iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Journal of Public Economics @jpube.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

What’s hot in public econ? Here are some of the most popular @jpube.bsky.social papers from the past 90 days. Free to read: www.sciencedirect.com/journal/jour...

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 05/05/2025

25 First Dates Slumdog Half-millionaire Three-and-a-half Pounds Vicky or Cristina Barcelona

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 05/05/2025

That really does ruin it. Especially the 0.5.

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 02/05/2025

What do you think of this exercise as a commentary on whether the methods are trustworthy, rather than on the truth of the implied conclusion? (This reminds me a bit of the height tax paper and its authors’ differing interpretations of it.)

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 21/03/2025

Watching March Madness, it sure feels like this would be a good venue for an ad campaign from universities about how America’s higher ed system is one of its greatest strengths.

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Esteban Ortiz-Ospina @eortizospina.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Ever start taking a screenshot on Mac (Cmd-Shift-4), then panic because you anchored in the wrong place? Hit Spacebar—you can reposition the selection anywhere. I repost this every now and then to pay it forward. Changed my life when I found out 😄

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Adam Grant @adamgrant.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

You shouldn’t finish every book you start. Abandoning a book is not an admission of failure—it’s a sign of wisdom. You’ve decided to let go of sunk costs. The purpose of reading is to be entertained and informed. If a book doesn't bring joy or insight, it’s time to move on.

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 13/03/2025

Direct File’s future is in doubt as this administration evaluates whether the renew it. I hope they do. Taxpayers say it makes filing easier and more efficient. If the administration allows the program to scale up, it will get credit for that improvement. (Not to mention the boost to GDP.)

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 13/03/2025

Some say that the free filing options from private sources, like TurboTax, are enough. But this is one area where government is well placed to be more efficient—it has the information necessary to pre-fill tax returns. There’s a reason other countries do this in-house.

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 13/03/2025

Direct File has been a big step toward making tax filing easier and more efficient. It has started small, with 12 states in 2024, and has expanded in scale (up to 25 states this year) and scope (supporting more tax situations, with plans to have more pre-filled information).

gao.gov

Direct File: IRS Successfully Piloted Online Tax Filing but Opportunities Exist to Expand Access

IRS is offering a new, free service to help taxpayers prepare and file tax returns electronically. It piloted Direct File in 2024 for taxpayers with...

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 13/03/2025

In contrast, the average American spends an estimated $210 and 11 hours to file their 1040 personal income tax return. Those are real costs—that time could be spent producing real goods and contributing to GDP. www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prio...

Table showing the time and money burden of tax filing for Americans

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 13/03/2025

Americans are often jealous (or incredulous) to find out that in many other countries it is trivially easy to file taxes—you receive a form pre-filled with info the government already knows about your tax situation. Denmark adopted this in the 1980s, and by 2020 most OECD countries had as well.

taxpolicycenter.org

What are prepopulated tax returns?

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 13/03/2025

A bright spot in recent tax policy has been the success of the IRS's in-house Direct File program, which allows many taxpayers to file taxes for free online through a simple interface, even on their phones. Let me tell you why I think so, and why Direct File’s future is at a crossroads. #EconSky

apnews.com

A government program made tax filing free and more efficient. Musk and DOGE may get rid of it anyway

The fate of the IRS Direct File program is unclear as Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency cleave their way through the federal bureaucracy. Republicans and commercial tax preparation...

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 11/03/2025

Congestion pricing targets even more externalities than I realized. From the Jan. 5 start of congestion pricing to March 6, complaints about honking were down 69% relative to last year (via NYC's 311 portal).

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 06/03/2025

Great piece on the mechanics of achieving PA’s recent success in promoting reform. “The visibility of the initiative also encouraged a sense of competition among cabinet officials. The mantra of “moving at the speed of business” was widely adopted among those working with the governor.”

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Sandy Black @econsandy.bsky.social · 07/01/2025

Ok, following on that last thread, here are my suggestions about how to be a good mentor (though this is still a work in progress!) (And others should feel free to add to my list!) A🧵

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 20/12/2024

Another thing I made this year: Real and implied birds.

A six-panel cartoon titled "real and implied birds". In the two panels in the top row, there's a rough legged-hawk sailing through the sky, next to a smooth legged hawk, which has smooth human legs. In the second row, there's a great-crested flycatcher looking dapper, next to an ok-crested flycatcher that has just a slightly less nice crest. In the third row, there's a mountain chickadee standing up on stones, next to a valley chickadee peeking out from a dip between stones. In the fourth row, there's a least bittern standing in some reeds, next to a most bittern that is enormous and stomping through a city, with people running in fear, helicopters overhead, and an overturned car on fire.

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Stefanie Stantcheva @s-stantcheva.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Zero-sum thinking is a key mindset that shapes how we view the world. A little thread to highlight our work on its roots with @sahilchinoy.bsky.social, @nathannunn.bsky.social, Sandra Sequeira.🧵1/23 scholar.harvard.edu/files/stantc...

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

An incredible photo posted today by French President Emmanuel Macron. The floor of Notre Dame Cathedral is filled with the workers involved in the 5 year project to restore the building following the devastating fire in 2019. 1/2

Hundreds of workers, some in high viz vests, cover the floor of Notre Dame cathedral with a photo taken from above, looking down the length of the restored building.

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Florian Scheuer @florianscheuer.bsky.social · 29/11/2024

Submit your papers to the next @cepr.org Public Economics Annual Symposium, taking place in Cologne on June 5-6, 2025. Co-organized with @sigginho.bsky.social and Johannes Spinnewijn, keynotes by Cecile Gaubert and @omzidar.bsky.social! cepr.org/events/cepr-...

cepr.org

CEPR Public Economics Annual Symposium 2025

PDF document / 207.07 KB

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 28/11/2024

Am I the only one longingly googling “bluesky app tapbots” [date filter = last 2 weeks] on a regular basis?

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Neale Mahoney @nealemahoney.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

Why 🦃s are named after 🇹🇷. Fascinating! www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/whe...

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 28/11/2024

I like the urgency and thrill story. Not sure I believe discounts are simpler than stable prices. I can also believe this is highly heterogeneous—Johnson’s strategy came from his success at Apple retail, which has stable prices, but it fared terribly at JCP.

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 28/11/2024

Could be, but my understanding of the JC Penney experience was that Johnson replaced time-varying prices and coupons with stable prices, and they lost market share overall. If people hate complexity, that might predict market share would have increased?

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 28/11/2024

Love this agenda. @ivanwerning.bsky.social: re discounting, Ryan has another paper suggesting hyperbolic discounting arises even without temporal delays. Here too, I’m interested in what hinges on whether it “looks” blue or is “actually” blue.

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 27/11/2024

Agree, fantastic paper. I strongly agree with point (2) here—if it looks like risk from a distance, it might induce behavior evolved to handle risk. Relatedly…

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 27/11/2024

Agree, fantastic paper. I strongly agree with point (2) here—if it looks like risk from a distance, it might induce behavior evolved to handle risk. Relatedly…

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Journal of Public Economics @jpube.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

We've created a starter pack for all of the economics journals on Bluesky. Please nominate other journals to join the list. go.bsky.app/4kR21vX

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Arpit Gupta @arpitrage.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Office conversions taking off: • 63 conversion projects in 2023 • 73 completed this year • 309 planned or under way, 3/4 office -> resi • 38k units in works • half of $1.12b in Manhattan office purchases were for conversions • 12% of Cleveland office space is converting www.wsj.com/real-estate/...

wsj.com

Office Conversions Find New Life After Property Values Plunge

Developer efforts to convert emptying office towers into residential buildings have largely gone nowhere. That may finally be changing.

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 26/11/2024

“half”! Amazing statistic.

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Wojtek Kopczuk @wwwojtekk.bsky.social · 24/11/2024

Look at who has just begun to post substance here

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Stats For Bios @statsforbios.bsky.social · 23/11/2024

Remember that type 1 and type 2 errors go the same order as the boy who cried wolf. Type 1 - villagers believed there was a wolf (effect) when there wasn't. Type 2 - villagers didn't believe there was a wolf (effect) when there was. #StatsSky

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 21/11/2024

A great JMP thread from one of our excellent students on the market this year from Wharton, Benji Edelstein (@benjonomics.bsky.social)!

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Eva Vivalt @evavivalt.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Think you know about guaranteed income? Prove it: forecast the results of two pilot programs in Chicago and Cook County before they are known: socialscienceprediction.org/predict/r/bf... Accurate forecasts get a prize.

socialscienceprediction.org

Unconditional cash transfers in Chicago and Cook County

The regular provision of unconditional cash transfers to individuals is a tactic to fight poverty that has attracted significant interest from researchers and policymakers. Despite this interest, many...

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Kevin Spiritus @kevinspiritus.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

I created a starter pack focused on the economics of taxation. I'm unsure if I can grant editing access, but please feel free to suggest any additions! go.bsky.app/QmnUAzv

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Kelly Hereid @kellyhereid.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Cool tool for building your network - figure out who your mutuals are following who you haven't found yet. By count (gets big accounts) By proportion (gets niche accounts) Username only, or generate a one time app password in settings to follow directly from the page.

bsky-follow-finder.theo.io

Bluesky Network Analyzer

Find accounts that you don't follow (yet) but are followed by lots of accounts that you do follow.

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 17/11/2024

I’m mostly on here for econ talk and yimby takes, but for anyone into jazz piano, Jon Batiste released Beethoven Blues on Friday and it is fantastic. album.link/i/1769426743

Album cover for Jon Batiste’s “Beethoven Blues”

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 17/11/2024

There's an oversold flight from Madison to NYC, and they're offering a free Lyft to Milwaukee (~1hr drive), a direct flight to NYC, and an Amazon gift card. The gift card is up to $1500, but no one is budging. It feels like a mini anti-corporate rebellion, and I'm curious to see how far it goes.

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

These are all v useful

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Reposted by Ben Lockwood

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 13/11/2024

This fantastic map shows travel time from London to the rest of the world in 1881

This is an isochronic passage chart for travelers created by Francis Galton. The Princeton library catalog has this description "Landmasses and oceans colored according to travel time (in days) to those points from London, ca. 1881. Includes explanation of colors, showing days journey indicated by each color. Includes note: "showing the shortest number of days journey from London by the quickest through routes and using such further conveyances as are available without unreasonable cost. It is supposed that local preparations have been made and that other circumstances are favourable." From: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and monthly record of geography."

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Ben Lockwood @benlockwood.com · 10/11/2024

Looking forward to this year’s @econ5k.bsky.social! And props to the organizers for these incredible shirts. (Zoom in to see the interpretation of the cable…)

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 09/11/2024

Tips for new arrivals: Write a few introductory posts & include a bio before you start following a ton of people. Give people something to look at to help them to decide whether to follow back. And welcome! It's better here.

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