Cambridge, champion at red tape, tries to cut through some of it A less arduous permitting process is proposed to help the city, which ranks dead last nationally for construction approval....

Cambridge, champion at red tape, tries to cut through some of it

A less arduous permitting process is proposed to help the city, which ranks dead last nationally for construction approval.

cambridgeday.com

Want to see in real time what's been happening to public school enrollment in your school district? Through @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social, we've just released a school enrollment tracker for Massachusetts, allowing you to explore the data yourself. wheelockpolicycenter.org/high-quality...

Massachusetts School Enrollment Dashboard

This interactive dashboard examines the gap between the predicted and actual enrollment in Massachusetts public, private, charter, and home schools.

wheelockpolicycenter.org

Can't get any more efficient than the first sentence of this abstract. doi.org/10.1162/REST...

Want to see in real time what's been happening to public school enrollment in your school district? Through @wheelockpolicybu.bsky.social, we've just released a school enrollment tracker for Massachusetts, allowing you to explore the data yourself. wheelockpolicycenter.org/high-quality...

Massachusetts School Enrollment Dashboard

This interactive dashboard examines the gap between the predicted and actual enrollment in Massachusetts public, private, charter, and home schools.

wheelockpolicycenter.org

Forthcoming in AEJ: Applied Economics: "Education and Partisanship" by Daniel Firoozi.

Education and Partisanship

(Forthcoming Article) - Education weakens the historical link between income and partisanship across democracies, challenging classical models of political economy. Using administrative data on millions of voters exposed to discontinuities in compulsory schooling laws and college admissions in Florida and California, I show that both the extensive margin of years of high school education and the intensive margin of college selectivity can reduce Republican Party affiliation. Effects generalize across generations (1969 to present), settings, and institutions. Results are consistent with peer socialization shaping sociocultural attitudes alongside career-path mechanisms, rather than deliberate instructor-driven persuasion.

aeaweb.org

This is one of my favorite papers I've handled at JHR. Timea Molnar provides some of the most compelling evidence about the impacts of redshirting (holding kids back a year before starting kindergarten). Boys benefit substantially from this, so redshirting helps them catch up with girls.

The JHR@j-humanresources.bsky.social · last wk.

Age eligibility does not always equal #school readiness, especially for boys. @molnartl.bsky.social found that late entry for non-school-ready children narrows the high school completion #GenderGap by up to 60%, among other benefits. #AcademicRedshirting works. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

I'm quoted in this morning's @bostonglobe.com editorial about why middle school is likely the right age to begin tracking math classes. By middle grades, the range of math skills in a given cohort is too large to be taught effectively in a single class. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/03/o...

We’re proud to announce our 2026 election endorsements! * Senate, 2nd Middlesex: @burhanazeem.bsky.social * House, 26th Middlesex: @mikeconnollyma.bsky.social * House, 27th Middlesex: @benforward3.bsky.social * House, 34th Middlesex: @wilfredmbah.bsky.social somervilleyimby.org/elections/20...

2026 Election Endorsements - Somerville YIMBY

Somerville YIMBY is pleased to announce the following endorsements for Massachusetts House and Senate elections. There are multiple strong candidates in many of these contests, and these were not e…

somervilleyimby.org

This is one of my favorite papers I've handled at JHR. Timea Molnar provides some of the most compelling evidence about the impacts of redshirting (holding kids back a year before starting kindergarten). Boys benefit substantially from this, so redshirting helps them catch up with girls.

The JHR@j-humanresources.bsky.social · last wk.

Age eligibility does not always equal #school readiness, especially for boys. @molnartl.bsky.social found that late entry for non-school-ready children narrows the high school completion #GenderGap by up to 60%, among other benefits. #AcademicRedshirting works. doi.org/10.3368/jhr....

I'm quoted in this morning's @bostonglobe.com editorial about why middle school is likely the right age to begin tracking math classes. By middle grades, the range of math skills in a given cohort is too large to be taught effectively in a single class. www.bostonglobe.com/2026/08/03/o...

The United States is losing one of its most precious assets: its onetime status as the top destination for global talent. Current politicians are poisoning that well. The cost, shared by Conservative and Liberal Americans, will be incalculable and permanent.

Immigration changes are driving foreign researchers to leave the U.S. — or not come to begin with

Labs are seeing fewer applications from international students and researchers, and some doctoral students are considering leaving early.

statnews.com

How often do NBER Summer Institute organizers put their own papers on the program? open.substack.com/pub/jasonmfl...

How often do NBER Summer Institute organizers put their own papers on the program?

Peter Hull asked, so...

open.substack.com

Guys I’m having a week. Tomorrow come see me present “The effects of charter schools on economic mobility” at the Labor/Ed NBER SI session at 3:50pm ET. (In-person only)

More evidence that Ivy League athletics contribute to intergenerational class reproduction Not only is it a way to get your kid into an Ivy--it's also a way to get them their first job

James S. Murphy@jamessmurphy.bsky.social · last wk.

Lets hear it for the meritocracy! If you think this is bad, don't forget that athletics is one of the three big reasons that the 1% is so overrepresented at elite institutions.

Writing a paper introduction is more art than science, but a good formula gets you most of the way there. Today's blog post: a paragraph-by-paragraph template that is used pretty commonly, plus the mistakes I see most often. 🧵 #EconSky deryugina.com/a-two-for-on...

If we enacted a 2 cent sales tax across the MBTA service region, paid by everyone who benefits from the system, it would raise billions for transit every single year. This program would also bypass the annual funding fight in the State House, which stymies any ambitious transit project.

2 cents could raise billions for the T.

If we enacted a 2 cent sales tax across the MBTA service region, paid by everyone who benefits from the system, it would raise billions for transit every sin...

youtube.com

Your annual reminder that the Packers’ CEO is named ED POLICY which sounds like a fake adult name a child made up

Aaron Nagler@aaronnagler.bsky.social · last wk.

Ed Policy saying “We are not selling the naming rights to Lambeau Field.” got the biggest cheer of the day at the annual Shareholders Meeting.

One of my deep frustrations with US K12 education is that we typically don't teach a second language until secondary school. This is backwards. Kids pick up languages so quickly when they are young. I'd gladly exchange 6 years of secondary language classes for 6 years of elementary. I'd prefer 12.

Michael Petrilli@michaelpetrilli.bsky.social · last wk.

U.S. high schools should stop pretending to teach foreign languages Consider: Less than 1 percent of Americans became fluent in a 2nd language in school. Going through the motions contributes to the "bull-shittification" of the U.S. high school. schooledbymikepetrilli.substack.com/p/us-high-sc...

Newly arrived immigrants enrolling in Massachusetts public high schools fell by nearly 20 percent within the first few months of President Trump taking office last year, according to a report released Tuesday.

New immigrant student enrollment plunges 20 percent in Mass. high schools, report says - The Boston Globe

The drop — fueled by Trump’s aggressive actions to curb immigration — reversed a surge in immigrant students arriving in districts statewide since the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report by Brown University’s Annenberg Institute.

trib.al

Hoping to see some of you at the NBER Summer Institute Gender in the Economy meeting tomorrow. I'll be presenting "The Consequences of Faculty Misconduct" (coauthored with Katie Leu) at 1pm ET. www.nber.org/conferences/...

SI 2026 Gender in the Economy

nber.org

Ruin a book by adding a word: The Da Vinci Codebook

Block Me Amadeus@blockmeamadeus.bsky.social · 2w ago

Ruin a book by adding a word: Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret Thatcher

Ruin a book by adding a word: The Da Vinci Codebook

Block Me Amadeus@blockmeamadeus.bsky.social · 2w ago

Ruin a book by adding a word: Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret Thatcher

Everything you've ever wanted to know about AI and research github.com/paulgp/nber_... Video will be posted I believe.

Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham@paulgp.com · 2w ago

I will be presenting in the NBER Household Finance Summer Institute session this Friday at 1pm on "Using AI in Household Finance Research: A Practical Guide." www.nber.org/conferences/...

Over the past ten years, the housing movement has grown from a small number of people into a national collective pushing change across the country: Maryland, Arizona, Cambridge, California, and now the halls of Congress. On August 4, the people behind those wins are coming together on one call.

Hong Wang, who proved the three-dimensional Kakeya set conjecture, has just won the Fields Medal, making her the third woman in the award’s 90-year history to receive math’s highest honor. Read our profile: www.quantamagazine.org/hong-wang-wi...

Hong Wang Wins 2026 Fields Medal, the Third Woman Ever | Quanta Magazine

Focus, commitment, and insight resulted in a “once in a century” proof. Hong Wang is now just the third woman to win a Fields Medal.

quantamagazine.org

Every four years, the math world’s preeminent awards are given to the finest minds of a generation. The young Fields and Abacus Medal winners — all under 40 on the first day of the year — have reshaped mathematics and theoretical computer science. Here are the #ICM2026 winners:

I talked about 100 years of the SAT for the @harvard.edu Gazette. I hope my "five-legged stool" analogy helps folks to keep our use of admissions test scores in perspective. Also, yes, my chair is named for that guy. news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

A century of the SAT — Harvard Gazette

How the test of college readiness has changed with trends in U.S. education policy over the past 100 years.

news.harvard.edu

Really helpful summary of how public school spending: has evolved over time, varies betweens states and student groups, and does not all flow to teacher salaries (particularly in recent years).

Chad Aldeman@chadaldeman.bsky.social · 2w ago

One. Trillion. Dollars. Read my latest piece @the74.bsky.social on where that money is going --> www.the74million.org/article/amer...

Fewer men are teaching, coaching, and volunteering than a generation ago, so more boys are growing up without different kinds of male role models. I introduced two bills to help fix that — recruiting more men into classrooms and other kinds of service to strengthen communities.

Some good news even though the damage has been done & many of us lost funding due to these illegal actions. ‘A federal judge ruled Friday that federal officials can’t cancel existing grants simply because they don’t align with new government priorities’

Trump officials can’t revoke grants due to new agency goals, judge rules

The ruling scores a win for a group of 21 attorneys general and three governors who sued over the Trump administration’s approach to grant terminations.

highereddive.com