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Gray Kimbrough

@graykimbrough.bsky.social
1K followers 123 following 616 posts

Economist, UNCG PhD, "serial millennial myth debunker," labor, housing and time use researcher, AU adjunct prof. Views are my own and not any employer's.

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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 2m
I'm wary of politicians telling people that we can solve problems by taxing Other People. I'd like to see this framed as an issue of fairness: We're good at taxing labor income. But through an array of tax breaks, we don't tax income from wealth and pass-through income as much. We should fix that.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Shoutout to Andrew Beaton (author of the piece) or whoever at @wsj.com had fun with the graph titles in this article about Travis Kelce.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The same is true of "luxury townhouses" or basically anything new other than detached single-family homes. Purchasing one of these means purchasing a lot less land than with a detached SFH. The structure depreciates and the land (often) appreciates, widening the affordability gap over time.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
If I can find a good donut place while traveling, I make a point of buying some to bring back for my family. ChuChu Donuts were definitely worth the effort to transport back from Des Moines (and walking a mile out of my way early in the morning).
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I was not expecting the Iowa State Capitol to go this hard.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I've lived in the DC area for over 15 years, but I still snap pictures of the view of the Potomac when my Metro train pops over the bridge on the way to National.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
It was a lovely day to meet this turtle in Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
It was a beautiful day for a ride on the MBT.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Looking up tour dates for my favorite Sardinian stoner-rock band (Elepharmers), I saw that they're playing this festival in Sardinia. I certainly wouldn't have expected to see Beth Orton listed, but this honestly sounds like a great festival lineup.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Sometimes when someone gives a tool a name they find clever or funny, it can eventually end up just looking really dumb when use if the tool expands to other groups. Like, say, this:
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
The Metro pop-up store has some nice Metro-themed merchandise, and also a lot of stuff for a dorm room (I guess?).
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
My daughter has a procedure performed 2-3 times per year. It takes a few minutes and I owe a $30 copay after insurance. In July it was billed as surgery, for thousands of dollars. I've spent hours calling the Children's National billing office and they just told me that they won't fix it.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Also, please spend a few minutes ensuring that your kids are wearing their helmets correctly! I never harass people about this, but I see so many kids wearing helmets so loose that they don't protect the forehead at all.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
We adopted an orphaned kitten that has been (after only a few days) playing well with the resident almost-one-year-old cat, and now my photo roll mainly looks like this.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
I got my first smartwatch last week, and my main takeaway so far is that I'm not completely sure that I needed access to all of the information I now have about my body.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
I've seen this graph before, but I still can't quite wrap my head around it being accurate. The bump around 2007 makes sense (around the time of a mandate to have passports to travel to more nearby countries), but I think what breaks my brain is the overall linear trend back to a 3% level in 1989.
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Reposted by Gray Kimbrough
Guy Berger @econberger.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Folks - I'm seeing a fair amount of labor force participation takes that don't realize the published numbers pre- and post-January 2026 are NOT COMPARABLE. Of the 0.8pp decline in LFPR over the past year, over *half* is a statistical artifact. (The other half is real.)
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
A milestone birthday today has me thinking about four years ago, when I traveled to NYC and first told a friend that after a year in therapy on my own, I knew I would be getting a divorce. I had no idea how hard things would be or how great they would then get, but his girlfriend took this picture.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I'm getting excited about going to Montreal in a week and a half and went ahead and got my monthly Bixi membership (under $20 USD). That station density is just so beautiful.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
She may not be a tiny kitten any more, but she's still an awfully adorable lap cat.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
I certainly didn't expect @dropout.tv to start streaming the works of Don Hertzfeldt, but I'm very excited to revisit some of these incredible films and watch the few I haven't seen before! I'll be starting with the incredible "The Meaning of Life."
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
It's been the same story in far too many U.S. cities: entrenched homeowners think they should be able to keep out all new housing. They're often willing to spend huge sums on lawyers to file lawsuits to get their way. I'm glad this is finally being recognized as generational warfare.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Meanwhile, my nine year old is having a great time at Durham Bulls baseball camp, pitching with AAA relievers and attempting to hit scrimmage tosses from the outfield over the left field wall.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
It was just my 12 year old and me tonight, so we got Ethiopian takeout and I introduced her to Game Changer and Make Some Noise. It was a good night.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
In the past year, I've requested a lot of records from state and local governments. I was most impressed by the Dauphin County Register of Wills, who not only implemented a great online system to request a certified copy of the record I needed, but put her name on the envelope it came in.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
"Trains operating every six minutes" means a ten-minute gap between trains on the Red line at rush hour, apparently. (The middle train was later removed from the board)
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This is Cocoa. The wildfire smoke was irritating her eyes so much that she now has to wear these goggles on her walks.
Small dog wearing pink goggles due to the wildfire smoke in the DC area.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
I'm flying back to DC today, and there's just a bit of smoke.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
I feel like this is the most Cambridge thing I can do while in the area. I hope Larry Summers attends!
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
I rode the C line in Brookline many years ago and didn't fully appreciate at the time how rare such trolley lines are in the U.S. I rode it again tonight and yes, it was annoyingly infrequent. But it's an awfully nice line to ride when you're in no particular rush.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
I just had to make the strangest call to the front desk at a hotel that I've ever made. "My room doesn't have a bathroom," I actually had to say to this person.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
For those just learning that FIFA is incredibly corrupt, I am sorry to inform you that this has been the case for many decades. FIFA Uncovered, a 2022 documentary streaming on Netflix, is a decent place to start learning more. www.netflix.com/us/title/802...
netflix.com
Watch FIFA Uncovered | Netflix Official Site
From power struggles to global politics, an exploration of FIFA reveals the organization's checkered history — and what it takes to host a World Cup.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
"Soft" skills are definitely important in many fields, but screening for things other than quantifiable accomplishments has historically been used to exclude certain types. Often (to the quoted point) this has been class-related. This approach has also been used to keep out racial or ethnic groups.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
I remember summer being this hot but that's because I grew up in NC, and now summers are very similar to that in the DC area. I suppose in my lifetime these awful hot, humid summers will migrate up to NYC and beyond.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
One of the dumber impacts of the 2012 derecho: I closed on my first house that day, and then a tree on the property promptly fell onto the fence. Welcome to homeownership!
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
paraguayvamoskid.gif
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
My favorite part of World Cup matches is when they show the corrupt FIFA officials sitting in what must be phenomenal seats, looking joyless and miserable.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The kitten has grown up quite a bit, but she's still so cute.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
I got @justupthepike.bsky.social to join me for a Pedro the Lion show at a distillery in Beltsville last night, which was great. They played Yellow Bike (also seen in the concert poster), which my wife put on the first playlist she ever made for me. I mostly kept it together!
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Sometimes people wonder why the public holds negative views of economists, but it might be worth pointing out that many of the most publicly-engaged economists like to say stuff like this.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Contrary to some posts I've seen, the Reflecting Pool is not blocked off from view or pedestrian access. The water is somewhat clearer than last week, though there remain significant green patches (and treatment continues) Most strikingly, the blue paint has worn off in multiple places.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I'm rolling into summer keeping in mind these important reminders from the Amsterdam Taylor Swift show.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 23/06/2026
Repeats the hypothesis that videogames made men exit the labor force as truth? ✅ Trumpets NBER working paper as if it's peer reviewed? ✅ finance.yahoo.com/economy/arti...
finance.yahoo.com
Why men keep dropping out of the labor force: It starts in childhood, when kids see how males around them struggle, economists say
"Our findings suggest that experience effects can turn short-run declines in labor demand into long-run declines in labor supply."
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
This is not true at all. I was just there yesterday! The hydrogen peroxide appears to have wiped out some of the algae in spots, but the rest of the Reflecting Pool is very much full of algae.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
I walked over to the Reflecting Pool today, and it's definitely still very green.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
I gave in and spent $20 for a month of Fox One to watch the world cup, and there's no apparent way to keep the app from suggesting awful right-wing programming when I just want to watch sports. I'm not looking forward to this extending to my Roku TV as well. www.cnbc.com/2026/06/15/f...
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Aging in place is often a consequence of our gridlocked housing market. We should be building enough housing to lower housing costs, so that many more people can afford to move to where they want to live. A system that makes it difficult for us to move to houses that meet our needs is broken.
wsj.com
More Americans Want to Age at Home. How One Couple Plans to Make It Work.
Contractors, remodelers and consultants are increasingly helping older Americans age in place.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Everyone knows that birth rates have dropped because videogames got too good.
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Gray Kimbrough @graykimbrough.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
@philipncohen.com previously said I was being overly generous to reporters, and I think he's being overly generous to economists here. This quote highlights what economists focus on: access to proprietary data with enough variation for an analysis, not answering any big questions about mechanisms.
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