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Elisa Xi Chen

@elisaxchen.bsky.social
1.2K followers 468 following 77 posts

Artist cursed to be a female economist in this life. PhD student @Harvard. My Roman Empire: Labor, Education, Development, Gender elisaxchen.github.io

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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Faces like this will mess up with AI face recognition algorithm and I kinda like it.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
And if you want to know how this will likely affect American citizens: force international students into STEM by making other majors impossible, you increase competition for STEM jobs and reduce your wage. Policies have consequences even when they do not target you personally.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Someone whose luck hinges on finding a job on day 31, when the policy gives them 30 before deportation; someone who, after building a life here for more than a decade, will be forced to leave; someone whose freedom to change majors in college is now constrained by immigration law.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Whenever a new hostile immigration policy comes out, there are always people saying, “It’s not that bad. Here’s why.” I’m an economist. I study policies at the margin. A policy may or may not affect you personally, but it will affect people whose lives hinge on that margin.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
another great day to be an international student at Harvard but you already prepared to graduate in four years since the first year they threatened to cancel your visa
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
The median WNBA salary in 2004 was around $60k (vs $7.8M for men), so players had to hustle overseas in the offseason to cover their own training costs. Basically an adjunct lecturer cobbling together jobs at multiple universities while doing research on the side.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
It’s 12 am and I’m listening to Sue Bird yap about WNBA CBA history. Life is good.
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Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
My new theory paper (early draft) A new reason why concentrated wealth destroys democracy: common ownership A standalone media owner maximizes profit. A common owner like Musk (who owns X + SpaceX) will run the media firm at a loss to increase the $ of his total portfolio tinyurl.com/mcekr7cd
Wealth Concentration and Democratic Erosion:
A Theory of Media and Common Ownership*
Jacob M. Grumbach„
June 18, 2026
Abstract
I develop a model of how extreme wealth concentration harms democracy through
a common ownership problem. A standalone profit-seeking media firm will maximize advertising revenue and audience size, producing content that is orthogonal
to democracy. In contrast, an owner who controls both a media firm and other
large firms can use the media firm to produce anti-democratic content, which
reduces the profitability of the media firm but maximizes the profitability of the
overall business portfolio through greater rents from an authoritarian leader (e.g.,
preferential regulatory treatment or public contracts). Anti-democratic content
grows in the owner’s wealth and in the authoritarian premium, the differential
value of concentrated capital under authoritarian governance. I theorize three
extensions: an oligopolistic setting in which reduced democratic content is a common pool resource; an endogenous authoritarian premium based in the authoritarian’s targeting problem; and owners that vary in proactively or reluctantly
supporting the authoritarian.
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Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Wonderful news for #Skyhistorians and anyone interested in human histories of climate. Hobos will take you to unexpected places by surprising routes. Read or!
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Found my oasis at SFO, could’ve lived here for a few more days.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
Happy Birthday! You look gorgeous in that dress!
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Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 03/02/2026
America's obsession with cop shows needs to be studied, oh wait- Source: papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.... cc @emmarackstraw.bsky.social
When Reality TV Creates Reality: How “Copaganda” Affects Police, Communities, and Viewers
88 Pages Posted: 1 Nov 2023 Last revised: 30 Jul 2025
Emma Rackstraw
Harvard University

Date Written: July 30, 2025

Abstract
Television shows with police protagonists portray a world where criminals are nearly always apprehended. In reality, crimes mostly go unsolved and police officers infrequently make arrests. When police are followed by reality television cameras, arrests for low-level, victimless crimes increase by nearly 20 percent. These arrests do not meaningfully improve public safety and harm their constituents’ confidence in the police. On the other hand, these shows improve non-constituent viewer attitudes towards the police. The results are consistent with “copaganda” shows inflating trust in police nationally while subjecting constituents to harsher enforcement of low-level crimes.
Keywords: television, police, arrest, beliefs, cameras, propaganda, criminal justice, media, difference-in-difference, experiment
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Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 15/05/2026
It's official. Our FIRST academic publication is officially live @aeajournals.bsky.social! ✨ TLDR: In an online experiment, @emmarackstraw.bsky.social and I find evidence that evaluators assigned to Black supervisors perceive Black workers as more productive on average. #econsky #blacksky
Belief Updating, Observability, and Race in the Labor Market
Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman
Emma Rackstraw
AEA Papers and Proceedings
vol. 116, May 2026
(pp. 422–425)
Download Full Text PDF
Article Information
Abstract
Inaccurate beliefs about racial gaps in productivity can have wide-ranging implications in the workplace. In an online experiment, we hired a nationally representative sample of Prolific workers to assess the performance of Amazon Mechanical Turk workers on a math test based on stylized resumes. Participants randomly assigned to a Black primary investigator evaluated Black workers as more productive than participants assigned to a White primary investigator. This study provides suggestive evidence on how the racial identity of supervisors may shift perceived racial differences in productivity and how Black leaders can disrupt belief-based discrimination against Black workers.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
it’s funny b/c they are generating the exact stereotypes of topics-race-background-facial-expression-matching identify
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
To the mental health and medical professionals out there: if the profession does not make it clear to the judge that ADHD and anxiety are irrelevant to a man’s decision to RAPE someone, these diagnoses will be turned into a joke within a few years. www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crim...
independent.co.uk
Three boys avoid prison over rapes of two girls which were filmed
Two girls were raped in two separate incidents in a town in the New Forest
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Internet Archive @archive.org · 22/05/2026
🧵1/4 African folktales were once passed down through generations as community treasures. Today, many survive only through preservation efforts and digital access. 🌍 Laura Gibbs & Helen Nde fight to preserve African folktales before more cultural memory disappears 🕳️ 🔗 archive.org/details/vani...
Teal graphic quoting Helen Nde, African folklore scholar, for the Vanishing Culture series. Headline: "Why is it important to preserve African folktales?" with the quote "That's a culture that has either completely vanished or is vanishing."
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
Can any economists explain what’s going on here? Shein, the Face of Fast Fashion, Buys the Sustainability-Minded Everlane www.nytimes.com/2026/05/22/s...
nytimes.com
Shein, the Face of Fast Fashion, Buys the Sustainability-Minded Everlane
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
ps SODA POP Act has the cutest name in history. Unstoppable.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
I come from an immigrant community where so many of my friends’ families own ethnic diners and pubs. Many of them are struggling now, and NJ Senator Paul Moriarty’s SODA POP Act will help them survive. Support small homes for culture, memory, and community bonds. SIGN!!
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Kolina Koltai @koltai.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Sorry for the delayed update, but the bill has passed! 🎉🎉🎉 It will go into effect in August. this really is the first law in the US explicitly prohibiting the technology/service of AI nudification/deepfake pornography. Would love to see this as a model nationwide www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...
cbsnews.com
Minnesota Gov. Walz signs first-of-its-kind law to stop AI being used for CSAM
Minnesota is now the first state in the country to enact a law that prohibits access to what's known as "nudification" technology​.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
can’t wait for the slow sticky summer life 🐌🐌🎞️
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Dr. U. Whitcher (U. is for Bear) @yarntheory.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
For women in math day, let's remember that the US just bombed Maryam Mirzakhani's alma mater.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Thank you!! I haven’t looked over it closely yet but I appreciate your thoughtfulness!!
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Oh!! This paper is extremely relevant to one of the projects I'm working on right now, and it's so fascinating.
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Lauren Gilbert @lgilbert.co · 07/05/2026
Initially, I wasn't going to cover migration in the first issue of In Development so it wasn't just Lauren's Special Interests, The Magazine but then @charlesjkenny.bsky.social pitched us a piece on emigration, so obviously I published it: indevelopmentmag.substack.com/p/wheres-my-...
indevelopmentmag.substack.com
Where’s My Ministry for Emigration?
Emigration As Growth Strategy
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
How much do we trust people’s texts as their revealed preferences? This paper is revolutionary to social sciences and everyone should pay attention to it.
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Larry Glickman @larryglickman.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
In my new piece in @theatlantic.com, I argue that the consensus about birthright citizenship extended far beyond elite legal circles to readers of newspaper advice columns and letters to the editor pages for well more than a century. nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com?url=https%3A...
nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
Americans Once Understood Birthright Citizenship
Newspaper columnists instructed generations of citizens about the Fourteenth Amendment. Today, the country seems to have forgotten how clear the law is.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
message received🫡
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
@lgilbert.co told me about this magazine a few days ago and my first thought was: when can I publish here? Check it out, for development researchers, policy makers, overthinkers, contrarians, the justice-minded, the word-obsessed, dreamers, and poets.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
The first two weeks are magical and my productivity had increased by 300% in the last 6 months. I can finally do laundry without procrastination.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
my boss is awesome, 100/10 would recommend
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
Oscar shorts 2027
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Lauren Gilbert @lgilbert.co · 18/03/2026
my living literature review has a one-year update on what we've learned about immigration recently
laurenpolicy.com
Updates From The Immigration Literature in 2025
Academic literature is not static.
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Roopika Risam @roopikarisam.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Truly.
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Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 16/03/2026
Through #SINNERS, Ryan Coogler is giving us a masterclass in creating a legacy that outlasts you. Setting new precedents for Black directors, employing Black women and women of color, giving new and old generations opportunities to shine. May his cup runneth over for as long as he lives. #Oscars
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
What a beautiful night!!
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
thanks @aadukia.bsky.social and @aleximas.bsky.social for coordinating everything:’) Anjali knows the whole story and a month later I blew up the econ twitter
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Anna Gifty chatted with me about PhD programs when I was an anxious little predoc at UChicago in 2024. Her audacity is quite contagious, and I’ve been living my unabashedly audacious, beautiful life ever since.
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Jazmine Ulloa @jazmineulloa.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
They were considered dangerous men with dangerous ideas — the belief that workers deserved fair hours and fair wages, that discrimination against Mexican laborers had to end, and that democracy should extend to both sides of the dividing line between Mexico and the United States.
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Jazmine Ulloa @jazmineulloa.bsky.social · 15/03/2026
Watch the movie. Then read my book.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Hardcore students enjoying a regular day on campus:
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 09/03/2026
Very relatable. My number 1 reason for going to UWMadison was the weather & Lake Michigan.
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Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 08/03/2026
Art is the greatest form of human expression imaginable. I wouldn't dare dream a life without it in abundance.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
Radical joy and optimism💜💜
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
I’ve been watching Alysa Liu’s performance since she was 13, and I love that she’s found her style, her joy, an inner quiet that lets her truly live the art of figure skating. 🐐
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Prof Dynarski @dynarski.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
This is a fantastic resource for students looking for a paper topic 25 RCTs, with documentation and data Thank you, @mdrc-news.bsky.social! www.cos.io/blog/data-fr...
cos.io
Data from 25+ of MDRC’s Postsecondary RCTs Available via ICPSR
The Higher Education Randomized Controlled Trial’s (THE-RCT) restricted access file is available at ICPSR, includes de-identified data from 25+ postsecondary RCTs.
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
Made a tiny website that pulls showtimes from 3 art house theaters in Cambridge. My friends and I used to sneak off to these places during our first PhD year. Some of the best days I had. We've since scattered, but I hope someone catches something good: elisaxchen.github.io/cambridge-sc...
elisaxchen.github.io
Cambridge Screens
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 28/01/2026
This is what you need:
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Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 27/01/2026
lol today I kicked off Harvard Economics' #PhD student workshop on labor and public economics for the semester. I was VERY nervous but the presentation went so great (and t'was hilarious). Also, the 'fro is back! #blacksky #econsky
BLACK GIRL IN LEOPARD PRINT SWEATER smiling before the fire (jk it went well and the feedback was excellent)

THANKS ELISA FOR THE PHOTOS AND NOTES
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Elisa Xi Chen @elisaxchen.bsky.social · 27/01/2026
Absolutely fabulous presentation - hilarious, engaging, and brilliant!!! You are a star!!! 🌟
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