iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Massachusetts State Senate's new motto: better late than never! apps.bostonglobe.com/2026/07/stor...

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Grant Goehring presenting on the health externalities of trade. Another proud advisor moment for me at #NBERDAE

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

But I was told we could raise tariff revenue without raising prices

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

In equilibrium, everyone (at least every importer) lies and apparently this slide shows that

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Increasing specialization in the customs house, to Nathaniel Hawthornes great dismay apparently

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Excited to have Martin Rotemberg present on tariffs and state capacity at #NBERDAE

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Apparently the kink is the rich marrying the rich

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Greg Niemesh presenting on elite marriage markets in the US #nberdae Excited to learn how to get rich by marrying right? Too bad: step one is be born rich to start

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Don't let your kids go to segregation academies

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Proud advisor moment as @daniellecgw.bsky.social presents her work on segregation academies at #nberdae

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

#NBERDAE Summer Institute starts today. And guess who has the timer and the bell

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Two surely unrelated posts in my feed just now

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Someone who hates children and loves sunburns: Let's turn the splash pad on at 10am

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

So yes, the past is a foreign country and all that. But also... maybe it isn't? Ad from Columbia, SC in 1922 for men who are young and men who want to stay young. The solution: buy clothes

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Get yourself the confidence of a Carl or Charles Anderson in Moline, IL in 1910 who doesn't use a middle initial

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

With footnotes and with bayonets, as it turns out

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Wellness influencer, circa 1910 Price $1, Worth $10k (to anyone!)

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Weak sauce. Banning PE landlords and rental algorithms is a measly drop in the bucket compared to actually building more housing by fixing zoning laws to encourage density in high demand cities and towns

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Newton public schools not using AI slop graphics in all communications with parents challenge... Impossible

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Good news, everyone. Newton drivers will soon be able to resume racing down Washington St, saving them all approximately 15 seconds. And for the low, low cost of a few run-over bikers and pedestrians. drive.google.com/file/d/1xLU4...

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Glad the @mbta-cr.bsky.social team will get to hear from the people whose voices matter most re the new Newtonville CR station... people without young children or families to have dinner with at 6pm on a Wednesday

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

As usual, the hallucinations are so much better than real life

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

That's the point, Patrick. Driving is cheapest and that's a problem because too many people do it and that causes traffic and congestion and pollution and if it cost just a bit more we could fix a lot of that. Do we not teach externalities in second grade?

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

This how to draw trucks book we got from the library (ostensibly for children) has real "draw two circles, draw the rest of the fucking owl" energy. No tears yet

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

Really nice paper shows as Great Migration inflows increased, restrictive zoning increased too. www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Help! They are putting housing in Kiril's neighborhood! The horror!

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

The screen in centerfield should be like 12% more easily seen from Lansdowne Station

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I'm a lousy photographer, so the only picture I took is of our seating assignment

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

Fantasy T map from r/mbta. Should probably mark this NSFW www.reddit.com/r/mbta/s/5GO...

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

The tldr version in two pictures. MCs come from elite and unrepresentative families. Across 130+ years, the gap between MC fathers and tightly-matched controls has grown, absolutely not shrunk. Whatever opened up about American politics, it wasn’t who gets to Congress.

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Do institutional reforms change selection? DDD designs with 4 Progressive-era reforms: direct election of senators, women’s suffrage, secret ballot, party primaries. None reduced family background selection. Opening the system didn’t open the candidate pool. Women’s suffrage increased selection!

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Across 130+ years, the gap between MC fathers and tightly-matched controls has grown, not shrunk. Vs year of birth or congress numbers. Whatever opened up about American politics, it wasn’t who gets to Congress.

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Has this changed over time? American politics has opened up over the last 150 years. Expansion of the franchise. Primaries. Secret ballots. But also: increasing campaign expenses. This is where I pause in the talk and make the audience preregister

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Result 2: it’s not just the MC. MCs come from elite families. Future MCs’ fathers earned roughly 2x the average father in 1940. 28% college graduates vs 4%. Top-coded earnings 11x more often. In the 19th century, MC fathers were much much much wealthier.

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Even among lawyers (so many lawyers...), the future MCs are highly selected

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Result 1: MCs are heavily selected on their own outcomes before they ever enter Congress. Higher earnings and more education in 1940. More wealth in 1850-1870. Higher status occupations in all years.

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

How does this work? Take the rare economist-politician, Paul Douglas. We pull him from the Bioguide, find or add him on FamilySearch, harvest his family tree, then connect records to complete count censuses. We see his father, his brother, his childhood home. Everything the census recorded.

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

We see MCs before their stints in Congress as young adults and as kids. And we see a *lot* of them (and their fathers and brothers too). Welcome to my data, Donald Rumsfeld, Bob Dole, John Lewis, Dick Cheney, and Charlie Rangel.

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Excited to share an updated paper from a longstanding agenda with Andy Hall, @dthompson.bsky.social, and Jesse Yoder: "Fortunate Sons: Elite Political Selection in American History" We link Members of Congress (+ their families) to the complete count census, covering congresses from 1850-the 2000s

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Reading the Newton Mayor's weekly update, I think I've found the world's most boring RD. Apparently, we repave roads if their Pavement Condition Index is below 50. Effects of fresh road paving on... house prices? average vehicle speed? local election voter turnout?

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

This playing in the YouTube music shuffle should be illegal

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James Feigenbaum @jamesfeigenbaum.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

You'll all never guess what topic (or even word!) never comes up in this children's book about Thomas Jefferson (and John Adams)

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