Holiday read: www.ias.edu/ideas/useful...

The Usefulness of Useless Knowledge

Is it not a curious fact that in a world steeped in irrational hatreds which threaten civilization itself, men and women—old and young—detach themselves wholly or partly from the angry current of dail...

ias.edu

At an econ conference

Weiterhin bereue ich nach wie vor am meisten, dass ich mein Bachelor nicht um ein Jahr verlängert habe, um etwas Philosophie und Mathematik zu studieren.

Victor Loxen@victorloxen.bsky.social · 2mo ago

After completing my first year at Princeton, I am visiting @dynamics.bsky.social for the summer. Let's grab a coffee if you're in town. I'm in Berlin until the end of August.

🚨 Just shipped a major update to GERDA, the German Election Database. - State elections update: new years + mail-in - 3 new election types: Mayoral, County, European - Municipal elections: 1984-2025 - Meinungsbild public opinion - New website & features german-elections.com

Another weekend where my Strava feed is filled with race results from three different half-marathons across Europe. I am getting old…

I never met Leo, but many friends took his classes and worked for him. He must have been an amazing guy. Rest in peace and stay safe 🕊️ www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/polwiss/fors...

I harassed Julius to do this, so blame me if you don't like this

Julius Kölzer@juliusk.bsky.social · 5mo ago

I was asked to run some horse-race regressions with all covariates included (which is not always the best idea and very sensible), but here they are. The estimates for the Greens look fairly unremarkable, apart from the share of employees with tertiary education.

On Sunday, one of Germany’s largest states went to the polls in a closely contested election. What can we learn from the results & how do they relate to looming deindustrialization in one of Germany’s industrial heartlands? A thread with some decriptive patterns from data on 1,101 municipalities. 🧵

Tom Nuttall@tomnuttall.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Baden-Württemberg is not about to become one giant Detroit. But ahead of what looks like a nail-biting election on Sunday, The Länd is certainly consumed with economic anxiety. My report from Stuttgart and Hohenlohe. www.economist.com/europe/2026/...

I am once again asking you to read Marshall (2022) before running a close-election RDD onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

American Journal of Political Science | MPSA Journal | Wiley Online Library

Politician characteristic regression discontinuity (PCRD) designs leveraging close elections are widely used to isolate effects of an elected politician characteristic on downstream outcomes. Unlike ....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

brat?

🇰🇮 🇸🇲 🇱🇨@tgrdebate.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Am 11. März (19:30 Uhr) präsentieren @tbiebricher.bsky.social und der Herausgeber im Gespräch mit @sebfriedrich.bsky.social und @nschniederjann.bsky.social den Band OBEN RECHTS @suhrkamp.de im Literaturforum im Berliner Brecht-Haus: lfbrecht.de/event/oben-r...

What are peoples takes on this discourse? I'd be especially curious to hear the opinions of other early career researchers. causalinf.substack.com/p/claude-cod...

Claude Code 17: The Zero Profit Condition Is Coming

Substack reasoning about who the new equilibrium

causalinf.substack.com

Ich hab vor ein zweieinhalb Jahren mit zwei geschätzten Mitstips beim ehml. BMBF via @fragdenstaat.de Daten zur Soziologie der Begabtenförderung angefragt. Wir freuen uns, dass die SZ nun einen kleinen Artikel darüber geschrieben hat. www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/s...

Studieren mit Stipendium: Mehrheit hätte keinen Anspruch auf Bafög

Wer bekommt während seines Studiums Geld über ein Stipendium? Es sind oft diejenigen, die eigentlich schon finanziell gut aufgestellt sind

sueddeutsche.de

Der Faschismus arbeitet übrigens auch damit, dass seine Gegner glauben er ist übermächtig und unbesiegbar. Glaubt das nicht. Sie sind es nicht.

Picked up a copy of Abundance. Any well-argued critiques from credible voices? I'd like a solid counterpoint to go with it.

Itai Sher@itaisher.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Agree. Do a Bluesky search on Ezra Klein. The outcome is ridiculous. It’s fine not to like him, but the reaction is disproportionate. To me it seems to point to unhealthy boundary policing.

Ulf @buermeyer.de scheint der einige Journalist zu sein, der den Unterschied zwischen Korrelation und Kausalität versteht open.spotify.com/episode/3kvI...

Jahresrückblick 2025 - Bröckelnde Gewissheiten

open.spotify.com

Has anyone written about the market for ESG certificates being a market for lemons or is that sort of a trivial observation?

Interesting slate of PE papers out this week in the JEEA: "Tax Professionals and Tax Evasion" Battaglini et al. doi.org/10.1093/jeea... "The Common Good and Voter Polarization" Kendall/Matsusaka doi.org/10.1093/jeea... "The Animal-Welfare Levy" Espinosa/Treich doi.org/10.1093/jeea...

Why is Gatwick such an elite airport?

Start by writing down a mode and then specify the identifying variation needed to recover its parameters. Design your survey, experiment, or empirical strategy to target the substantively meaningful theoretical object. The world is not filled with ATE Pokémon to collect.

Very interesting taz.de/Wie-die-USA-...

Wie die USA Rudi Dutschke beobachteten: Die Akte „Red Rudi“

Von 1967 an spähte das FBI Studentenführer Rudi Dutschke aus, um seine Übersiedlung in die USA zu verhindern. Nun sind die Akten teils öffentlich.

taz.de

Zohran Mamdani won with 50.4%. Eric Adams won in 2021 with 67%. Bill de Blasio won in 2017 with 66%

C🅰️S Ⓜ️UDDE@casmudde.bsky.social · 9mo ago

The far-right and its centrist enablers are grossly overestimating the resistance to a Mamdani-type candidate in the 2026 Midterms. Their Trump Stockholm Syndrome prevents them from seeing how unpopular he is. Most people will accept almost any alternative to the current GOP!

The satisfaction of scribbling a little square under a proof that took you way too long to understand makes it all worth it.

Events such as these are what motivates me to pursue an academic career. Thanks to @fabioellger.bsky.social @hannohilbig.bsky.social @wzbdemocracy.bsky.social for hosting us & to all participants for constructive feedback on @antonkoenneke.de & my paper, and the great vibes. C u ➡ summer!

Fabio Ellger@fabioellger.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Excited to host the 4th iteration of the Transformations of Democracy Junior Scholars Workshop at WZB Berlin together with Hanno Hilbig! Amazing talks & exchanges with colleagues from Princeton, Harvard, UC Davis, Toulouse School of Economics, Copenhagen, Humboldt, Chemnitz, EUI, and beyond..

I'll try this again: What is the most important paper in political econ (broadly defined) published in the last two years that I should read?

Felix@wortmanncallejon.de · last yr.

I'll be on vacation next week so I have plenty of time to read. What is the most important paper in political econ (broadly defined) published in the last two years that I should read? Self-promotions welcomed!

Personal news: I am happy to share that I will be starting a PhD in the joint @dynamics.bsky.social doctoral program of the @humboldtuni.bsky.social and the @hertieschool.bsky.social this autumn in Berlin. I will now briefly thank some people who have supported me over the past few years 🧵.

📄 Whose expert knowledge informs policymaking around the world? @rsenninger.bsky.social and I analyze data from 1.2 million government policy documents from 185 countries—and find a prominent pattern: 🌍 Policy evidence is overwhelmingly sourced from the Global North. Preprint: osf.io/w8q3y 🧪🧵👇

Reminder that earlier naturalization leads to better integration of immigrants. Extending the period necessary for settlement in the UK will have exactly the opposite effect of what Starmer and the Labour leadership claim. "Migrants first have to prove themselves" is a nativist trope and bad policy.

Nice visual of the spatial dynamics of the recent German federal election. Obv not the whole story but this makes it really obvious how the left was so successful.

Lisa Zehnter@tiondelisa.bsky.social · last yr.

"Noch weiter links?" Die SPD hat sich mit ihrem Wahlprogramm 2025 sowohl sozio-kulturell als auch sozio-ökonomisch deutlich weiter rechts als vor vier Jahren positioniert.

@jacobedenhofer.bsky.social is the batsignal for sharp thinking on any political issue.

Jacob Edenhofer @jacobedenhofer.bsky.social · last yr.

Not sure -- let me list some that come to mind immediately, though I am not sure these are the most pertinent. Question 4 to 6 strike me as the most relevant and most difficult to answer. bsky.app/profile/jaco...