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Calvin Thrall

@calvin-thrall.bsky.social
563 followers 272 following 75 posts

Assistant professor @Columbia. Firms, diplomacy, global governance. Bikes, books, guitars, skateboards. Vegan for the planet.

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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
Happy to share that I’ll be spending next year at the IAS in Princeton as a member of the school of social science (with fearless leader @benbraun.bsky.social). Luckily for me, their standards seem to have been lowered somewhat since the days of Einstein, Oppenheimer, and Hirschman.
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tim frye @timfrye.bsky.social · 03/12/2025
The world is a less interesting place with the passing of Kimuli Kasara. She was brilliant, funny, and caring. And was loved by many. She was a great friend and confidante. We will all miss her terribly. Rest in peace. fas.columbia.edu/news/memoria...
fas.columbia.edu
In Memoriam: Professor Kimuli Kasara | Arts & Sciences
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 27/08/2025
Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs is hiring to fill the Arnold Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies—a full professor (/of practice) level position that comes with directorship of the Saltzman Institute. Please apply!
jobs.chronicle.com
Arnold A. Saltzman Professor in War and Peace Studies - New York City, New York (US) job with Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs | 37876354
The School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in the City of New York invites applications from scholars and practitioners ...
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 24/08/2025
Something political science would benefit bigly from: World Politics style multi-book review articles where none of the books are written by political scientists. For example: one on “zones” featuring @atossaaraxia.bsky.social, Slobodian, etc. Let’s bring new stuff into the field!
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Rohan Mukherjee @rohanmukherjee.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
Academic job alert: The International Relations department at LSE is looking to hire two assistant professors, in international security and in IPE (climate, environment, global business). App deadline: 7th Sep 2025. Details👇 jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/... jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/I/...
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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 30/07/2025
So, Columbia paid out $221M so that the Trump administration would resume payments on $400M in existing grants (i.e., signed work contracts) and so that Columbia could compete for future HHS/NIH awards. Lucy didn't even wait a week before pulling up the football.
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
A very worthwhile read from my colleague, Suresh Naidu. We are between a rock and a hard place, and it’s not particularly helpful to pretend that contracting with Trump settles anything. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/23/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Columbia’s Administrators Are Fooling Themselves
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 02/07/2025
My vacation rental has Why Nations Fail on the bookshelf, cementing its status as beach reading.
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the abbot of unreason (an archaeologist) @merovingians.bsky.social · 21/06/2025
the single image every genuinely freedom-loving american has been waiting for
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Matt Malis @mattmalis.bsky.social · 17/06/2025
New working paper! with @calvin-thrall.bsky.social and David Lindsey, we collect the largest existing dataset on diplomatic personnel, and use it to analyze gender disparities in U.S. Foreign Service assignments draft here: mattmalis.github.io/files/pdf/LM... 🧵 below
abstract: "Representation Without Influence: Evidence from Gender
Disparities in the U.S. Foreign Service"
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 05/06/2025
🚨 New working paper 🚨 In an era of political nationalization, here’s something interesting: locally organized business interest groups—eg “chambers of commerce”—are more popular than ever. Why is that?
Industrial Diversification and the Rise of the Local
Chamber*
Calvin Thrall
June 04, 2025
Abstract
Despite the well-documented nationalization of local politics over the late 20th century, one type of local organization has flourished: the chamber of commerce. Local chambers, influential interest groups in which firms operating in a given municipality band together to lobby for improved local business conditions, are now present in over 6,700 municipalities across nearly 2,300 counties. Why has the private sector been so successful at organizing locally, despite the costs inherent in collective ac-tion? I argue that industrial diversification at the local level makes chamber formation more likely; when firms are co-located with complementary industries rather than direct competitors, lobbying for geographically-specific ("place-based") benefits offers greater relative gains. I provide evidence in support of this explanation using new data on thousands of local chambers incorporated between 1970 and 2018, an identification strategy based on a novel Bartik-style shift-share instrument, and member-level data for twenty individual chambers. The results demonstrate how broader patterns of structural economic change have affected interest representation at the local level.
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Federica Genovese @fgenovese.bsky.social · 03/06/2025
🚨 WP w/ @acalacino.bsky.social & @hayleypring.bsky.social It’s been a turbulent decade of globalization backlash. Populist projects wanna take back control everywhere. Focusing on the case of oil and Brexit, we offer a story of the danger of this narrative and concrete merits of multilateralism: 🧵
Abstract of "Offshore Outlaws: Brexit and Oil Spills in the North Sea" by Anthony Calacino, Federica Genovese, Hayley Pring (University of Oxford)
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Fatih Kansoy @fatih.ai · 02/06/2025
📢 [New Research] 📢 We tracked EVERY S&P 500 company's reaction to Fed announcements for 20 years The Paris Climate Agreement didn't just change environmental policy—it completely flipped how Wall Street prices sustainability during rate hikes. From -28.5bp penalty to +64.5bp protection 📈🧵
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Minju Kim @minjulisettekim.bsky.social · 08/05/2025
My ambassador paper with Shu Fu is out in @worldpolitics.bsky.social! Ambassadors promote domestic exports to a host country and represent the interests of their home country at large. However, are trade benefits equally distributed domestically? 🧵 muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 06/05/2025
At this point, the primary value of interviewing Trump appointees seems to be documenting the administration’s lies for posterity.
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Erin Lockwood @erinkaylockwood.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Edit to the viral @dril tweet that read "and another thing: im not mad. please dont put in the newspaper that i got mad" to make it read "and another thing: tariffs don't raise prices. please dont put in the Amazon receipt that tariffs raise prices."
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
A real IPE legend—Ted was one of the first to really grok the political implications of the rise of the multinational firm, and we are all richer for it. May he rest in peace.
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Rachel Wellhausen @rwellhausen.bsky.social · 29/04/2025
Happy to circulate a revised version of our paper, "Exiting Russia" - on what did (not) happen with MNCs leaving Russia in the first 18 months post-invasion. Outcomes both reinforce and challenge key theories in international political economy. www.rwellhausen.com/uploads/6/9/...
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Cleo O'Brien-Udry @cobrienudry.bsky.social · 28/04/2025
The world is bad! Might as well read some cool work on scientific interdependence and CRISPR! Now out in @isq-jrnl.bsky.social Innovation and Interdependence: Evidence from Gene-Editing Technology (with Tyler Pratt) academic.oup.com/isq/article/... 🧬⬇️
Technological breakthroughs carry great promise but often escalate economic competition and heighten public anxiety, creating new challenges for governments. We argue that breakthroughs trigger two distinct mechanisms that reshape regulatory politics: (1) accelerated incentives for regulatory arbitrage and (2) the potential for controversies to spark international public backlash. First, technological advancement generates forum-shopping behavior as private actors race to develop the new technology. Researchers and firms may seek to evade national rules by relocating to more permissive jurisdictions. Second, public unease about new technologies creates the potential for backlash in the wake of controversial applications. This backlash can spill across borders: accidents or misuse in one jurisdiction undermine support for research and commercial development elsewhere. Together, these processes link the regulatory fate of states, undermining their ability to regulate in isolation. We test and find evidence for these mechanisms in the domain of gene editing, a field that has been transformed by the introduction of CRISPR technology in 2012. Our theory and findings shed new light on the regulatory politics of breakthrough technologies.
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Max Kagan @maxkagan.bsky.social · 31/03/2025
1/ Excited to share our new paper on measuring workforce politics with @reubenhurst.bsky.social and Justin Frake, where we measure the partisan composition (Democrats and Republicans) for over 3.5 million companies and nearly 28 million workers.
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Dr. Hilary Agro, PhD 🍄 @hilaryagro.com · 16/04/2025
I can't emphasize enough that the most important thing journalists can do right now is publish exactly this kind of article
Headline: ICE came for their neighbor so these Tennesseans formed a human chain to protect him
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The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 14/04/2025
“For the Duration”: A poem by Katie Ford
bit.ly
For the Duration
A poem by Katie Ford
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Plan to destroy US academia: 1. Create moral panic 2. Withdraw funding 3. Use ICE to deter international students 4. Make university president a job that nobody wants (👇) 5 will be syllabus moderation and post-tenure review, as some red states are already doing. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/n...
nytimes.com
New Columbia President Attacked by Stefanik Over 2023 Text Message (Gift Article)
Elise Stefanik, a prominent Republican, questioned Claire Shipman’s commitment to protecting Jewish students. Ms. Shipman pledged “to build on the significant progress we’ve made.”
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 24/03/2025
The 🙏 doctrine
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
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tim frye @timfrye.bsky.social · 21/03/2025
Earlier this week five of my senior colleagues wrote a response to the demands placed on Columbia. The link is here. I also post a short note from Senior Faculty in the Department of Political Science who endorse their response. open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
This attack, like the one against Columbia, is being conducted in bad faith on false pretenses. This model will be used elsewhere. Universities have to understand the game that is being played here and respond accordingly. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/19/u...
nytimes.com
White House Expected to Pause $175 Million for Penn Over Transgender Policy (Gift Article)
The decision is the latest clash between a university and the administration as it pushes schools to end diversity programming and adopt stricter discipline, among other things.
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
Modi at 0,0 is totally fascinating.
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Jennie Coughlin @jenniecoughlin.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
This morning, Joe Goldstein has an exclusive look at what research was cut when the Trump administration canceled $400M in federal funding to Columbia. It's not an exhaustive list because the folks at Columbia are still trying to figure out what was cut and what survived. But it's a start. 🧵
nytimes.com
Trump Cuts Imperil Cancer, Diabetes and Pediatric Research at Columbia (Gift Article)
Dozens of medical and scientific studies are ending or at risk of ending, leaving researchers scrambling to find alternative funding.
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Proud of my colleagues. Could not agree more.
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
“Small pigs bleed out faster than big ones” is a great line in case you ever need to explain Stigler (1971) to a farmer.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
“There are 13 million legal foreign residents (green card holders) in the US. If the administration can deport Khalil, it means those 13 million people must live in fear if they dare speak up or publish something that runs afoul of government views.” journalism.columbia.edu/news/cjs-fac...
journalism.columbia.edu
A Statement from Columbia Journalism School Faculty Defending Press Freedom | Columbia Journalism School
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Perhaps the clearest messaging I’ve received on the effect of tariffs in a world of supply chains. Courtesy of a US company that makes…. pet hair cleaning products.
Hey,

It’s David, Head of Supply Chain at Uproot Clean, and I wish I had better news.

Tariffs on imported materials are hitting us hard, and unfortunately, that means prices will have to go up soon. We do everything we can to source locally—some of our materials come from the U.S.—but certain components just aren’t available domestically.

Starting soon, our prices will increase. Trust me, I don’t love saying that any more than you love hearing it. The good news? You still have time to lock in today’s prices before costs go up. This might be your last chance to grab:
Uproot Cleaner Cleaners
Uproot Cleaner Grooming Kit
Uproot Washing Machine Cleaner Pro
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Owen Winter @owenwntr.bsky.social · 10/03/2025
Good morning S&P 500
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
The Moynihan Train Hall boldly asks the question: what if there was a train station that cost $1.6b yet had absolutely none of the amenities that one might expect a train station to have?
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Mary Fissell @maryfissell.bsky.social · 05/03/2025
Histories wanted! Are you a recently terminated federal employee? Historians want to record your story! There's so much you know; let's get it on the record. You may record anonymously if you wish. www.oah.org/2025/03/04/f...
oah.org
OAH | Federal Employees Oral History ProjectOAH | Federal Employees Oral History Project
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Reilly Steel @reillysteel.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
In the NYC area next Friday, March 7? Join us at Columbia Law School for a one-day conference, “Bylaws, Bills, and Ballots: Understanding the Nexus Between Business, Law, and Politics in the 21st Century.” Registration details at the link: web.cvent.com/event/674ed3...
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Jason "Red5" Lyall @jaylyall.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Dean Karlan, Chief Economist at USAID, has resigned www.npr.org/sections/goa...
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Rohan Sandhu @rohansandhu.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Gordon Hanson, @drodrik.bsky.social, & my chapter for @nber.org's upcoming volume on place-based policy. We discuss the history of innovations in place-based policies in the US & unpack the "supply chains" through which these policies are implemented in different domains | www.nber.org/papers/w33511
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Ben Helms @benjaminhelms.bsky.social · 05/02/2025
Right on the money, from my esteemed colleague. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
politico.com
‘What Elon Musk Said Is a Bold-Faced Lie’
A former Republican director of USAID says the agency is critical to U.S. interests and can’t be abolished or folded into the State Department.
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
A question to be reckoned with long after Trump leaves office: now that we all know this *can* happen, how will we possibly convince competent people to work for the federal government?
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
After witnessing what happened with the J6 insurrectionists, not shocking that Trump apparatchiks aren’t worried about things like “the legality of their actions.”
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 04/02/2025
Niche question: I used to use an app called Researcher, which gave you an RSS-style feed of newly published articles from whichever journals you wanted. It shut down. Any suggestions for a replacement?
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 03/02/2025
It probably goes without saying that the end result of a return to the patronage system would not, in fact, be “efficiency.”
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Molly McGhee @mollymcghee.com · 16/01/2025
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Karthik Sankaran @rajakorman.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Global War On Terroir
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Calvin Thrall @calvin-thrall.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Apropos of nothing, thinking of Eisenhower’s assessment of conservatives who want to deregulate and cut social services.
In a private letter, Eisenhower wrote:
Should any party attempt to abolish social security and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group of course, that believes you can do these things [...] Their number is negligible and they are stupid. 161]
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