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C. Kirabo Jackson

@kirabojackson.bsky.social
12K followers 252 following 293 posts

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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
Anna Gifty @itsafronomics.blacksky.app · 09/10/2026
I stand with Governor Lisa Cook. I am also exceptionally tired on her behalf.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Absolutely true, on both counts.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
I can't lie, I really want to see this youtu.be/1fisH9uRL6I?... I spent countless hours playing this as kid. At the same time, I am 99 percent confident this is a bad movie!
youtu.be
Street Fighter - Official 'Training for Street Fighter' Behind the Scenes Clip (2026)
YouTube video by IGN
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
Florencia Torche @ftorche.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
on the relevance of a precisely estimated null effect: www.nber.org/papers/w3587...
nber.org
In Utero Exposure to the 1982 Tylenol Recall and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
😂
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
😂
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
American University School of Public Affairs @au-spa.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Join us for “When Decentralization Works: Leadership Quality, Student Achievement, and Longer-Run College Enrollment” to explore the research and its implications for education policy, ft. Northwestern University Prof. @kirabojackson.bsky.social. 🗓️ 10/1 🕑 Noon ET📍Kerwin 301 👉tinyurl.com/RSS-FALL2026
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
Jen Jennings @jenjennings.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
You don’t gut the country's capacity to measure what's happening in its schools because you care about improving them. Guardian article below.
graph of number of employees at NCES
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American University School of Public Affairs @au-spa.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Join us for “When Decentralization Works: Leadership Quality, Student Achievement, and Longer-Run College Enrollment” to explore the research and its implications for education policy, ft. Northwestern University Prof. @kirabojackson.bsky.social. 🗓️ 10/1 🕑 Noon ET📍Kerwin 301 👉tinyurl.com/RSS-FALL2026
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
CSWEP @aeacswep.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
The American Economic Association is seeking suggestions for the next lead editor of the American Economic Review, with the new editor beginning in January 2028. Send suggestions to Ben Bernanke, chair of the search committee, at aersearch@aeapubs.org by Friday, October 2. Please share!!
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
So, does spending more on schools make the economy richer? In this setting, yes. After a period consistent with possible transition costs, the reforms raised wages, income, and GDP per capita. GDP is more than 5% higher by year 30, with a predicted long-run gain of about 7.8%.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
And the gains are not confined to wages. By year 30, personal income per capita is about 4.5% higher and real GDP per capita is more than 5% higher. Both display the same delayed rise associated with cohort replacement.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
But does the actual data track the prediction? Put the two lines together. Remarkably, the macro wage response closely follows the path predicted from entirely separate micro estimates — in timing, shape, and magnitude.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Now take that prediction to the data. Average wages do almost nothing for roughly 15 years after reform. Then they begin rising steadily—just as substantially exposed cohorts enter the labor market—reaching about 4.7% above the counterfactual by year 30.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Before looking at the macro data, I ask what existing micro estimates *predict*. As children exposed to the reforms gradually replace older workers, state earnings should barely move for 10–15 years, then rise—reaching ~3% by year 30 and 7.8% in the long run.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Between 1973 and 2005, 35 states adopted major school-finance reforms that increased investment in K–12 education. Many happened decades ago. That means we can now ask a question that is usually very hard to answer: What happened to the economy 20 or 30 years later?
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
If spending more on schools raises the earnings of the children who benefit, does it eventually make the whole economy richer? My new NBER paper examines this using school-finance reforms. 🧵 www.nber.org/papers/w35755
nber.org
The Macroeconomic Returns to School Finance Reforms: Micro-Calibrated Predictions Meet Causal Evidence
Founded in 1920, the NBER is a private, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to conducting economic research and to disseminating research findings among academics, public policy makers, an...
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Sounds like we have been on a very similar journey!
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Painful
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
AEA Journals @aeajournals.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Large stipends to attract educators to low-performing schools increased test scores, but the gains held only while the pay continued, say researchers at SDSU, Ball State, Stanford, and UIC. #econsky www.aeaweb.org/research/cha...
aeaweb.org
Teacher pay and student achievement
Large stipends drew effective educators into Dallas's lowest-performing schools.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Darn! yes, causal :)
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Nice! happy to see this casual version!
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
Joshua Goodman @joshua-goodman.com · 31/08/2026
🚨New working paper alert!🚨 Private tutoring chains like Kumon and Sylvan have grown rapidly. Who uses them? Do they improve kids' skills? BU econ PhD student Samuel Nitkin and I provide answers in: "Kumon Up: Private Tutoring Centers and Student Achievement" www.nber.org/papers/w35671 1/?
Private tutoring chains like Kumon and Sylvan have expanded rapidly in recent decades.
Combining data on business locations, household spending, and district test scores, we study who
uses these centers and how they affect academic skills. Nearly half of tutoring users are from the top
income decile, with Asian and White households five and two times as likely to purchase tutoring as
Black and Hispanic households. A staggered differences-in-differences design shows the opening
of a district's first chain center raises district-wide math and reading scores by 0.02-0.03 standard
deviations, at a much lower cost than public spending typically producing similar gains. Math
effects are largest for White and Asian students, so that center entry widens racial achievement
gaps, though less so in more racially integrated districts. These private investments help their
users, deepen educational inequality, and shape outcomes by which state accountability systems
and families judge schools.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Totally agree. I have a working paper very much along these lines.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The takeaway isn’t that we have to choose between the quantity and quality of education. Learning strongly predicts subsequent growth, but years of schooling may still matter too. The goal should be both: keep students in school longer and make those years more productive!
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
So the classic result largely holds up: learning is a powerful predictor of subsequent growth and explains much of the schooling-growth relationship. But years of schooling still retain a positive, economically meaningful association once scores are included. Not causal—but worth understanding.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The schooling result is less stark. In the original Hanushek–Woessmann analysis, controlling for test scores reduces the schooling coefficient from 0.369 to 0.026. In my sample, it falls from 0.258 to 0.133—about a 50% reduction rather than >90%.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The basic score result holds up strongly: a 1-SD difference in test scores predicts about 0.49 percentage points faster annual GDP-per-capita growth, conditional on initial GDP and years of schooling. That’s about 26% of mean annual growth.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
I use international test scores measured in 1999–2000 and then look at GDP-per-capita growth from 2001–2024. The analysis covers 48 countries, with no overlap between the testing years and the growth years.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Classic result: countries with higher test scores grow faster; years of schooling add little once scores are included. Concern: reverse causality—in the original evidence, some measured growth occurs before scores are observed. I revisit both with cleaner timing, newer data— kirabojackson.com/blog
kirabojackson.com
Blog — C. Kirabo Jackson
Writing and analysis by C. Kirabo Jackson on education, human capital, public policy, and the economy.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Crazy that happened since he wasn't president in 2020.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
What people ignore is that the key question for a discrimination claim is whether race played a role in how Arday’s claims were evaluated and how Arday was treated. Even if some claims are true, there could still be discrimination if similar conduct by others was treated differently.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Thanks!
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
My old website went dark about a year ago. Finally got a new one up — check it out! kirabojackson.com
kirabojackson.com
C. Kirabo Jackson — Economist | Education, Labor Markets & Public Policy
C. Kirabo Jackson is an economist at Northwestern University studying how investments in children and education shape opportunity, inequality, and the broader economy.
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
AEA Journals @aeajournals.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
When firms aren’t allowed to hire low-skill foreign workers, they don’t hire more Americans. They produce less, invest less, and shrink, with the sharpest effects in rural areas, say researchers at @jhu.edu and @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social. #econsky www.aeaweb.org/research/imm...
aeaweb.org
Winning the visa lottery
Evidence from a US government lottery shows that restricting foreign low-skill workers shrinks businesses without creating jobs for Americans.
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
Joshua Goodman @joshua-goodman.com · 12/08/2026
The fall meeting of the @nber.org Education Program is soliciting papers. Deadline to submit is September 28. Details below. Submission link is here: www.nber.org/confsubmit/b...
We are organizing the fall meeting for the NBER Education Program.

There will be an in-person meeting on December 3 and 4, 2026 in Cambridge, MA along with a virtual component on Zoom for those who are unable or choose not to attend in person.  Presenters will be expected to attend in person.  The presentations will also be livestreamed on the NBER's YouTube channel.

If you have a paper you would like considered for presentation, please upload it here http://www.nber.org/confsubmit/backend/cfp?id=EDf26 by 11:59 pm EST on September 28, 2026.  Please feel free to pass this call for papers on to research colleagues who might be interested in submitting a paper.
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
Murshed Zaheed @murshedz.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
“Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states at the highest rate in the 47-year history of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.” Right now people in blue states are basically paying federal taxes as if they’re colonized territories of red states. www.politico.com/news/2026/03...
Trump has denied most disaster requests from Democratic-led states

A graph  showing Presidential approval rates for disaster requests from Democratic-led states and Republican-led states

Source: POLITICO's E&E News analysis of FEMA records
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Jason Fletcher @jasonmfletcher.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
How to Write a Top 5 Paper: A Case Study open.substack.com/pub/jasonmfl...
open.substack.com
How to Write a Top 5 Paper: A Case Study
Two teams, nearly the same question, nearly the same data—and a revealing difference in what the papers ask the evidence to do
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
Joshua Goodman @joshua-goodman.com · 16/07/2026
The AEA is seeking nominations for journal coeditors and board members, and is deliberately trying to widen its search beyond the existing team's social networks. Nominate yourself or others! Nominations are simple (basically just names). You can submit them here: survey.sogolytics.com/r/QmAiqd
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Phil Swatton @philswatton.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Two brief thoughts on why I think it's still worth keeping LLM use out of introductory programming for stats/data science: - You need to be a good programmer to get good code out of an LLM - You need to be a good programmer to evaluate the code you get out of an LLM
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
By whatever objective standard many shows considered "news" qualify, I suspect the VIEW may also qualify.
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
lolol
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
I think they will prevail!
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Well played!
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Reposted by C. Kirabo Jackson
Max Kennerly @maxkennerly.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
Cape Verdeans are now honorary Philadelphians because that was basically ROCKY. They weren't "supposed" to be there, much less going the distance with the champions and the GOAT, who had to give it everything they've got just to eek out a win in overtime. Bravo.
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Maximilian Kasy @maxkasy.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
New paper with @p_ganong & Avik Garg: From literature review to effect prediction for a new context - allowing for effect heterogeneity & publication bias. maxkasy.github.io/home/files/p...
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Elizabeth Jacobs, PhD @elizabethjacobs.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Hegseth proudly ended the flu vaccine requirement for the military. Following this idiocy, only 40% of new trainees got vaccinated. There’s now a flu outbreak at an AF facility. A new recruit has died, though it is not clear if it was from flu. Now, the flu vaccine is again required there.
nytimes.com
Scores Fall Ill at Air Force Base After Hegseth Makes Flu Vaccine Optional
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John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
Each ICE operation generates roughly $196,000 in monthly losses for nearby businesses and communities. (That's 11x the government's administrative cost of a deportation.) Why? ICE activity decreases foot traffic in those public areas.
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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
Here's a great training from @peerresearch.bsky.social explaining how researchers can provide the most effective public comments! static1.squarespace.com/static/68c72...
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C. Kirabo Jackson @kirabojackson.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
I hate a bad haircut as much as the next guy, but this seems disproportionate....
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