iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Must read of the month. Would be even better if it spent more time applying its thesis to US domestic governance. www.cfr.org/articles/draft

020

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Plutopopulism under Trump. www.ft.com/content/31f4...

14813

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 05/05/2026

The US is on track to become a quaint island of antique fossil-fuel technology in a world of green energy. Iran is accelerating the trend. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-is-l...

0153

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

@dsorennie.bsky.social With regard to your Feb 14 piece on Democracy and modernity: Here is some hard statistical evidence that you are right: Liberal democracies that succumb to populism do not become Singapores. www.niskanencenter.org/the-numbers-...

130

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

I ran across a Redditt thread (not new) that suggests US oil companies aren't really much interested in access to Venezuela's heavy sour crude. (See image for a small sample of the thread) Has anyone seen more on this topic from sources that know the industry well? www.reddit.com/r/stocks/com...

150

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 31/12/2025

Now a new Gallup poll shows 64% want immigration to stay the same or increase, clearing the way for immigration to resume its role as a safety valve to smooth the transition to a low-fertility future (hat tip to @pkrugman.bsky.social ) paulkrugman.substack.com/p/immigrant-...?

130

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

As @pkrugman.bsky.social explains, the GOP is shooting itself in the foot with its cutoff of SNAP funding. Just a glance at this map shows that SNAP cutoffs hit red counties (well, darker green on this map) harder than blue. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-hunger...

2326

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

1/2 Alarmed by the decrease in college enrollment? Most of the drop is in low-quality schools, says @prestoncooper93.bsky.social . Although humanities majors like me will be saddened by erosion of deeper learning in favor of career-boosting majors. prestoncooper93.substack.com/p/why-the-co...

172

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 11/09/2025

Forget about meaningless year-on-year inflation. What's important is what is happening now. August CPI inflation was 4.5 percent compounded annual rate -- and rising fast.

130

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

1/2 To follow the rise of inflation, watch the annualized monthly rate, not the %change from a year ago.

230

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 05/07/2025

Greg Ip, @wsj.com: "If governments could borrow as much as they wished and set interest rates by fiat, why don’t more do it? Because there is no free lunch. If interest rates are persistently too low, something bad will happen, usually inflation." www.wsj.com/economy/cent...

010

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

BLS reports the unemployment rate decreased but the labor force fell by 130k and the employment population ratio was unchanged. On balance, a mixed picture on strength of job market. www.bls.gov/news.release...

021

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

3/3 Or a little of both? Here's my take: www.milkenreview.org/articles/the...

000

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

2/3 Or just learn to live with fewer people, like the Japanese? wapo.st/3Ggi5rO

100

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 24/06/2025

Who is going to bring in the harvest? And MAGA's effects on rural America don't stop there. paulkrugman.substack.com/p/maga-will-...

012

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

@paulkrugman discusses the bad job market for recent college grads open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...

000

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 15/06/2025

2/2 Interestingly, Zwolinski's embrace of the Hayekian option stops short of dismissing the label "libertarian" altogether, as Hayek himself did in his famous "Why I Am Not a Conservative." www.cato.org/sites/cato.o...

010

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

Just the facts, ma'am: New CBO estimates show that Trump's tax bill would take $1,559 from the average family in the lowest income decile and give $12,044 to the average family in the top income decile. www.cbo.gov/system/files...

052

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

2/2 For more about tax cliffs and disincentive deserts in the US, see here: www.niskanencenter.org/work-disince...

030

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 08/06/2025

1/2 Everyone who studies social policy knows about "benefit cliffs" that penalize certain people for earning more. But In the UK, apparently, they have cliffs that dwarf ours. on.ft.com/4kPLGaN

130

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 08/05/2025

According to @dsquareddigest.bsky.social , infrastructure projects are hard not because of NIMBYs, but more because of the structure of the system we have for making sure NIMBYs can't stop those projects. A paradox, no? hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/the-nimbys...

010

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 06/05/2025

Trump's rule-breaking is going far beyond what even the most pessimistic imagined. These data shows that rule-breaking populist rulers do not make their countries great -- far from it! tiny.cc/pya7001

0173

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

Worried about empty shelves at Walmart? You should be. Empty harbors = empty shelves.

021

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 23/04/2025

2/2 Some in MAGA want to make a token gesture at recognizing this inequality by increasing income tax on millionaires. But the truly rich don't pay income taxes -- they live off untaxed capital gains. Even the MAGA populists are afraid to touch them. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

110

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

@edwardluce.bsky.social : "The official position of the world’s oldest constitutional republic is that the courts should have no say in who its executive deports and on what grounds. Foreign travellers to the US should beware." on.ft.com/4cygfhv

043

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

If "making stuff" is what we want, what is wrong with mining, construction, and farming? Total "making stuff" employment in US is stable, not falling! www.wsj.com/economy/us-m...

020

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

In most years the US barely saves enough to cover investment needs, let alone gov budget deficits. We need the financial inflows that are the mirror image of trade deficits to fill the gap, and would need them even more for successful reindustrialization www.niskanencenter.org/why-a-war-on...

010

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Trump wants an investment boom in the US, but: "Economists warn the world could face a growth-sapping investment crunch as companies sit on the sidelines until the trade-war fog clears." www.wsj.com/economy/trad...

030

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

"THE 2025 [V=Dem]REPORT unfortunately finds no signs of the third wave of autocratization cresting or even slowing down. No matter how we slice the data and look at it from different perspectives using different metrics, the overall trend of worsening, stands." www.v-dem.net

020

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Former Fed vice chair Lael Brainard explains who is on track to gain and who will lose by Trump's package of tax and spending cuts. wapo.st/4hSwO93

0239

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

The world we live in: "When a Big Law partnership is $2mn a year, people can have some principles because the fall isn’t so bad.” The calculation changes entirely, the person says, “when they are making $20mn a year”. on.ft.com/43Au6lh

031

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

2/2 ... we should keep in mind that the US was already significantly less liberal than Europe before MAGA came along. Here are the numbers c.a. 2020: www.liberalcurrents.com/how-liberal-...

171

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

If I read this correctly, JD Vance thinks the Houtis are doing the US a favor because they block more EU trade than US trade. Presumably US trade through Suez is not bound for the US, so this goes beyond simple protectionism. Or am I missing something? www.wsj.com/opinion/yeme...

021

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

Tariffs are rising everywhere, not just the US, threatening great damage to the world economy. It will be hard to get them back down again, warns this deep-dive article from @wsj.com . www.wsj.com/economy/trad...

031

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Verse 2 Time was our leaders had the courage To fight for freedom everywhere Now they lick the boots of tyrants Leaving friends in deep despair

000

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 24/03/2025

Verse 1 We shall meet, but we shall miss him [her] There will be one vacant chair We want answers to our questions, But it seems he [she] doesn't care!

100

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Pauil Keckly asks, Are the 7 Presumptions on which the U.S. Health System is Built still Relevant? I would like to know reader's answers on each point. paulkeckley.com/the-keckley-...

110

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

About time www.realclearpolling.com/polls/approv...

020

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 13/03/2025

If you hate taxes and love deficits, you have to love DOGE's war on the IRS. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

031

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Trump says he wants Europe to defend itself, but it turns out that US can render European weapons useless by stopping the flow of spare parts and in some cases may even have secret "kill switches" that could stop tanks dead in their tracks and drop planes out of the sky. www.ft.com/content/1503...

001

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

This is an excellent article, especially the emphasis on how Trump's policies work at cross purposes (e.g. tariffs on inputs like steel and deportation of millions of workers). Here are some numbers to go with the article.

011

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 05/03/2025

Matt Yglesias writes, "All politicians make remarks that don’t fully hold up to scrutiny. But it’s genuinely unusual to stand up before a joint session of Congress and tell easily debunked lies about things like right track/wrong track polls or approval numbers." www.slowboring.com/p/17-thought...

021

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on the US-Russia negotiations: "It's not really about accepting a loss of territory .... (read the rest below) meduza.io/en/feature/2...

011

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Will Trump/Musk go too far in slashing government? navigatorresearch.org/wp-content/u...

000

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

As promised, Trump has been busy breaking the rules in an effort to Make America Great Again. However, world data show clearly that rule-breaking populists weaken their states, while governments that uphold the law are strong and stable. tiny.cc/pya7001

1153

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

China claims 5% growth for 2024 but Western analysts are skeptical of the numbers. Could it happen here? www.wsj.com/world/china/...

010

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 12/01/2025

This is partly a reply to @pkrugman.bsky.social . What do you think? www.niskanencenter.org/could-a-new-...

100

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 11/01/2025

WaPo has a detailed list with links (you may need to scroll down if you follow this URL) www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2025...

000

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Demographic notes from all over www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/1...

010

Ed Dolan @dolanecon.bsky.social · 26/12/2024

3/3 I have explored the catastrophic coverage option in detail (see link). It has promise but to work it would need to be coupled with extensive reforms to the supply side of the healthcare system. "Skin in the game" via deductibles is not enough alone. www.niskanencenter.org/wp-content/u...

020