iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Just finished a tenure letter in an hour less than targeted, please clap.

3521

It's in Michigan! We contain multitudes

100

(the piece is excellent though, well worth reading)

041

Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Kind of liked it better when we just had varieties of capitalism. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

2 x 2 figure showing four varieties of plutocrats: oligarchs, tycoons, cronies, and kleptocrats

1448

I knew the Kellogg's story (thank you Road to Wellville) but not that it was so foundational!

020

Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

what was it with these people and cereal

020

My capacity for not being able to believe all this is really happening continues unabated

130

But maybe with better odds for people whose model somehow manages to make the Trump family richer.

150

I...guess? Honestly, it's a little unclear to me what the actual model is here, other than "outside universities"

110

Jeremy Levine @jeremylevine.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

I can never get over how these memos are like "boring bureaucratic language, more boring tech buzzwords," then something like this

Text: Following years of unfocused Federal investments weighed down by woke ideology and diversity,
equity, and inclusion initiatives, we are realigning the Federal R&D portfolio to serve its core
purposes: driving economic growth and high-wage employment for all Americans, promoting high

1255

Reposted by Beth Popp Berman

Using anything correlated with race is discrimination in admissions; while nothing that is correlated with race is discrimination in gerrymandering.

14716

Mark J. Nelson @mm-jj-nn.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

You've got to be freaking kidding me.

89227

Reposted by Beth Popp Berman

interesting rationale from a prospective juror in the Elon Musk Twitter stock manipulation case

Judge Breyer: Okay. Thank you very much. Juror 96, I think that you also have strong views. Could you set them aside?

Juror 96: I believe that in a criminal trial, I would feel morally obligated to convict. However, in a civil trial, I feel I can set those views aside.

Judge Breyer: That’s interesting.

Juror 96: I’m happy to expand.

Judge Breyer: Sure.

Juror 96: I believe it would be to the benefit of the human race were Mr. Musk to be sent to prison. However, I don’t believe a loss of several hundreds of millions of dollars in a civil trial would be even a drop in the bucket to his wealth, so it doesn’t really matter. Therefore, I would be able to consider the facts.

126135362869

Reposted by Beth Popp Berman

Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

What can we learn from automating an entire quantitative social science paper, from prompt to finished product? Thread about ongoing work with @natewilmers.bsky.social 1/12 Paper: osf.io/preprints/so...

25277106

Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

I've been listening to random Odd Lots episodes to try to wrap my head around it all, which has been helpful

010

Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

This scale is so hard to wrap your head around.

2467

Reposted by Beth Popp Berman

Adam L @adam-lg.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

The one professor with a box of bluebooks who keeps all their grades in an Excel spreadsheet

media.tenor.com

a man in a black uniform says so say we all in front of flags

Alt: William Adama says so say we all in front of flags

219629

Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

We're all going to miss the start of WWIII because everyone is excited that Canvas went down

060

Reposted by Beth Popp Berman

Eric Rauchway @rauchway.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

they’re calling it “Roberts redistricting,” and someone doesn’t like it

1928876

Reposted by Beth Popp Berman

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Re the Voting Rights Act: I've used this graph a lot to illustrate how the VRA largely ended the historic pattern of blocking and burdening Black voters in the south. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

graph shows a dramatic increase in black registration after the voting right act

18979408

Reposted by Beth Popp Berman

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

It’s a disastrous day for democracy. The Voting Rights Act made the U.S. an actually functioning democracy. And civil rights activists face impossible odds to gifting it to us. The Supreme Court‘s decision is vile.

9861237

Reposted by Beth Popp Berman

Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

The Voting Rights Act is essentially dead and it’s quite possible that we will, like when a similar SCOTUS gutted civil rights at the fall of Reconstruction, see a disappearance of much of the Black congressional representation, especially in the most heavily Black states, which are in the South.

340122995047

Reposted by Beth Popp Berman

LPE Blog @lpeblog.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Today, a spring scouting report on some of the hottest new LPE and LPE-adjacent articles. Congrats to all the authors on such wonderful placements 🎉

lpeproject.org

Some of the Best New LPE and LPE-Adjacent Scholarship

A selection of worthy additions to your “important PDFs” folder.

03925

I don't think they can reflect back on the training data that way? But now you're getting beyond my pay grade!

000

Great question. I think the tone would change a bit by 1952 but don't think you'd see a modern-ish sounding answer till the early 70s or so.

110

"When does finance become speculative?"

Text: talkie-1930
Finance becomes speculative when it is carried on for purposes of profit, and not of legitimate business. Legitimate finance merely provides capital for industrial and commercial undertakings, speculation supplies it for operations of a gambling character. The former keeps money actively employed, and adds to the national wealth; the latter leaves it idleness, and consequently diminishes the national resources. Speculative finance also tends to raise prices, and thus increases the cost of living, which is injurious to the community. Legitimate finance, on the contrary, operates in an opposite direction. Speculative finance, too, has an immoralising influence on society, tempting men to risk other people's money, and to live beyond their means; while legitimate finance promotes habits of prudence and economy. In times of commercial panic, speculative finance usually breaks down first, and legitimate finance afterwards; but in seasons of prosperity they both flourish together.

2111