My three favourite papers on the political economy of zero-sum politics (aside from the well-known Chinoy et al. paper). 1. @snageebali.bsky.social, Maximilian Mihm, and Lucas Siga. 2025. ‘The Political Economy of Zero-Sum Thinking’. Econometrica 93(1): 41–70. t.co/LoCepP3L1L

An inspiring and lovely read: www.sfu.ca/economics/co...

Congratulations Arthur Robson!

Professor Arthur Robson retires from SFU after nearly 25 years and wins Lifetime Achievement Award for his innovative research into the biological basis of economics.

sfu.ca

Come join us at Penn State Econ for the Midwest Trade & Theory Conference in mid-November. Submission deadline is September 6. Details here: sites.google.com/view/midwest...

New paper! Strategic Complexity Promotes Egalitarianism in Legislative Bargaining, with Marina Agranov, Doug Bernheim, and Tom Palfrey The paper shows theoretically and experimentally that egalitarianism can be a strategic response to complex bargaining situations. sites.psu.edu/nageebali/fi...

Cookie banner design matters for privacy choices, but browser-level settings improve welfare far more than better banners or defaults, from Chiara Farronato, Andrey Fradkin, and Tesary Lin https://www.nber.org/papers/w34025

You can trust a theorist to write a self-referential ChatGPT acknowledgement.

Forthcoming in the AER: "Robustness Measures for Welfare Analysis" by Zi Yang Kang and Shoshana Vasserman. www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=...

Robustness Measures for Welfare Analysis

(Forthcoming Article) - Economists routinely make functional form assumptions on demand curves to derive welfare conclusions. How sensitive are these conclusions to such assumptions? In this paper, we...

aeaweb.org

Exciting!

Systemic Discrimination: Theory and Measurement*

Abstract. Economists often measure discrimination as disparities arising from the direct effects of group identity. We develop new tools to model and measu

academic.oup.com

We are sad to announce that former faculty member and Minnesota Econ Ph.D. alum Patrick Bajari passed away on Monday. cla.umn.edu/economics/ne...

Remembering Patrick L. Bajari (1969-2025)

Patrick L. Bajari was a pioneer spanning the academic and business worlds.

cla.umn.edu

It was a fantastic conference and an excellent way to remember an economist who left us too early

VSET Virtual Seminars in Economic Theory@vset.bsky.social · last yr.

Last week, we had a wonderful time in Madrid at the Makris Symposium in Economic Theory (MSET2025). Many thanks to all our speakers for their excellent talks. More photos now available on our website: sites.google.com/view/mset-wo... @snageebali.bsky.social

Having worked with Sunil Kumar while he was provost here at Johns Hopkins, I am not surprised that he’s showing this kind of leadership as Tufts president. An example to be followed.

Marty Lederman@martylederman.bsky.social · last yr.

Note to Columbia University: This is how you do it. www.tufts.edu/president/sp...

Time to work on the follow-up paper, “The Political Economy of Zero Thinking”

I’m at UNC for the Triangle Microeconomics Conference and look whose picture is right next to my hotel room!

I am profoundly saddened and alarmed by Columbia University and Paul Weiss law firm’s capitulation to the increasingly dictatorial Trump administration.

@austinkocher.com: In one of his most dangerous orders so far, Trump instructed the DHS and the DOJ to use "professional ethics" as a mechanism for silencing lawyers who challenge him in court or represent immigrants. austinkocher.substack.com/p/trump-decl...

Trump Declares War on Immigration Attorneys

In one of his most dangerous moves so far, Trump instructed the DHS and the DOJ to use "professional ethics" as a mechanism for silencing lawyers who challenge him in court or represent immigrants.

austinkocher.substack.com

www.aclu.org/news/free-sp...

A Statement from Constitutional Law Scholars on Columbia | ACLU

The government may not threaten funding cuts as a tool to pressure recipients into suppressing First Amendment–protected speech.

aclu.org

Ordered. Let’s get the Streisand effect going.

Dani Rodrik@drodrik.bsky.social · last yr.

This is the link in case the previous one doesn’t work www.bbc.com/news/article...

My UCSB econ colleague Ryan Oprea posts a response to critiques of his "Decisions under Risk Are Decisions under Complexity" AER paper. #econsky

🧪The entire staff of the Department of Education’s NCES-a vital independent statistical agency - has just been RIFed. The continued erasure of data and evidence allows for the Trump administration to hide the impact of their corruption. #EduSky #Scisky @aeraedresearch.bsky.social @cossa.bsky.social

I found this to be an inspirational read and an impressive call-to-action during these dark times. www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

Read Sen. Elissa Slotkin's full Democratic response to Trump's joint address to Congress

Slotkin, a first-term senator from Michigan, spoke for about 11 minutes.

pbs.org

This is exactly what the paper should be reporting! This aid was determined by a law last year. It is not discretionary, and withholding such funds was the reason for Trump’s first impeachment. He is very much breaking the law, and it’s being reported as if it’s up to his judgment.

If one person gives a euro to Ukraine, the result is €1. If two people give 2 each, it is €4. If 3,000 give 3,000 each, it is 9 million. Let’s coordinate, here 👇 and please re-post to spread the word. yourcontributionsquared.eu/en/

We have just advertised a one-year postdoc in Oxford for anyone interested in economic theory and especially market design: econjobmarket.org/positions/11.... Feel free to reach out for more info! Applications from folks on the current job market and those planning to go next year are welcome!

Maryam's speech is NOT to be missed. Her story (and courage) is completely inspiring!!! (As my sister said at the ceremony, "Well, aren't you glad you didn't have to follow her!")

CSWEP@aeacswep.bsky.social · 2y ago

Be sure to watch the congratulatory video and Maryam Farboodi's presentation for the Elaine Bennett Research Prize: www.aeaweb.org/about-aea/co...

Good to see "Robust Monopoly Regulation" by Yingni Guo and Eran Shmaya published. It has sentimental value to us because this was the first VSET presentation with a dedicated poster! Back in 2020, scroll through: sites.google.com/view/vset/pa...

AEA Journals@aeajournals.bsky.social · 2y ago

The February 2025 issue of the American Economic Review (115, 2) is now available online at aeaweb.org/issues/791.

It's not often that a theory paper piques my interest these days*, but this by @snageebali.bsky.social and coauthors, on the logic behind zero-sum thinking by voters, is just brilliant -- and so relevant and urgent! www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

My op-ed: "Colleges and universities ... seem to be hoping that their muted responses — and affirmative acquiescence — will spare them. ...This sort of acquiescence will not only fail to protect institutions, but will expose all of us to further repression." stanforddaily.com/2025/01/28/f...

Every few weeks, Johan Fourie and Jonathan Schoots host a stimulating discussion on his Our Long Walk podcast. I was fortunate to join recently, where we talked about culture — covering topics from pastoralism in Africa to zero-sum thinking around the world and its connection with U.S. politics.

Johan Fourie@johanfourieza.bsky.social · 2y ago

How should economists think about culture? In episode 7 of the Our Long Walk podcast, Jonathan and I interview @nathannunn.bsky.social about why culture matters, zero versus positive-sum thinking (in the US elections), and why economists should study Africa…

Can’t help but think that part of the US media’s unwillingness to straightforwardly describe Elon Musk’s behavior is fear of having someone with unlimited resources come after them. That in itself illustrates the problem with the concentration of money and power in the hands of connected oligarchs.

Jeff (Gutenberg Parenthesis) Jarvis@jeffjarvis.bsky.social · 2y ago

Big Brother Musk tells Germans there is "too much focus on past guilt" and they should put it behind them. Elon Musk ruft bei AfD-Veranstaltung zu Nationalstolz auf www.zeit.de/politik/deut...

Why fund highly novel research? It can improve the evolution of knowledge by guiding future researchers. We propose a model in which researchers decide which questions to address and at what intensity to search for the answer based on existing knowledge. https://buff.ly/3Pxv5uk