Michael Makowsky News Today

What's actually going on at Columbia University?

Plus: Supreme Court takes up ghost guns, Abbott takes on trans teachers, the literalism of Civil War, and more...

This week's links include lots of upcoming conferences, the Economist on emerging uses for AI in developing countries, how Hot Wheels gives a window into global manufacturing changes, and more...

Small towns in much of the country are dangerously dependent on punitive fines and fees.

This week's links include fertility rates in Namibia after pension reform, summer internships, adaptive surveys, and more...

Weekly links June 4: summer learning, how space constraints make papers longer, aid targets the easy to reach, and more… ·       The Master Schedule for the NBER Summer institute is now up. Looks like it is all on zoom, so a chance to potentially attend sessions that you might not otherwise do so. The Development and Productivity session is on July 21; the Development sessions are July 26-27;  and the Labor Studies sessions also look really interesting. One noticeable thing when brows...

Dear Capitolisters, In the pantheon of right‐​leaning economists, there’s a front row seat for Stanford’s Thomas Sowell. For those of you who don’t know Dr. Sowell, who turned a spry 90 last year and is still going strong, I recommend this recent tribute to some of his most important work, as well as this brand new documentary on his life. For me, two specific Sowell quotes stand out when thinking about public policy and the intersection of politics and economics: When evalua...