthy family | Torsten Bell

A lot of talent is wasted in a world where more than half of laureates come from households in the richest 5%

theguardian.com

Happy to see that John List has finally joined #EconSky! :) (Honored that our paper is his very first post) 🙏

John A. List@johnlist.bsky.social · 2y ago

Field Experiments have matured from academic curiosity to bona fide contributor to knowledge in the past few decades. Yet, the political economy of their deployment in government remains ill-understood. We provide insights in a new working paper, available here: ideas.repec.org/p/feb/natura...

#eeac Day 4: @gubri.bsky.social JMP "Targeting Behavioral Change Interventions: An Experiment on Debiasing Savings for College" demonstrates the importance of theory-driven identification of behavioral barriers and subsequent personalized interventions targeting specific barriers. #econsky #econjmp

Do citizens trust their governments more if they are committed to evidence-based policymaking? What happens when evaluation results disappoint? In this new WP, we explore how policymakers & the public react to unexpected evidence: drive.google.com/file/d/13SmS... Comments welcome! #EconSky

Wife: "What's that app with a blue butterfly?!" Me: "Oh, it's like a new Twitter, that's what all the economists are using right now. Basically..." Wife: *Rolls eyes and walks away* 🤣

Dear Recruiters on the #EconJobMarket: if you are using Interfolio and a profile of an applicant has some missing documents -this might be due to a recent glitch in the Interfolio system -so please double-check with Interfolio and the applicant before excluding someone bec of missing files. #EconSky

@gubri.bsky.social reported a field experiment that - Corrected parents’ underestimation of #college tuition - Increased their savings balance Caveat: there was a backfire effect (that I failed to photograph). Dr. Briscese and co-authored paper are on gScholar: scholar.google.com/citations?vi...

Looking forward to presenting my JMP at #SJDM conference on Saturday. Come say hi!

Looking forward to presenting at #2024APPAM this Friday afternoon! I'd love to meet other researchers interested in policy experimentation, college savings, or trust in government.

I'm on the job market! My #EconJMP provides novel experimental evidence on the importance of addressing asymmetric information before scaling behavioral change interventions. This is part of my research on human capital investments and evidence-based policymaking: www.guglielmobriscese.com